How Do You Get Ball Point Pen off of Linoleum?

Hi M.,

From a little time working at a bank, I found out that hairspray (any brand) in a pump spray bottle (not aerosol) cuts ink. It just breaks down and melts away! I hope this helps!

C. C.
President
C.E. C., Baby Specialty Retailer, LLC

Hello M..
Have you tried the Mr Clean eraser? I swear my life on it. My daughter was coloring her hair and accidentally got some of the hair dye on the countertop of her bathroom, I was about to yell at her since i had used clorox, a heavy duty scrubber & voila, it hit me... why not try using the mr.clean eraser... that did the trick, as if there were never any stains. I use it a lot around the house, specially for cleaning the bath tubs. Give it a try & let me know...
D.

I have just the stuff. It's a miracle in a bottle. It's called Motsenbocker's Lift Off and they have different ones. This stuff gets sharpie off my dining room table, walls, everything. It's a little bit hard to find, but I know that they have a website and you can find a store that carries it near you. Also, I picked up some at home depot last week in a little 3 pack that had 3 different versions of it. The number 3 is the one that gets off sharpie. I would try that one.

Oh! Also, hairspray gets ink off clothes, so it might work to spray it pretty heavy on the linoleum and then maybe use a baby-wipe to work it off.

Good Luck!

Get a cotton ball and dip it in rubbing alcohol. Then rub the pen mark...the ink will come off with a little scrubbing with the cotton ball! If it is cut down into the linoleum, then put the cotton ball over the tip of your long fingernail and scrub down in the crack. Rubbing Alcohol always works like a charm on ink.

First off, I absolutely love your name. Looks like we've got the same one!

I'm a single mom with four daughters, including a set of twins. I've had a bigger variety of stains to clean away than you can shake a stick at.
Here's my suggestion to remove ball point pen from linoleum:

BON AMI CLEANSER ... works like magic! And it won't scratch your floor.

Happy Parenting,
~M. K.
http://M.-WriteOn.blogspot.com

P.S. If you get tired of housework and stain removal duty, you might enjoy a visit to my blog.

The easiest and cheapest way to remove ink is HAIRSPRAY get a cheap bottle of Suave and spray it on in minutes it works right out of fabric, carpet and off any surface. Rinse with water and waalaa squeaky clean.

My mom used this trick on my brand new white winter coat some girl in middle school smeared ink on because she was jealous or didn't like me. It worked great!

I have used liquid hairspray and Goo-gone to remove ink. Hope it works for you!

Hi M.,
Melaleuca's Sol-U-Mel will do the trick every time. It's free of toxins too, so you can easily and worry free let your kids touch it.

Good luck.
E., Long Time Customer of Melaleuca and Love It!

M.,
Pour a nickel sized portion of baking soda over the pen mark (or enough baking soda to cover the mark.) Slowly add bits of water until a paste forms. Scrub with a sponge (or even your hand.) Wash away.
Definetely works.
P.

Hi, I do know what's that like, I had 4 little artists, all now grown up, but also have #5, who is now 5 1/2. I have used pump hairspray on ink on clothes and it seemed to work really well. Also, Wine Away is a good thing to keep around. My 5 yr. old spilled a whole glass of red wine on our beige couch. I used the wine away immediately, let the covers sit over night, washed them in a small amount of Purex laundry soap, real cheap at Target, in cold water, gentle cycle, it all came out. Good luck, and enjoy.

C. ____@____.com

Buy a bottle of GOO GONE. It's always worked on everything I needed to remove without damaging the item.

Just wondering if you have tried hairspray? It gets ink out of clothes, just spray it on before you wash. Or there is always good ol' fingernail polish remover. Also sometimes rubbing alcohol will work. Can you tell I have 3 children and one grandchild???!!! Good Luck!

It's the alcohol in the hairspray that removes it. As I have no idea what linoleum is put together with, do you have a small discrete place to test a little rubbing A on a q tip? Or a bit of a q tip on the end of a toothpick?

Try nail polish remover. Probably non-acetone.

I know hairspray gets it out of clothing, so you could try that!
S. g.

Try hair spray to remove the ball point pen stains. I've not tried it on linoleum, but it does work on fabric. I'm surprised the Mr Clean Magic Eraser didn't work because those things are a godsend! I was so happy the day I discovered they would remove crayon from my painted kitchen cabinet without taking off the paint. It also took crayon off my laminate wood flooring, my poly suede sofa.... the list goes on. Crayons are a controlled substance in our house! Good luck :)

try rubbing alcohol. it works for permanent markers.

Try some hand sanitizer. Squeeze it on the mark and let it sit for awhile, then rub off. May take a few treatments to get rid of it completely, but it's amazing. I use it to clean the kids' desks at school, and it will clean off almost anything.

Dear M.,

All that pops into my head is that hairspray gets out ballpoint ink - so I am wondering about spraying the ink and then scrubbing it with a toothbrush to get into the groove (I think that was a bad, unintentional, pun - sorry!)

goodluck!
B.

Have you tried rubbung alcohol? I have used it to get ball point ink out of fabric. Hope this helps.

A.

Goof Off may work. That gets pretty much anything off!

When I get ink on anything, I use hairspray. It takes ink right out. The hairspray may work for you, especially if
it comes from a ballpoint pen.
Its worth a try. Good luck. J.

