How can you wash building foam off your hands. How to remove mounting foam and its traces from body parts

How to wash mounting foam from hands? - This question worries not only amateurs who have taken up repairs for the first time, but also experienced craftsmen. Some people advise generously lubricating your hands with oily cream or petroleum jelly before working with mounting foam. In such cases, the foam does not adhere well to the skin of the hands and can be easily removed in case of contact. But for sure, these people have not tried their own advice in practice, because it is very inconvenient to hold a balloon with foam and other tools with slippery greasy hands. And greasy stains from building materials are not easy to remove later. Therefore, such recommendations are very doubtful, and if the sealant gets on the skin, you just need to know how to wash off the mounting foam from your hands.

What is mounting foam?

Polyurethane foam is a sealant that is made on the basis of polyurethane. The solution is produced in aerosol packages and is widely used in construction and repair work. Its purpose is to fill gaps and cracks for effective sound, hydro and heat insulation, fastening individual parts of building materials into a single whole.

Mounting foam appeared in the construction industry relatively recently. Instead of foam, cement and tow were previously widely used, but the use of these materials took a lot of time and a lot of work. The appearance of polyurethane foam greatly simplified such work, because there is no stage of preparing the necessary substance, and additional tools are not needed at all when working with sealant.

But in the frozen state, the foam is a rigid polyurethane foam. When it comes into contact with the skin, the sealant adversely affects its cells, as it completely blocks the air flow. This building substance can provoke irritation on the skin not only of the hands, but of the whole body, as well as other manifestations of an allergic reaction. Therefore, it is very important to know how to wash mounting foam from your hands quickly without causing a detrimental problem to the epidermis.

Important! To significantly reduce the likelihood of mounting foam getting on the skin of the hands, it is necessary to work with it in personal protective equipment. Thick rubber gloves and work clothes are the best.

How to wash the mounting foam from your hands if it has not yet had time to harden?

The simplest rule in working with foam, which must always be remembered, is that the sealant must be removed immediately, as soon as it gets on the skin of the hands or on clothes.

Try to remove the contamination with a clean napkin or cloth, gently shifting the foam to the center of the stain. Residues must be washed off immediately before the composition has completely frozen.

Important! When you try to wash the mounting foam off your hands, be careful not to smear it on your skin.

If it was not possible to completely remove the foam in this way, then use one of the following aids.

Special aerosol

Before you start working with mounting foam, it is advisable to purchase a special solvent aerosol. The ideal option is the means of the same manufacturer as the foam can.

Important! You will also need a similar solvent to clean the guns with which the sealant was applied. The tool is available in the form of an aerosol, which greatly simplifies the process of its application.

In order to wash the mounting foam from your hands, you must do the following simple steps:

Spray the solvent aerosol onto the contaminated area of the skin.
Rinse thoroughly with plenty of water.

This tool perfectly copes with liquid, not hardened polyurethane foam. But before the frozen substance, it is powerless.

Important! Before using a special solvent aerosol, you should definitely read its instructions..

Acetone

Pure acetone or nail polish remover containing acetone will help get rid of the uncured mass. The principle of application is extremely simple:

Soak a cloth or cotton pad in acetone and gently remove the mounting foam from your hands.
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and running water.

Important! You must act quickly and carefully. Acetone has a specific smell, so it is best to clean it outdoors or in a well-ventilated area..

Kerosene

This liquid is also effective enough to remove sealant from hands. It should be used in a similar way to acetone.

How to clean hands from polyurethane foam at home?

If the above liquids were not found in your home, then you can use improvised means.

Vegetable oil

This option for cleaning mounting foam from your hands is absolutely harmless and safe for the skin.

Lightly heat vegetable oil.
Soak a cotton swab in the oil and dab the dirt on your skin.

Important! Surprisingly, this tool is able to remove even hardened mounting foam. To do this, you need to arm yourself with patience and hold the moistened cotton wool in oil for 20-30 minutes at the site of contamination.

