How and how to wash mounting foam from hands at home, means and methods
Polyurethane foam is widely used in construction and installation works due to its excellent technical characteristics and advantages over other methods of filling technical voids. Its main plus is the extremely high stickiness of the material, which at the same time becomes a minus, because with careless handling, you will have to decide how to wash the mounting foam from your hands or clothes at home.
In the presence of solvents, or simply by working with a brush and pumice, you can wash any hard surface, but when your hair is smeared, you won’t be able to avoid visiting the hairdresser. Even if the foam does not get on the hair, but simply on the exposed skin or part of the clothes, then laundering will turn into a serious problem.
Avoid skin contact!
The rules for working with foam are simple: put your hair under a hat, do not forget to wear gloves. When using foam, especially if there is no experience in using it, just in case, put on something from your clothes that you don’t mind throwing away.
But in any case, it does not hurt to know in advance what to do if, when installing the same windows, you smeared your hands in mounting foam.
- When you have to work with mounting foam (installing plastic windows or just foaming cracks when insulating a balcony), wear gloves (preferably rubber ones, but in extreme cases, rag ones will do). When doing this, remember that foam can seep through rag gloves, and rubber gloves can tear.
Therefore, before using protective equipment, it is recommended to apply a greasy cream on your hands. Vaseline or glycerin will do. They create a protective layer that prevents the foam from sticking to the skin.
- Use clothes that you don't mind getting dirty. Removing suds from fabric can be even more of a challenge than removing suds from leather.
- A cap, hat, kerchief or bandana should completely cover the hair from splashes (the foam comes out under pressure, and when installing windows, the balloon has to be held high).
If the work is planned for a long time, a protective suit and a respirator are required How to clean foam
- If fresh foam has just come into contact with the skin, it is still possible to quickly remove the composition using ordinary acetone or thinner. After application, wash the area to be cleaned with warm water and soap to avoid drying out the skin.
- If solvent is not available, try using nail polish remover.
- Warm oil softens foam. Wipe your hands with it, then apply petroleum jelly or another cream, and after 15-20 minutes, try scrubbing the stain with a pumice stone or coarse sandpaper.
- Usually there are no special tools nearby, or, more often, there is simply no time to use them when installing windows ... Therefore, the best solution is to clean off how much liquid foam you get at once, and then wait until the rest dries. This happens in an hour and a half, after which abrasive cleaning methods are used.
Wash your hands thoroughly after using solvents. Solvents
Manufacturers of polyurethane foam, of course, are aware of the problem of cleaning places where it got accidentally. In addition, you have to remove the foam from the inside of the mounting gun - this thing is not so cheap as to ignore this stage, because if the foam hardens inside, then the device will have to be thrown away. To prevent such incidents, purchase a solvent for mounting foam.
It is used not only to clean the gun - the composition is suitable for cleaning clothes and items that are not afraid of acetone and similar compounds.
If the foam gets on the skin, the procedure for applying the solvent is as follows:
- Trying not to rub over the surface, the composition is removed with “pinching” movements.
- A piece of cloth soaked in solvent is applied to the smeared place, wait 20 seconds and rub the stain.
- The skin is thoroughly washed with soap and water.
Before use, check how the solvent acts on the surface "Folk remedies" for laundering polyurethane foam
- Table salt - make a warm solution out of it in which you hold your hands.
- Soapy water - make a solution in which you soak the stained area. Then use a washcloth or pumice stone.
- Warm vegetable oil. They lubricate the stain from the foam, then sprinkle with washing powder and rub it off.
This remedy is sold in a pharmacy When the foam has dried
If you didn’t have time to immediately clean your hands of the foam, and the composition has already dried up, then much more effort will be spent. You can cut off the top layer, but the one that is in direct contact with the hand itself will either have to be soaked with a solvent, or try to apply dimexide. This popular and inexpensive drug (anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial agent) is an oily liquid sold in pharmacies in containers of 50-100 ml.
As when working with a solvent, the fabric is impregnated with dimexide, superimposed on the smeared place. After a while, the foam will dissolve, after which the turn for water and soap.
Masters warn that areas of windows, doors and others, foamed with mounting foam, should be closed from sunlight. The reason for this is the destruction of the structure of the material by ultraviolet light. This feature is used for cleaning. True, in order to use the method, you will have to sunbathe for more than one hour, so it is used more for clothes.
If foam gets on the fabric, try not to rub it. Spread the overalls in the sun and wait until the foam dries (it will turn dirty brown). After that, the clothes are soaked in water with washing powder for 24-48 hours. Then the normal wash is applied.
How to wash traces of mounting foam It is highly recommended to stock up on clothes that you do not mind getting dirty, hand protection and other personal safety equipment. Why think about how to wash the mounting foam, because it's much easier to make sure that you don't have to do this.
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