How To Use WD-40 To Keep Your Home Mess-Free When Painting

Before painting any walls in your home, you'll need to prepare the room by spreading out drop cloths and surrounding trim with painter's tape. However, this won't protect things like door knobs and hardware, which could accidentally get covered in drips of paint. To prevent this, you could add another product to your preparation process: The original WD-40 formula in a spray can. While this product was originally used to prevent rust on rocket shells, the unique formula is now utilized for a variety of tasks around the home. Simply covering your hardware with this product will make any drips extremely effortless to wipe off metal surfaces. 

Further, if you're painting over a tile floor and you accidentally drip onto the tiles, just a few sprays of WD-40 should make the drip, even if it's completely dry, easy to wipe off with a clean rag. If it doesn't come off right away, keep spraying and wiping until it's fully removed. 

Besides keeping your home clean while painting, WD-40 can also soften paint brush bristles. After using and washing your brushes, spray them with this product before you store them. The next time you use the brushes, they should be much easier to wash. Or, if your brushes have any bristles that are stiff and stuck together, you could loosen them with this product as well. Spraying WD-40 onto any metal parts of the brush can also prevent the formation of rust, which is important, as rust could either transfer onto walls while painting or cause the brush to lose bristles.

Another helpful hack is to spray WD-40 along the edge of a stuck paint can lid, which should loosen it enough to open it. Lids often get stuck after the can has already been opened and then closed again, as any excess paint on the rim could seal the edge. This product will soften this excess paint, making the lid easier to pry off. 

Before you begin painting, you should also ensure your walls are free from debris and markings that could show through the paint. Simply wash your walls with a damp cloth to remove loose debris and dust. However, stains and markings made from crayons, stickers, clay, glue, and tape, perhaps added to the walls by your children, can be removed with WD-40 by spraying over the area and wiping with a rag or sponge. Further, this product can even tackle the residue left behind by duct tape. However, you may want to first test it on a less noticeable section of the wall, like a bottom corner, to make sure it doesn't cause any damage.

Chewing gum can also be removed from walls with the help of WD-40. To do so, scrape off most of the gum, then coat the rest of it with the product to loosen it. Blot the area, remove the gum, and rinse the wall with a wet rag.