ACI has kept up with changing the formulations in sunscreen to provide ways to clean sunscreen oversprays and spills from wood, tile, and leather.
Summer’s here, and with it, the increased awareness of, and need for, sunscreen. We need the protection, but our tile floors? Not so much. Fortunately, there are easy ways to clean up when we accidentally slather and spray SPF on surfaces other than our skin.
Tile Floors and Walls
Spray-on sunscreen can stain your floor and make it slippery. Get it up quick! Here’s how:
- Fill a bucket with warm or hot water
- Add a small amount of soap or detergent
- Mix in a small amount of ammonia (which will cut through the water-proof barrier of sunscreen)
- Dip a sponge or soft cloth into bucket, squeeze, and gently scrub the affected area
- Repeat until all sunscreen is removed
- Rinse area thoroughly with clean water and cloth
- Dry
Wood Floor and Furniture
While sun streaming through windows can damage wood floors and furniture over time, they certainly don’t benefit from sun creams, lotions and sprays. Remove it by
- Wipe up as much of the spill as possible with a dry cloth
- Soak another cloth with water and continue to wipe the area
- Spray the area with a cleanser that has a degreasing component
- Lighlty scrub the stain with a clean cloth to remove residual grease
- Rinse the area with water and repeat as necessary
Leather Furniture
What’s worse than chasing after and wrestling a wriggly toddler to apply sunscreen? When the now-greasy toddler sits on the leather sofa. Keep calm and follow these tips:
- Blot sunscreen with paper towels to remove as much as possible
- Mix a solution of mild soap and lukewarm water
- Swish it around to get the mixture sudsy
- Use a sponge and apply only the foam to the leather surface
- Wipe dry with a clean cloth
- Follow up with a leather conditioner
Now that you’ve cleaned up, here are some tips so that you don’t have to go through this again on the next sunny day!
- Find a better place to apply sunscreen in the first place – like outside or on a porch
Dry off before you sit on any furniture
Find more cleaning tips from the American Cleaning Institute.