Salt

Salt is an abrasive substance, so it is able to remove foam and its residues from hands:

Rub a small amount of salt on the areas contaminated with sealant.
Wash your hands with soap and water.

Important! Hands should be treated with salt very carefully so as not to scratch the skin.

How to remove mounting foam from hands if it has already hardened?

If you did not manage to remove the mounting foam from your hands before it had hardened yet, then the cleaning process will take longer, because practically no solvent mentioned above can remove the hardened mass.

In this case, the foam can only be cleaned mechanically. For this you will need:

Hard brush, pumice stone or soft sandpaper.
Fatty cream or vegetable oil.
Soap.

The procedure should be carried out very carefully so as not to harm the upper layer of the epidermis:

Spread the contaminated areas of the skin of the hands with a greasy cream or vegetable oil. This will soften the harsh effect of the brush on the skin.
Scrub a stiff brush or pumice stone with plenty of soap.
Gently, slowly, rub the hardened foam with a brush.

Important! To make the foam removal process a little easier, you can pre-steam your hands in hot water for 8-10 minutes..

Some people, out of ignorance of the correct solution to the problem, try various means. Subsequently, they either do not get any result or get the desired effect, but cause irreparable harm to the integrity of the epidermis. So, what means to remove the sealant from the skin is not recommended.

Vinegar and other acids

Never experiment with acids, such as vinegar. You will not wait for the desired effect, but getting a serious chemical burn is quite realistic.

Important! This especially applies to the situation when you decide to use not the usual canteen 7-9% vinegar, but 70% essence.

Dimexide

Many recommend this medication as an effective tool for cleaning hands from mounting foam. Indeed, it dissolves building foam well, but it is strictly forbidden to treat the skin with it without an appointment and further control of the doctor.

Important! "Dimexide" is quickly absorbed into the skin and enters the human body. But just like any drug, it has a number of side effects. Therefore, it is better to use it for cleaning soiled furniture, floors and walls, but not leather.

Alkaline products

Do not use detergents with a high concentration of alkali to clean such hand contamination. They are not able to remove traces of sealant, but they will quickly break the normal skin acid balance.

If you still failed to remove the sealant using one of the described methods, then do not despair. Due to the fact that skin cells are constantly being updated, pollution will clear itself after a while.
After successful removal of contamination, you should generously smear your hands with hand cream or aloe juice to soothe and moisturize the skin after an unpleasant procedure.

Mounting foam, being a polyurethane sealant, is insidious. Once in the open air, it dries quickly, turning into a dense mass, after which it will take a lot of effort to remove frozen splashes or smudges. Builders and installers usually use special tools for this purpose: Cosmofen, Macroflex, Isofoam R621. If such solvents were not found in the house, try to do it on your own and with improvised substances: salt, acetone, vegetable oil, etc.

Advice. When working with mounting foam, use gloves, protect your hair and face from splashes.

Do not try to heat the can on the stove!

How to remove mounting foam from hands

When the pollution is very small, you can do nothing. Mounting foam is not toxic and not dangerous, and therefore wait a couple of days - the remnants of the substance will come off on their own.

Otherwise, try one of the following:

Rub your hands with coarse salt (of course, if the skin is not damaged and there are no irritations). Remove the remaining foam with a cotton pad soaked in purified kerosene or acetone. As an alternative to acetone, use nail polish remover, but be aware that it is not as effective.
Steam your hands in hot soapy water (both household and toilet soap, shower gel will do). Remove the mounting foam with a pumice stone or a hard washcloth.
Pamper your hands with a bath of warmed (but not hot!) vegetable oil. After this procedure, try to wipe the mounting foam with the same pumice stone. More often than not, there will be no trace of it.
As soon as you have dealt with pollution, treat your hands with a moisturizing or nourishing cream, preventing peeling and skin irritation. Shop products for removing mounting foam from various types of surfaces are categorically not suitable for hands.

