Removal/cleaning of bitumen paint from sofa :-(

One of my cats (naturally the long haired one) decided to run through a pool of bitumen paint (the stuff for protecting concrete or metalwork) yesterday and, having converted one front and one rear paw to a tar brush proceeded to run into the sitting from and onto the sofa. Having endured the recriminations from SWReallyMBO what do I do now? The tin says to clean up with white spirit. Do I take my life in my hands and try to clean it off the sofa with white spirit or what?? Obviously I'll practice elsewhere first. Oh, and the sofa is a yellow/gold colour nicely set off by 6 or 8 paw prints on one arms.

TIA

Richard

PS SWMBO was so upset that she went into work today!!!!

Reply to
Richard
Loading thread data ...

In message , Richard wrote

At times like this it it's not YOUR cat - it is HER cat.

Reply to
Alan

I would be more concerned about the effects on the cat.

Awwww.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Dry cleaner's shop. You want an aerosol spot gun, with extraction. If you do it with solvent and a hand-held brush, then it will spread more than it disappears.

Tiny cat-fur slip covers might help to hide it.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Almost true but I'm the one who left the sitting room door open, as has been pointed out to me.

I refrained from explaining the concentration required (by an amateur) intent on making as a good a job as possible in joining two DPCs - one a membrane the other a very fragile layer of tar.

Richard

Reply to
Richard

Excellent idea

Presumably made from the skin of the long haired cat? ;-)

Richard

Reply to
Richard

metalwork)

Having

petrol and cotton bud. Wipe towards centre of stain so it doesnt spread out. Arrange for resuscitation after overcome by toxic fumes, ie must be done outside, and kept in garage until fully defumed.

Alternatively, get some cold black dye and paint the paw prints so you have purrmanent fully filled-in paw prints there.

NT

Reply to
bigcat

Why petrol rather than white spirit?

I doubt VERY much that SWRMBO would see the funny side of that one. She's inexplicably attached to the sofa - bought before I knew her. It cost her IIRC £3K and I find it fearfully uncomfortable.

Richard

Reply to
Richard

If I was in this much trouble I'd start experimenting on the basis that you have already lost the sofa.

I'd try using a VAX (or equivalent) loaded with white spirit, but do it outside in case the VAX turns into a jet engine.

Reply to
Ed Sirett

I've cleaned the paw prints off the carpets - dark in hall and light in bedroom (mog seemed to delight in walking wherever he could) - with white spirit to test it's effectiveness. I have also damped an unseen area of the sofa to see how it reacts to white spirit. I might even apply some bitumen to another unseen area and try to remove it.

On closer inspection it appears that his feet may have been almost dry when he reached the sofa. The prints don't seem to have soaked in - you can 'feel' the bitumen on the fabric. So I may try the 'scalpel with new blade' trick and scrape the sofa not the cat)

Richard

Reply to
Richard

Deeply unimpressed by having his paws washed in white spirit followed by baby shampoo

Is that 'awwww' as in 'how awful' or as in 'how nice'? :-)

Reply to
Richard

Try a product called "Stain Slayer" which you can buy from Woolies and Lakeland. It's an aerosol spray which you put onto the stain dry, and then you can rinse out the stain. I've used it to remove black shoe polish from a peach carpet and Aquaprufe from clothes and soft furnishings, and wouldn't want to be without some in the house.

Reply to
Sue Donime

I'll bet he is!

Awwww as in nice.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Personally I'd make sure the cat wasn't left out of the proceedings. I dislike cats....

Andrew

Please note that the email address used for posting usenet messages is configured such that my antispam filter will automatically update itself so that the senders email address is flagged as spam. If you do need to contact me please visit my web site and submit an enquiry -

formatting link

Reply to
Andrew McKay

As already suggested, petrol is the easy way to remove the bitumen.

For a fast result a match comes in handy.

Reply to
Alan

There used to be a "Correct Method" of removing stains like this with solvents. Printed on the "Thawpit" bottle label IIRC.

But I've forgotten what it was. :-(

ISTR it involved "surrounding" the stain with solvent and then working inwards. Allegedly surface tension would cause it to spread if you start at the middle of the soiling and work out,(The intuitive way). BICBW.

Seriously, I don't think it's gonna come out. You would need to get the % of the staining material remaining in the cloth down to tiny proportions.

Time to investigate your house contents policy methinks. If you can claim and get a new one it will have the most molliative effect on SWMBO.

DG

Reply to
Derek *

outside in case the VAX turns into a jet engine.

Reply to
Magician

Derek has it right.

working inwards. Allegedly surface tension would cause it to spread if you start at the middle of the soiling and work out,(The intuitive way). BICBW.

Reply to
Magician

Given the habits of small critters for licking their paws afterwards, you may well just have killed him. White spirit is extremely toxic on livers, and cats have weak livers.

A better cleaner is either almost any Ecover product, particularly the washing up liquid (they're based on coconut oil), most shampoo, or peanut butter (a fine emulsifier for oily things).

Reply to
Andy Dingley

How do you make a cat go Woof ?

Oh, you've heard it.

Reply to
OG

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.