How To Remove Dried Latex Paint From Plastic Buckets

Latex paint is a water-based paint used for interior and exterior painting projects. A plastic bucket can be a great painting tool for mixing paint colors, soaking brushes or holding paint cans and wet paint brushes. You must clean the paint off of your bucket before reusing to avoid contaminating new paints. If you don't wipe paint off your plastic bucket immediately, the paint will dry quickly. Fortunately, dried latex paint is relatively easy to remove.

Step 1

Scrape away dried paint with a dull knife or spatula. Discard any loose, dry paint.

Step 2

Remove any leftover dried paint by soaking a rag in rubbing alcohol and thoroughly wetting the dried paint.

Step 3

Allow the alcohol to sit for a few minutes and use the rag to scrub off the dried paint.

Step 4

Rinse the alcohol from the bucket and dry with a clean rag.

Step 5

Remove any stubborn dried paint with latex paint remover and a rag. Rinse the bucket after cleaning.