How to Remove Candle Wax From Any Surface | Maid4condos
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How to Remove Candle Wax From Any Surface

How to Remove Candle Wax From Any Surface
September 13, 2021

If you are crazy about candles, you know what a pain it can be to remove candle wax from all kinds of surfaces. Candle drips and mishaps can ruin all those chill zen vibes you’re feeling thanks to the lavender, jasmine, clary, sage, or Seabreeze candle you’ve been burning.

How to get rid of candle wax from any surface?

But there’s no need to let wax drips get you down! Here we offer our professional home cleaning service tips to remove candle wax from any surface.

Wood

This is probably the most stressful drip as one wrong move and you could ruin your wood surface whether it is your brand new hardwood floors, or that great vintage table from a local garage sale. But fear not, you can make short work of the mess by placing a bag filled with ice on the wax.

The cold will harden the wax so it’s easier to remove. It just needs to sit on there for about two minutes, any longer and you can end up with a water stain. Gently remove the wax with a butter or putty knife, or even an old credit or gift card, and then wipe it clean with a microfibre cloth.

Wax in grooves or carving will need to be heated up. A hairdryer works perfectly. You can then dab it away with a cloth. This usually requires a few tries.

Glass

Glass tables and shelves or even glass candle holders look pretty awful with globs of wax on them. This is very tricky because you’ll need heat to melt the wax. But some glass can break when heated so if you don’t know if the glass is tempered don’t try this. Plus, if you do use your hairdryer as above, only set it to medium. You can also scrape up the remaining wax with a credit card as it shouldn’t scratch the glass.

Stone/Marble Countertops

This is a job for ice. You can leave it on longer than wood because there isn’t a risk for watermarks, allowing you to get the wax nice and hard. You can then use a butter knife, credit card, putty knife etc. to scrape it up. It should pop right off.

Vinyl Floors

Drips on vinyl floors come off by applying a cloth dipped in hot water to help loosen and melt the wax. You can then use a dry cloth to wipe away the melted wax. You might have to do this a few times if the wax is thick.

Carpet

This is probably the biggest pain. Once that wax gets into the carpet it can be hard to remove. However, you can start by scraping the wax with a butter knife to get as much off as possible. You can then lay a clean damp cloth over the remaining wax and gently apply low heat to the cloth with an iron. With luck when you lift the cloth, you’ll remove a good amount of the wax.

Last, use a cloth dipped in rubbing alcohol to try to remove the rest. If this doesn’t work, try the ice cube technique to freeze the wax so it gets hard, and you can try to remove the hardened clump with a butter knife or spatula. Run the vacuum over the area to suck up any of the smaller hard pieces.

Walls

If you have candle sconces the melting wax tends to drip down the wall. You can remove the wax the same way you did for the carpets. Use a damp cloth and an iron set to low to soften the wax. Then carefully lift the cloth to remove the wax. Repeat as required. If there is any residue, use warm soapy water and a cloth to remove it.

Tablecloths and Linens

A long candlelight dinner party can burn your candles down, leading to spills. Put the tablecloth or napkin into the freezer overnight to let it freeze up. In the morning, peel it off with a butter knife. If the candle was dyed, it could leave a stain. You can use the iron method to melt the stain and lift it off. In this case, a paper bag often works best as opposed to a cloth. If it doesn’t come out, soak the area in boiling water and then apply a stain remover.

If it’s machine washable, follow the instructions on the label and hopefully it will come out in the wash. Silk table linens are a little trickier. After the freezing step, be very gentle trying to lift the hardened wax off. A spoon might be better as it is less likely to pull at the threads.

You’ll need to invest in some WD-40 which you can get at hardware stores. Give the stain a spray of WD-40 and then add a few drops of dish detergent. Massage it into the stain and then wash the tablecloth following the washing instructions on the label. DO NOT put it in the dryer. Hang it to dry. If the stain is still there, use a stain remover and toss it in the wash. Just be sure to test the stain remover first in case it makes the dye run.

Leather

Lay down a paper towel on the stain and then apply a Ziploc bag filled with ice to the area. Leave it there for about three minutes to allow the wax to harden and then very gently try to lift the wax off with a plastic spoon. You need to be very careful when cleaning leather, as it is very soft, and you don’t want to scrape the surface. Instead, use more of a lifting motion getting the spoon under one of the edges. This is tricky and you could actually ruin the leather grain so be as careful as you can.

Next, you’ll need to apply heat with a hairdryer set to warm to soften the remaining wax. Remove the wax in layers as it melts. If there is any residue left behind, apply a leather cleaner using a microfibre cloth and massage it into the stain. Once it dries, apply a leather conditioner and it will help even out any discolouration caused by the wax.

To learn more about removing candle wax or stains around your home, call Maid4Condo at 647-822-0601 or contact us here.

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