How to Remove Dried Gloss Paint from uPVC Window Frames?

uPVC is the acronym for un-plasticized polyvinyl chloride and is essentially just PVC without any flexibility agents added to it.

It’s widely used for its shock absorption, durability, and strength.

And that’s the reason you will commonly find PVC doors, windows, and pipes in earthquake-prone areas.

If for any reason, your uPVC window was painted and you now want to remove the old dried paint, you must exercise caution in order to avoid harming the window when removing it.

Removing Paint From uPVC Frames

If your uPVC window frames were painted with gloss paint, they should be fairly easy to remove.

Gloss paint doesn’t stick well to plastic, so you can likely just use the scraper by itself.

With firm but not too vigorous movements, you may be able to remove some of the paint.

Be sure to attempt this first in a small area of the window to ensure you don’t scratch the PVC surface.

1- Warm Water

If the PVC window was painted with any kind of matte emulsion paint, warm water will help soften it so that you can easily remove it.

To do this, first, soak a sponge in warm water and then use it to wet the paint.

If the paint gets soft, it might be possible for you to wipe it off. If not, you can use the scraper to carefully remove it.

2- Paint Stripper

If neither of those steps gets the job done, you can use a paint stripper instead.

Depending on the kind of paint thinner that you opt for, there is a chance that you will damage the PVC, so it’s important for you to test it in a small area first to be sure this doesn’t happen.

If it doesn’t, you are free to use it on the rest of the PVC.

3- Mineral Spirits

If you have light-colored or white vinyl window frames, there is a good chance that some of the pigment will stay there, which is difficult to remove.

Before anything else, try mineral spirits or paint thinner paired with an undyed cloth to get the pigment out.

If this doesn’t work, you can then use fine-grit sandpaper to sand the pigment away.

Removing Smears of Paint

Smeared paint commonly occurs if you drip paint on the window and then rub something against it accidentally.

This could also happen if you drop paint and then fail to wipe it up cleanly.

You can usually carefully sand off any smeared paint using fine paper.

Much like with specks from paint sprayers that have strayed, called over-spraying, using fine-grit sandpaper can easily remove it but you need to use a light touch.

Removing Paint Sprayer and Roller Specks

Smaller specks that are made through using a roller vigorously can come off after it dries using a plastic putty knife.

It’s important to avoid using razor blades because they can cut into the PVC itself.

Because it’s difficult to maintain the right angle of a razor on the surface of vinyl, you may lose control over where you want to remove the paint.

For spray paint specks on any PVC, you can try to wipe it off straight away, if possible.

If it has already dried, you can sand it off with fine-grit sandpaper as well.

The sandpaper will make the surface of the PVC duller, so you’ll need to decide if it is more important that your window’s surface is preserved or if removing the paint takes priority.