How to wipe foam from windows, doors or floors

The mechanical method is optimally suited for cleaning mounting foam that has “settled” on a smooth surface: glass, metal, durable plastic. Rags, a stiff brush or sandpaper, as well as any scraping tool - a spatula, scraper or knife, will come in handy.

First of all, remove the maximum possible layer of foam "cap". Note: if the polyurethane has not had time to harden completely and is something like viscous rubber, then it is removed instantly and without a trace. In the same case, when the hardening process is completed, carefully prying off the remaining foam, scrape the foam from the surface. Sand unpainted metal or wood with sandpaper.

At home, washing the mounting foam without a trace will help:

Salt solution (1 tbsp. table salt per 1 glass of water). Well clears wooden, including the painted surfaces.
Acetone and acetone-containing compounds. Effective for surfaces not covered with paint or varnish. Do not use on soft plastics and linoleum.
Vegetable oil is used to remove foam from plastic, metal, wood surfaces. Treat the affected area with a sponge soaked in oil, leave for half an hour. Remove sealant residue and grease with a rag soaked in soapy water.
Craftsmen found out that the drug "Dimexide" (dimethyl sulfoxide), which is available in every pharmacy without a prescription, does an excellent job with hardened polyurethane. Apply the solution to the contaminated area and leave for 10 minutes, then wipe the surface with a damp cloth. Be careful: work only with protective gloves!
Plain water will help clean linoleum: remove excess foam with a knife or scraper, “cover” pollution with a well-moistened rag. After a few hours, it remains only to wipe the floor.

Sold in a pharmacy without a prescription

It is not always possible to wash dried mounting foam that has fallen on clothes. Put the damaged item in the freezer for several hours: in some cases, the polyurethane foam, which has become fragile and vulnerable, can be easily removed from the fabric. If this method does not help, wipe the dirt with a cotton pad soaked in Dimexide. After 40 minutes, brush off the remaining stain with a brush and wash the clothes in the usual way.

Knowing how to wash mounting foam from your hands, you will get rid of stains and prevent the negative effects of polyurethane on the body. To do this, use special liquids, aerosols, purified acetone, gasoline, kerosene or improvised means: soda, vinegar, vegetable oil, salt. Apply the product to the dirt, rub and rinse. If the foam has had time to dry, keep your hand treated within 30 minutes. Finally, rinse off the product and lubricate your hands with cream to prevent dry skin.

Any repair, installation of windows, doors or filling cracks in the walls involves the use of mounting foam, which has good adhesion and tightness. During such work, the material, with inaccurate handling, falls on open areas of the body. Knowinghow to clean mounting foam from hands, you will get rid of pollution of varying intensity, using a minimum of effort and without injuring the skin.

How bad is polyurethane?

The main component of polyurethane foam is polyurethane. At any stage of drying, it is dangerous for the skin, because it has a toxic effect, causes allergies and irritation of the skin. Therefore, try to immediately begin to eliminate it.

How not to get dirty with mounting foam at all

Even highly skilled experienced craftsmen get dirty with sealant when working, because you don’t always come across a high-quality spray can that does not spray the product spontaneously.

To avoid getting your hands dirty, be sure to wear protective gloves and work clothes that cover the skin. Then all the splashes from the mounting foam will remain on the clothes, and you won’t have to remove it from the skin.

For cleaning hands from contamination with mounting foam, the area of \u200b\u200bcontact of the foam with the skin is of fundamental importance. The larger the stain, the more difficult it is to clean. Even more important is the degree of polymerization (hardening) of the material. If possible, the foam must be removed immediately. After 10-15 minutes, it is much more difficult to do this. Older residues on the skin of the hands are not easy to remove.