Try toothpaste. It helped get tar off my floor.:)

I would try hairspray. Hairspray gets ink pen off of anything. Also, I would mop the floor with hot water afterwards. If you mix white vinegar into the water, it will make it shine. Also, my son was like your kids (little artist that draws on everything). I found it helpful to store all pens, crayons, markers, etc. out of his reach and only let him play with them under supervision. Saves a lot of cleaning and headache. Good luck in your situation.

Try hairspray . . . any kind will do. Works on everything - walls, floors, you name it. Good luck!

Try Goof Off. Not the kind in the big bottle at the grocery, but the concentrated kind that comes in a little can with a squirt tip at Home Depot or someplace like that. That stuff gets off just about everything, including dried latex enamel paint. Apply a little and let it set for a few minutes, then attack with a stiff brush. The brush will get down in the groove better than the Mr. Clean Eraser.

Good luck! I still have some reminders of when my kids were little, including stains on marble that are really there forever and a little spot where the yarn was pulled out of the carpet (now under a chair.) I guess these are our battle scars!

Best wishes,

J. Davis

Looks like there are lots of smart Mommies out there! Yes, hairspray does the trick to remove ballpoint pen fron just about anything.

Dear M.,
I don't know if it works on linoleum, but I read about using HAIRSPRAY to remove balloint pen ink from garments (I tried it and it works!). The chemicals in it loosens the hardened paint. Then you just clean off the hair spray afterwards with a reg cleaner and it won't be sticky.
I hope it works on floors, too!
Best,
R.

Rubbing alcohol will disolve the ink. Don't know about the indents though....

Try WD40. It gets all kinds of stuff off of things. Just make sure not to spry too much cuz it will make your floor slippery! Good luck!

Try hairspray. Let it sit for a few minutes and then use something to rub it out. Since it is an indentation, maybe something like a smooshed toothpick end or something. Hairspray gets pen out of clothing so I don't see why it wouldn't break it down on top of linoleum. But I think you will have to figure out how to get into the indentation. Good luck!

Hello M.. I know of only 1 product that will handle that job and it's called Sol-U-Mel. The only thing is that you can only get it from a health and wellness company that will ship it to you or, I would be happy to send you a little sample to try. It can do it without any harsh chemicals as well, so that's a bonus. Take care and let me know if you're interested.

have you tried alcohol or cheap cologne or perfume? when i worked (20yrs ago) at a department store, this is how we got ink of of us when changing the ribbons.

Hello M.! I haven't tried this method, but I have read about it: use a tennis ball attached to the end of a broomstick and rub away. I read about this online; someone saw a custodian doing it on an airport floor for scuff marks. If that doesn't work, try Heloise. Google her - she has the best hints. Heloise's Hints I think it is called. I subscribe to her daily "hints".

Goo Gone is quite a magic remedy, I've found.
Good luck

Someone else suggested using nail polish remover, but I wanted to suggest it also. I use sharpies on my laminated classroom items every year, and then at the end of the year 'erase' using nail polish remover. Good luck!

I would try hairspray. I know it takes ink out of clothing. Test it on a spot that isn't noticealbe first to make sure its ok on the linoleum. I know baby oil is suppose to take crayon off walls so maybe tryt hat too. Good luck!

Try the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. They are great!!

I've heard hairspray works on ballpoint pen.........

d.solv.it orange cleaner works for most crayons/markers. barkeeper's friend cleanser also does wonders removing stains. i don't know if it's safe for linoleum though. good luck.

try spraying it with hairspray- wait a little while then wipe up-- hair spray gets out ink from everything else-- hopefully on linoleum too!

Try toothpaste. The white paste kind not gel and the cheaper the better. Rub it with a cloth. You can also try shaving cream. Leave the lather on there for a little bit and rub off with a cloth.
Good luck!

I've had good luck getting ball-point pen ink and even permanent marker out with a combination of alcohol (either rubbing alcohol or vodka) followed by a regular cleaner or soap. Rub the area with a Q-tip or rag dampened with alcohol, then wash down with soapy water or all-purpose cleaner like 409. The alcohol breaks down the ink compounds and the soap will help to pick them up and wash them away.

And be very wary of the people that recommend mixing bleach or acetone with anything because it can make dangerous toxic fumes. Alcohol and soap is very safe to use around kids and pets without fumes.

Acetone will do incase alcohol doesn't. Good luck

Hairspray... I got ink out of carpet and off of clothes with it...... good luck!!!!!

Hi M.,

I found this solution on another website. Maybe you can give it a try.

"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 (with acetone) 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."

Have you tried rubbing alcohol? My son used scrapbooking markers on my dining room chairs (fabric seat) and I used almost an entire bottle of alcohol, but it eventually came out. I know you aren't working with fabric, but it's worth a try!

Use rubbing alcohol -- any solvent will dissolve the ink & soak up w/ paper towel-- but it may dull the finish on the linoleum.
(I've got you beat, my Rottweiler put claw marks in my cherry table -- no magic eraser takes that out.)

on another note, just so you know...be very careful when letting your children use the mr. clean magic erasers. they can burn their skin if they were to rub it on themselves. there are chemical cleaners in there that are not disclosed on the package. i just wanted you to be aware.

good luck with the stain!

M.,

This may sound odd, but we use lemon essential oil. It takes off permanent marker and has a wonderful (not toxic smell) too!

Good luck,

M.

Certified Essential Oil Educator
www.SweetSmellofHealth.com

try nail polish remover with acetone or bleach.

M. try using hairspray, to remove the stain. or rubbing alcohol. its worth a try good luck rose