Does anyone know how to get permanent marker stains off a linoleum floor? My 2 year old has been having a lovely time being artistic there. The ink came off but there is a "shadow" stain where he drew. Also, blue ink from a ballpoint pen. The lino is pretty cheap and nasty. We've tried just about everything we could think of from methylated spirits to printers paint stripper, but so far no luck. - bronze
OK, try not to laugh. Use toothpaste and an old toothbrush to scrub the stain out - we've had to do this a few times with 4 children - this solution has never failed me. (01/27/2005)
By Shari
Someone got hair tint on my bathroom floor, and it took me a long time to get that off. I used Soft scrub, and really scrubbed, and some Comet. It took some time, but it finally came off. I suppose that would work if the toothpaste doesn't. However, the toothpaste sounds like a good idea too. (01/27/2005)
By Alleen
Have you tried hair spray or rubbing alcohol? That might work. (01/27/2005)
By Anna
I agree with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I've removed stains off smooth surfaces where nothing else seemed to work.
By ThriftyFun
Spray and Wash (for laundry stains) works great on removing just about anything from lino floors. Just spray it on, let it set for a few minutes and wipe it clean. If you can find it in the aerosol can it works the best, why I don't know but it works 100 times better then the non aerosol bottle. (01/27/2005)
By Pam
Magic Eraser is a real waste of money. After I spent lots of money cleaning up after my artistic two year old, I found wetting a rag and dabbing baking soda on it and scrubbing takes out crayon and marker. Windex works, if you prefer, works great, requires often alot of scrubbing, but, no more scrubbing than Magic Eraser requires. That really is just a money maker. I don't suggest Magic Eraser any more because while scrubbing, it tends to fall apart and shrivel, and it leaves marks onto white walls! (03/08/2005)
By kurdinat
Use smooth top oven cleaner and cloth, comes right up. (05/25/2005)
By Chris
I have 2 words: bleach pen. (06/20/2005)
By Emma
If you use lacquer thinner, that should work well on linoleum, although it will dim your linoleum some, potentially.
(10/01/2005)
Deep Woods Off works wonders. You have to let it sit for a couple minutes before you wipe it off, but it works wonders. (11/03/2005)
By Crystal
My 2 1/2 year loves to draw with pens, markers, yes even permanent markers. This morning she decided to draw on our linoleum floor with a black permanent marker. I saw this website and tried 2 of the things suggested. First I tried hairspray. It took the darkness right out of the floor, but left a noticeable shadow. I then used nail polish remover and that just about got the whole stain out. There's still a light shadow of marker there, but it looks much better than it did. (11/07/2005)
By Eryne
I use OFF bug spray to get permanent marker off classroom desks, floors, walls. It does get some of the paint off wall, and sometimes I have to leave it on the spot a little and then wipe up. I used the OFF with a Magic sponge to get built up wax that was dirty and thick off the floor. (02/22/2006)
By Angie
I didn't have permanent marker stain, but it was a dye stain of some type (bright yellow). I tried some of the cleaners and scrubbing. I just finished tiling the shower stall with slate tile and had Marble and Stone Cleaner from TileLab. I tried that and a nylon scouring pad and it took about 5 minutes to get clean. And didn't damage the shine of the floor. (03/16/2006)
By B.L
Hair spray works well on most ink based stains. (03/20/2006)
By Ashley
Easy Off Bam! (05/17/2006)
I just went through this. I tried Goo-Gone, nail polish remover, and aerosol Spray and Wash all failed. Toothpaste worked OK (the smokers kind worked much better than any other), but what really did the job was Oxyclean. I used very little water so its still gritty. This works. (10/30/2006)
By mike
My 2 yr old daughter got permanent marker all over the kitchen linoleum. So I came to this website for help. I so got some good ideas but didn't have everything that was mentioned. So I was using straight bleach and a dobie scrubber. It was coming off little by little but wasn't getting the results I wanted. Then it hit me, I have a car buffer in the garage. That surely would save me some elbow grease. And wouldn't you know it, it did the trick. (12/27/2006)
By Glenn
http://www.mrscleannw.com/tips/linoleum-floors.html
If this is a true linoleum floor, don't treat it like vinyl. Follow above link for details.
(01/08/2007)
By AB
Try Lysol spray and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It worked on my floor after my 8 year old got bored and wrote on it with a permanent marker. (03/05/2007)
By Rebecca
I made the mistake of leaving stale bread in its foil bag on the kitchen floor, the colour came off the packaging and made a nice purple stain on the lino.
I found a combination of using bleach and Tesco universal power spray with a scouring pad worked quite well. (07/14/2007)
By Phil
I could kiss you! We are selling our house and I didn't want to put new vinyl tiles down but had a big purple ink stain on the floor from a box. It has been there for years and I have tried everything. Today I tried the bleach and fingernail polish remover together and wala - gone. I didn't even have to rub hard. Funny, because I tried both separately before and it didn't work! Thank you. (08/02/2007)
By Sharon
Try pouring small amount of white wine vinegar on stain followed by a good tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda. As it fizzes, scrub with wire wool. Not much can remain after that! (03/31/2008)
We had stains on our linoleum floor and tried every cleaner we had. Then we got on here and read that fingernail polish remover and bleach together worked. It did! I poured a little of the fingernail polish remover on the stain first, then topped it with bleach. As soon as the bleach hit it - BOOM! The stain disappeared! I didn't have to scrub. WARNING- even though this isn't mixing bleach with ammonia it does produce some nasty fumes! I recommend wearing a mask over your nose and mouth and some goggles over your eyes and wear gloves on your hands. And make sure you can ventilate the area. (04/11/2008)
By Kristen
I have found that acetone/nail polish remover works for pretty much everything. I had permanent marker on my bathroom counters, coffee table, kitchen counters and polish remover seems to work the best. My 3 year old daughter got into my red nail polish and there was a pool of red nail polish all over her bedroom floor, I went out and bought two bottles of acetone and scrubbed my white carpet and it looks unnoticeable. (04/23/2008)
By ka
Please be careful about mixing bleach and acetone- it can create Chloroform... it probably takes more than the little bit you will use to clean with to make it potent, but well ventilate your cleaning area and consider wearing a mask. Please keep all children and pets AWAY! (12/14/2008)
By Michelle
Oven cleaner brown spots on floor -- this is the dissolved brown grease. The plain cleaner will not affect the floor. Spritz a little more cleaner on the spot, then wipe it up.
Marker will scrub off of most vinyl because there is a top protective layer. This trick only works a few times, then the layer is gone. Why don't they make a whiteboard flooring for kids? Make the kid scrub it up with baking soda on a sponge, it's harmless enough and he probably won't try that again. (03/19/2009)
By Dan
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