Special liquids and aerosols

Foam manufacturers also produce special washes. Most of them are designed for cleaning guns and smooth work surfaces (window sills, door and window frames, doors). Liquids for cleaning hands are not produced, since the cured polyurethane is irreversible. It can be softened only with sufficiently aggressive solvents, contact of which with human skin is undesirable.

But, if skin contamination has already occurred, many builders resort to standard liquids and aerosols, hoping to clean their hands without compromising health.

The released substances are designed only for cleaning from fresh foam:

IOFARM R621. Aerosol for cleaning tools, contaminated surfaces, hands. The main active ingredient is acetone. Applicable only for the removal of fresh contaminants.
PENOSIL Foam Cleaner. Aerosol for cleaning with fresh, uncured foam. Can be used to remove stains from plastics (leaves no residue).
OPPA. Aerosol removal of unhardened fragments. It is also used for cleaning and degreasing plastic and glass surfaces.
PENOSIL Premium Cured PU-Foam Remover. Remover for hardened foam. Spray can. Not effective on adhesive (highly absorbent, porous) surfaces.
Cosmofen S5. Plastic polishing agent. Cleans fresh lather. The main purpose is to remove defects and scratches from opaque vinyl (PVC) surfaces.

Very few special solvents are needed to clean hands. Therefore, when choosing a liquid or aerosol, their additional capabilities are important so that the purchased canister is in demand in full.

If at the time of contamination there were no special liquids, common, standard solvents are used:

Acetone and acetone-containing liquids (composite thinner 646, nail polish removers). Small amounts are not as toxic because acetone is a product of natural metabolism present in the body.
White Spirit. Not very efficient. However, it is better than using soap and water.
Solvent 647. Multicomponent liquid based on acetates and toluene. Toxic.

In order to avoid complications from skin contact with aggressive liquids (for chronic allergies), it is possible to use heated vegetable oil. This substance is not so effective. But not without side effects, environmentally friendly.

How to clean your hands from fresh foam

The foam that has not had time to harden (polymerize) is washed off quite easily. The main thing is to follow simple rules:

Localize the spot. Contamination is wiped with napkins, toilet paper or soft rags. Movement must be directed to the center of the spot so that it decreases rather than increases.
Solvents. Aerosol washes are sprayed from a distance of 10-15 cm onto the soiled areas. If the stain is small, you can spray the substance not on pollution, but on a rag, which can be cleaned from a distance of 1-2 cm.
Removal of solvents. After cleaning the hands, they are washed with soap and hot running water.

Fresh foam washes off quite easily. However, it is not always possible to interrupt work for hand care. In this case, you have to face the problem of cleaning from old stains.

What to do if the foam has hardened on your hands

Well-dried foam cannot be removed with ordinary solvents and washes. There are special compositions of substances. But practice shows that they are not effective:

Pollution practically does not change its properties.
Solvents are toxic, have a bad effect on the skin of the hands and, being absorbed into the pores, on the liver and cardiovascular system of the body.

For example, PU REMOVER is a paste-cleaner for hardened foam. The substance is indeed capable of softening dried polyurethane foam, but, according to the manufacturer's instructions, it is applicable only on smooth, non-porous surfaces. Excellent proved itself on metals, glass, but not productively on the hands.

Sequence of actions when removing dried foam

The easiest way to clean old contaminants from polyurethane foam is to naturally change the epithelium: the upper layers of the skin periodically change, flake off. Along with them, persistent pollution also “departs”. The process lasts from several days to 7-10 days, but it can be accelerated:

Thinning. The foam layer must be made as thin as possible. This is done mechanically: the foam is carefully, so as not to damage the skin, erased with fine sandpaper, pumice stone. Sometimes a razor blade is also used, but this method is not recommended because cuts and wounds are inevitable. It is worth remembering that under the skin of the hands, the veins are located very close.
Steaming. Hands can be steamed in hot water (at a temperature of 60-65 degrees). Steaming time depends on the quality of the foam, the degree of its penetration into the pores and the initial condition of the skin.

