So, for you, it is wash and wash and wash again, which will handle the paint if it is not too long cured. For hardened paint, you can use Oops! or any kind of oil - boiled linseed oil, mineral oil, or vegetable oil. The latter can get rancid, so be careful. These oils will soften the paint after 15 or so minutes, soft enough to dig out with a utility knife or a knife with a long, narrow blade. Eventually, you will prevail. I think Avon’s Oh So Soft oil will work even better.
Q. Three questions: 1. How can I get old oil stains off a concrete garage floor? 2. Irene’s winds did a job on my house, pulling a lot of sap from pine trees and depositing it on decks and siding. How can I remove it? 3. A small chip of porcelain popped off one of my toilet bowls, well above the water line. I saved the piece. Can I glue it back, with what kind of glue?
ROBERT DESROSIERS, Chatham
A. 1. For the oil stains, wet them with paint thinner to dissolve the oil, then sprinkle lots of absorbent material on top to absorb the oil. If the work is extensive, use Speedi-Dri, a clay used to remove oil from your auto mechanic’s floor. For smaller jobs, cat litter or baking soda will do nicely. 2. If the pine sap bits are stiff and solid, scrape them up with a steel scraper. If they are sticky, wash them off with denatured or rubbing alcohol. 3. Use Duco cement, a clear glue that we used long ago on flying models made of balsa wood and paper, and they flew wonderfully.
Q. We are replacing our deck after 27 years. Is it safe to burn the old pressure-treated wood this winter outside when we burn yard debris?
JAN,by e-mail
A. No, no, no it is not safe to burn pressure-treated wood outside. And definitely not in the fireplace or stove. You might be able to sell it as salvage. Or have your deck contractor take it away. I don’t know any regulations concerning this, but the old wood contained arsenic, the deadliest ingredient, and it is bad to release such materials to the atmosphere. A near tragedy occurred many years ago when a family burned scraps of pressure-treated wood in their fireplace or stove, and were almost killed by the fumes.
