Hi all. There's been some sellotape (the real thing I think) stuck on a frosted window in one of my doors for a while. When I took it off, it left its adhesive behind so I need to clean it off. So far I've tried white spirit and meths, but they don't shift it by the look of things. Does anyone know what might work for this? (if it was on flat glass, it'd be easy - a bit of a scrape for a while, but on frosted it's not that simple).
Here is a trick,once you figure the best solvent soak a paper towel with it and place it in close contact for a fair while,1/2 hour? Then it will come off easily
I'm still using an old bottle of the original stuff, made by Mangers. It is not only effective, but as it is orange-based, it has a very pleasant smell.
Not sure what they used on pukka selotape, but the Scotch version used to use cyclohexanone - which to me stank b awful and gave me a headache.
As you are dealing with a window, by far the easiest way to remove it will simply be to dab it with paint stripper (the dichloromethane/'methylene chloride' - Nitromors version) using a paintbrush. Scrub it off with a brass brush once it bubbles up. Always keep some handy - although the tins do start to rust quite quickly.
Generally, remember that there are basically two kinds of solvents 'polar' and 'non polar'. Polar includes water and alcohol, acetone, MEK - basically things that dissolve in water. Non polar covers most of the rest, and these further divide into paraffin types and 'aromatic' 'benzene' types, and chlorinated. The long and the short of it is to keep a selection of solvents: 'meths' for the 'polars'; white spirit, for most of the others; cellulose thinners and brush cleaner (ideally straight dichoromethane) for the more difficult things; and Nitromors for the very difficult. In much the same way, you should keep a selection of other cleaning materials: alkaline - soda carb, caustic soda -; and acid - vinegar, citric; and oxidising: bleach, hydrogen peroxide. With a basic household stock that includes such a selection, you will be able to tackle most clean up jobs.
Incidentally, I found that none of these would dissolve 'dried' sunflower oil, which I reckon must be one of the stickiest of all substances (hot caustic soda required there!)!
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