We manage an apartment complex and some children used permanent markers on the walls, doors and heat registers. Besides repainting with expensive silver paint, is there anything we can use to remove this?
Dawn from Wisconsin
II have always found that rubbing alcohol is a great way to remove permanent marker stains. I found this out when my daughter was 2 years old and marked all over our brand new furniture. I called "Sharpie" and they suggested using the alcohol. I recently had my now college aged daughter call me asking how her roommate could get out permanent marker from her $150 brand new jeans! The alcohol removed it and the roommate was ecstatic. (01/18/2005)
By Pam from Clovis
We have used WD-40 which is amazing at taking crayon and markers off the walls without damaging the paint. And also Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner works great. I usually spray on the Scrubbing Bubbles and let it sit for a few minutes before wiping down with a sponge. Occasionally we may have to repeat with the bathroom cleaner depending on what type and what color the marker is. But it has always taken it off. Hope this helps!
By Mom of 6 1/2
I saw the following hint just today in another "tip" newsletter:
Removing 'Permanent' Markers
If you take a can of Right Guard deodorant spray and spray it
on permanent marker, it will start to run right off. So when
my child got a hold of a permanent marker and wrote on
everything in the house, I had to buy a few cans of spray. I
promise you that it works. It will come right off, walls,
wood, etc.
Lisa
(01/18/2005)
By Sara
When my son used them in his room, I found this stuff by the same people who make goo-gone, called ink remover. it was fabulous! took the marks off(with some elbow grease) but it didn't take off the paint or varnish. (01/18/2005)
By muusetta
Acetone! The lab I used to work in bought this by the gallon specifically for erasing black permanent marker. You can find 100%-acetone at the large hardware store chains, or just use acetone-based fingernail polish remover. Isopropyl alcohol and hairspray also work really well. (01/18/2005)
By Germaine
Try antibacterial hand gel. Rub into stain and let sit for 10mins. or so then rub off with wet cloth. (01/18/2005)
By Jean Donahue
Thank you so very much for all your suggestions and so very quickly. I'm going to attempt the clean up tomorrow..will let you know what worked the best!!! We are new managers and these hints will save us a lot of money and effort! (01/19/2005)
By Dawn from Wisconsin
The rubbing alcohol stripped the paint off of my walls, but it did the job. We have to repaint the walls and that is going to be one heck of an unwanted job in my book. (06/06/2005)
By Sue
I accidentally wrote with permanent markers on the guest room in my basement. I used the hairspray idea and it worked great! Thanks! (08/23/2005)
By Sarah, CT
I just tried the hairspray to remove the pen my kids had put on the walls and it was great it removed the lot! THANKS
(11/07/2005)
By Chevell
I tried everything when my 3 year old drew on the walls with black permanent marker. The blood pressure was sky high by this stage. But I rang my mum and she said to use anything with citrus oil in it so up to Coles I went and bought a bottle of citro-clean. And boy o boy did it work a bit too good, it made the colour run down the wall and everywhere but it got it all out with a tiny bit of elbow grease.
So give it a go it worked for me when all else failed.
(11/15/2005)
By saxby4454
My daughter, being a baby, marked with red permanent marker on the walls and we tried an S.O.S. pad and it worked for a minute and then started to take the paint off. (12/15/2005)
By ashley
Hair spray will get it off skin also. my 2 year old writes on herself all the time and that works to get it off the best, just wash them well with soap then put hair spray and rub it. That should get it off! (01/14/2006)
My 2 year old daughter has successfully decorated our home twice now with a sharpie permanent marker. The second way more "decorative" than the first but, along with the complications of it running once a cleanser way applied I've found that my time scrubbing became WAY LESS with the accompanied use of the "Mr. Clean MAGIC Eraser". (01/17/2006)
By Krysta
My daughter decided to take a red permanent Sharpie marker and write on the walls, doors, and register. I took rubbing alcohol,and it removed it!! Wonderful and cheap! (01/19/2006)
By sarah
Thanks, permanent marker moustaches come right off with soap, warm water and acetone.(03/10/2006)
By Tim
My granddaughter decided to draw on herself, my tile floor and her sneaker. I tried the hairspray., It worked somewhat on the tile but it still has fade marks on it. I sprayed her sneaker, it didn't come off. Put her in the bath and used the hairspray on her. It worked, thank god! (05/03/2006)
By Lisa
Ajax and liquid dishsoap worked. Came right up with out having to wait. (05/26/2006)
My little brother drew with green permanent marker all over the walls and it was my job to clean it off! My mom gave me this solution called "De-Solv-It" and it worked wonders and didn't peel the paint off! It is also safe on skin and fabric surfaces. You can see the ink running off when you spray it. I recommend using a Mr.Clean Magic Eraser at the same time to rub it off. It works wonderfully. (07/08/2006)
By Ash
Hairspray took permanent marker off my painted walls but it did also take off some of the paint finish (01/01/2007)
By mom23boys
I got a call from my neighbor earlier to let me know that my 2 or my 3 year old drew all over her closet door with blue crayola marker while we were over there playing earlier. Since my kids made the mess, I offered to clean it up. (And at this time I was about to have a litter of kittens because I've never had to get marker off a wall.) i tried a citrus cleaner first, it got half of the marker off, but not all of it. So I came home to look online on how to get it off and found this page. I used the rubbing alcohol and the hairspray with a scrubby sponge. It took a little of the paint off, but it did the job. (03/09/2007)
By Allison
My three year old coloured with permanent marker on the door and wall. Hairspray does indeed work and I had no stripping of the paint or finish on the door. I'm now a believer in what seemed like a not so believable truth about hairspray removing things! (04/21/2007)
By CDE
My 3 year old brother drew on my moms new doors and her walls. we used rubbing alcohol but it just took the paint right off. Then we used Mr. Clean magic Eraser and you know what? IT WORKED LIKE MAGIC!(06/18/2007)
By Alyssa
Hairspray didn't work! Goo gone didn't work! Toothpaste didn't work! Hand sanitizer . . . worked! But it also took the paint off so I'm still stuck repainting unless the magic eraser will work for the other 3 walls! Isn't it funny how a lot of stories have the same reason this happened. Dad was watching the kids!!Same here! Them darn dads! (06/19/2007)
By Andrea
WD-40 took the paint right off the wall. so did fingernail polish remover. rubbing alcohol took off some but spread it around a lot. The magic eraser did good on the door, but not the wall it started to take off the paint (06/29/2007)
By Philipp
Melaleuca solvent works on permanent marker. I think it is called Solumel. I had permanent marker on plastic baby bottles and sprayed some on, let it sit for a minute then then marker which had been there for years, wiped right off. It has tea tree oil which is so much nicer than gasoline or any other solvent.