After 10-15 minutes, hands are wiped and dried. The spot is localized, the thinnest parts of the spots will disappear. Thick ones need to be thinned and steamed again.

If it was not possible to completely wash off the remnants of the foam, a children's moisturizer should be smeared on the contaminated places at night. This method is not as effective as steaming. But it "works" all night and, as a rule, brings certain results.

How bad is polyurethane?

The active substance of the mounting foam is polyurethane foam (PPU). Fresh and in the process of solidification, it releases toxic substances. Therefore, PPU contact with the skin is undesirable and causes irritation, allergic reactions. Frozen, it is no more dangerous than foam rubber.

How to keep your hands safe

It is enough to use rubberized gloves. Ordinary cotton ones are also suitable, but they are not able to fully protect the hands, because they get wet, they are permeable to foam. However, the area of contamination will be reduced, especially if you change them more often.

It should be remembered that it is easier to foresee possible contamination than to remove dried polyurethane stains later. After all, it is so difficult.

Video: how to remove mounting foam from hands

When working with a mounting gun, despite all the precautions, the foam now and then strives to get on your hands. Even the use of gloves does not always save from stains. How to wash mounting foam from hands, and is it possible to avoid damage to the skin? After all, this substance clings to it with the same success as to the porous surface of the wall.

We clean our hands from fresh foam

Until the composition has polymerized, it is quite simple to remove it with the help of various solvents. The most popular is acetone, which is found in different containers. In your home it may be:

in cylinders with a means for cleaning the mounting gun;
in glass vials for domestic use;
in nail polish removers.

It dries the skin, but with a quick processing of the foam does not cause serious irritation. Compounds such as White Spirit and other solvents can cause itching and burning on the skin, and are worse at removing foam. But in the absence of acetone, they will also work.

To clean the skin, products such as gasoline and vegetable oil are also used. With them, you will have to scrub your hands for a long time and with effort, but they do not allow the polymer to get stronger and grab a crust. Namely, this is important to avoid when foam gets on the skin.

After treatment with any composition, the hands must be washed with running water and soap. This is important in order to cleanse the skin of the dissolved polymer. Washing your hands late will result in your efforts being in vain, and a thin film will still remain on the skin for several days.

What not to do

Do not try to wash the foam with water, even using laundry soap, powder and strong degreasers, of which there are many in any home. Water provokes a rapid hardening of the substance, and household chemicals have absolutely no effect on it. The result of such attempts will be to spread the foam in a thin layer over a large area of \u200b\u200bthe skin, and such a crust will then be more difficult to remove.

It will not work to remove fresh foam with a dry rag or sponge, the result will be the same. However, you should not resort to aggressive means:

alkalis;
acid;
solvent for acrylic paint.

These substances cause chemical burns, but do not act on the mounting foam. But skin damage can be very serious. An attempt to cut off an already frozen layer with a knife or blade is also dangerous.

To clean various surfaces, the Dimexide pharmacy agent is used, which is a strong antiseptic. Often, inexperienced craftsmen make the false conclusion that a medical product is safer for the skin than any solvents. But it can provoke a severe allergic reaction with such use, and it is better not to use it.

If the foam had time to harden on the skin?

In the event that you have not found a suitable solvent, let the foam swell and harden properly. Such a lump is quite easily torn off the skin with neat, slow and smooth movements. Residual marks can be smoothed out with a nail file or pumice stone, or allowed to come off on their own in 2-3 days.

If, by negligence, the substance was smeared and frozen with a thin crust, it will be difficult to wipe it off. You can use pumice stone, sandpaper, a hard brush. You need to act gently, without damaging the skin and systematically rolling the remnants of the film with the tool. To make the effect better, you can first hold your hand in warm vegetable oil.

After work, be sure to lubricate your hands with a greasy cream, because after removing the remnants of the mounting foam, there will definitely be microdamages on the skin. However, redness and irritation will pass within a day.