Bathroom Guide

A bottle of lamp oil spilled in my hall closet, how do I clean it up? How do I get the smell out?

Closet has wood not carpet.

Public Comments

1. I would use paper towels and get all up that you can. Then I would put down some baking soda and cover it with more paper towels. The baking soda will absorb what is there and the paper towels will absorb even more. If you do not have baking soda, use a talcom powder or other powder like baby powder. After a day or two, I would wash the area with a grease cutting soap and see what it looks like. You could then use Murphy's Oil Soap. It will not hurt the wood.
2. When you get a spill always try to wipe it up and off the wood as soon as possible. Remember that wood will always swell in the presence of water. In your case the lamp oil would do more damage to the finish (finish hase) than to the wood. First remove the oil by wiping with a dry cotton rag or paper towels. Then use mineral spirits to remove the oil and do a final wipe with a dry cotton or paper towel to remove as much of the residue as possible. This should remove most or all of the oil and the solvent residue will evaporate within the next few days. Within a few days you should be able to start cleaning the area with a good hardwood cleaner such as put out by Mohawk or Bona. You can get the Mohawk cleaner at USA Floorcovering.