(08/25/2007)
By Sara from Saskatchewan
My little brother drew on the counter top with a black sharpie. I tried everything. Nobody wants to get yelled at by mom, or she would think I am irresponsible. Ajax, liquid soap, warm water, and nail polish remover was the best. (09/03/2007)
By KAMILE
Just for fun, I tried Solarcaine on permanent ink! Came off. Don't we spray that on open wounds? (01/07/2008)
By Bonnie
Hey, I'm a 17 year old guy who has extremely strict parents, and I accidentally got a small line of permanent marker on the wall next to my desk as I was doing homework. Knowing I'd get into deep trouble for it, I frantically sought out a solution to the problem. I tried using sugar soap (a household staple) and that didn't work. not knowing what to do, I searched on google for a solution and found this. I didn't have access to hairspray or alcohol, but I read someone's post on citrus cleaning products. I'd just like to say thank you so very much, you saved me a month of being grounded :) (02/02/2008)
By Christian
If your walls are painted with latex, rubbing alcohol works well. Just don't rub too hard or use too much alcohol as the paint will rub off as well. This worked for permanent map pen. (05/04/2008)
By Dad
I used some bicarb soda on a damp cloth, for me this is all that worked. the hairspray made it run but left run marks. This will also work on pots, benches, just about any surface that has marks. (05/17/2008)
By nasturtium
I tried hairspray but it left run marks on the wall. What worked for me was some bicarb soda on a damp cloth. This works on cleaning pots, marks on the bench. (05/17/2008)
By nastursim
I accidentally splattered permanent marker on my wall working on a project and the marker was on the wall for about a week. I had tried everything from WD-40 to Epsom salt for some reason and I had very little faith in anything else that I hadn't tried but then i tried OFF!. I found that OFF! worked the best for me. However, it did take some of the varnish off of the white doors and white wooden trim. The color of my room was a very bright blue and some of it turned to kind of an egg-shell white color but it's barely noticeable from afar. (07/13/2008)
By Kylie
My little boy decided to become an artist with red permanent marker all over our walls! I looked on here and went with the ajax/dishsoap paste and it came off in a matter of minutes and all I used to wipe it off with was a sponge and some paper towels! THANKS for the tip - saved me lots of work. (07/25/2008)
By Sharon
Any aerosol deodorant will work. I used old spice and the marker came off after 2 applications. (08/14/2008)
By
My 3 year old put jiffy on my new LCD computer screen. Was nervous to use a lot of these remedies. When I went to grab nail polish - grabbed witch hazel to see if it would work ~ it did. (09/11/2008)
By Kimberly
I have two kids that are artists, woke up this morning to every wall in my house having black industrial permanent marker on it! Still working on removing it however, just wanted to let you know of a remedy for removing it off the kids, DAILY CLARIFYING SHAMPOO! Works on ink, marker, temporary tattoos etc. It works wonders and is cheap! I always have a bottle in the house LOL! (10/19/2008)
By Tasha J
The best advice I found on here is the hand sanitizer the marker came right off no problem. I used it with a toothbrush so I could get in the texture of the walls. Thank you to the person who wrote that to begin with. (11/13/2008)
By Mellanie
The Magic Eraser works great on trim, glass, ceramic, and plastic! The ink comes off with just one or two wipes!! However, it's not so great on walls. I scrubbed so hard trying to remove the ink, I started removing the paint from the walls. (01/22/2009)
By trista
My 2 year old son and niece scribbled all over my laminate flooring, wall and door with black permanent marker. The marker was on their hands and face also. Baby wipes took it right off their skin. On my floor I used Clorox Clean-Up w/Bleach and a baby wipe. Took it all off with hardly no effort. Still haven't got it off my wall though. :( (02/04/2009)
By Sonia M.
My 2 year old drew all over an entire room at someone else's house. The hairspray worked wonders for me! (01/01/2010)
By Megan
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