Emulsion paint
A polymer that dried into the fibre — and the trade sequence for it is entirely aqueous, with no solvent step at all.
Precautions
- Test on an inconspicuous area first
- Never mix with other cleaning products
- Ventilate the area
In detail
Dried emulsion paint is a cured polymer film wrapped around carpet fibres, so the natural assumption is that it needs a solvent, the way ink and oil do. The carpet trade's entry does not use one. Its sequence is a weak detergent solution, a lukewarm rinse, a proprietary spot removal kit followed closely to its own directions, an ammonia solution, and then a professional cleaner for what remains. The absence of a solvent is the point. The same database reaches for a dry-cleaning solvent readily for oil, ink, lipstick and gum, and declines to for emulsion paint without stating why. What travels with the sequence are the standing cautions: never a stronger detergent concentration, never a laundry detergent of any type because they may contain optical brighteners, never an automatic dishwashing detergent because many contain bleaching agents, and a hidden-area test before ammonia because it can cause a colour change. The honest summary is that this is a stain the trade expects to escalate: professional cleaning appears in the sequence rather than after it.
Hacks and claims involving this
- Rinsing paint brushes outside with a hose Does not work
Sources for this page
Sources
Spot Solver: spot and spill removal procedures
The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That dried latex paint is treated with a detergent solution, a lukewarm rinse, a spot removal kit, an ammonia solution and then professional cleaning, that no solvent step is named, that laundry and automatic dishwashing detergents are excluded, and that ammonia can cause a colour change so a hidden area must be tested. (states this directly)