How To Remove cured Selleys No More Gaps

How do I remove cured Selleys No More Gaps from a painted wall and PVC pipe?

There is no easy way to do it. Once Selleys No More Gaps has cured, the only recommendation is to safely scrape it away or use some other mechanical means.

That answer is backed by the product's own technical data, which puts the position plainly: clean up wet product using a damp cloth; dry product should be removed using a scraper. There is no solvent step in between.

Why the timing decides everything

No More Gaps is a water-based filler, and while it is wet a damp cloth handles it completely. The difficulty is how short that window is. On No More Gaps Interior Colours, for example, the published figures are a tooling time of 2 minutes, a skin time of 3 minutes and a tack-free time of 18 minutes. Cure rate is 4 mm in 24 hours and 8 mm in 72 hours.

Figures differ between the variants in the No More Gaps range — check the pack for the one you used — but the pattern is the same across them: minutes to clean up easily, then mechanical removal from that point on.

The practical lesson, if you are part-way through a job, is to deal with squeeze-out and smears now with a damp cloth rather than planning to tidy them up at the end.

Removing it from a painted wall

1. Work out where the filler ends and the paint begins before you start cutting. A cured bead sitting proud is easier to identify than one skimmed flat into the wall.
2. Score along both edges of the bead so you are separating it from the paint rather than tearing paint away with it.
3. Scrape the bulk away in sections, keeping the blade shallow. Plasterboard under paint is soft, and a steep blade angle gouges the wall.
4. Sand back the residue lightly rather than trying to scrape the last film off.
5. Expect to touch up the paint. On a painted wall this is usually unavoidable, and it is faster than trying to remove filler perfectly.

If you are removing the filler in order to redo the joint, the good news is that the surface preparation for the replacement is the same work: surfaces must be clean, dry and free from dust or grease.

Removing it from PVC pipe

PVC is more forgiving than plasterboard in one respect — it is a hard, non-porous surface, so cured filler tends to sit on it rather than key into it. It is less forgiving in another: it scratches and gouges readily, and a scratch in a pipe surface is permanent.

Work slowly, use a plastic or timber scraper where you can rather than a steel blade, and accept a light residue rather than pursuing a perfect finish at the cost of scoring the pipe.

What about a chemical remover?

Selleys' answer to this question recommends mechanical removal, and the No More Gaps data sheet says the same. Separately, Selleys Sealant Remover is the product in the range made for cured sealants, and its data sheet lists silicone, acrylic, SMP/hybrid and polyurethane sealants among what it softens. If you are facing a large amount of cured filler rather than a bead or two, check the Sealant Remover pack to see whether your situation is covered — but the recommendation for No More Gaps specifically remains mechanical removal.

For reference, Sealant Remover is used by scraping off as much old material as possible first, leaving a thin layer under 5 mm, then spreading at least a 5 mm thick layer of remover over it, leaving it at least 10 minutes, and scraping the softened material away. Residue and tools are cleaned with mineral turpentine.

A note on this page's title

The question here is about Selleys No More Gaps, not Liquid Nails, despite the page address. If you are trying to remove cured construction adhesive rather than gap filler, see removing dried Liquid Nails instead.

Safety: the chemical option is the hazardous one here

This page recommends mechanical removal, and mentions Selleys Sealant Remover as the range's product for cured sealants. If you go that way, its classification is worth knowing first, because it is the most heavily classified product in the sealant range.

It is classified as hazardous under Safe Work Australia GHS 7 with the signal word Danger, and is Poison Schedule S5 (Caution):

• H304 — may be fatal if swallowed and enters airways. Aspiration hazard, Category 1.
• H226 — flammable liquid and vapour. Dangerous Goods Class 3, UN 1133, Packing Group II.
• H336 — may cause drowsiness or dizziness.
• H315 — causes skin irritation.

More than 60% of the tub is petroleum naphtha. No hazard data is reproduced here for No More Gaps itself; read it off the pack.

What follows for this job

H304 is not an ordinary swallowing warning. It means that if the material goes down and any reaches the airways, it can cause a chemical pneumonitis that can kill. Light hydrocarbons flow rather than being coughed back, which is why the first aid instruction is to never induce vomiting — vomiting is the mechanism that gets swallowed solvent into the lungs. The reason it matters on this job is appearance: the product is a light beige paste in a 375 g screw-top tub that looks like more filler, and it is used in bathrooms and kitchens where children are. Lid on between applications; store it high.

The method is what generates the exposure. Using it means spreading at least a 5 mm layer of solvent paste along the whole bead, leaving it ten minutes, and then doing it again if the first pass did not lift everything. That is a large surface area of hydrocarbon evaporating into a small tiled room with the door shut — which is exactly the combination H336 describes. Open the window and the door and give the room air between applications. If you feel dull or light-headed, that is the exposure standard being exceeded, not a cue to keep scraping.

H226 plus a bathroom is a real ignition risk, not a theoretical one. A Packing Group II flammable liquid in a room that may hold a gas hot water pilot or a fan heater. Turn the heater off first, and remember the mineral turps you clean up with is a second flammable solvent. Nitrile gloves for H315, and safety glasses — you scrape back towards your own face in a shower recess.

The lower-hazard route is the one this page already recommends. Scoring the edges and scraping carries no chemical hazard at all.

Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand.

Common questions

Is there a solvent that dissolves cured No More Gaps?

Selleys does not recommend one. The advice is to safely scrape it away or use some other mechanical means, and the product data sheet says dry product should be removed using a scraper.

How do I clean it up while it is still wet?

A damp cloth. That is the whole method, and it works well — but only before the product skins.

How long do I have?

Not long. On No More Gaps Interior Colours the tooling time is 2 minutes, skin time 3 minutes and tack-free time 18 minutes. Check the figures on the pack for the variant you are using.

Will I damage the paint?

Probably, to some degree. Score the edges of the bead first and keep the blade shallow, then plan on touching up the paint afterwards.

Can I sand it off instead of scraping?

Sanding suits the last thin film. Removing a full bead by sanding takes far longer and puts more of the surrounding surface at risk than scraping the bulk away first.

What about on PVC pipe?

Use a plastic or timber scraper in preference to steel, work slowly, and accept a trace of residue rather than scoring the pipe.

Can I just paint over it?

No More Gaps is designed to be painted — Interior Colours can be painted with both water- and oil-based paints after at least 30 minutes, with wide joints best left 48 hours. If the problem is appearance rather than the filler being in the wrong place, painting over may solve it without any removal.

How do I avoid this next time?

Tape the area around the gap before applying, smooth the bead with a wet gloved finger or spatula immediately after application, and remove the tape before the product skins.

What removes cured silicone rather than gap filler?

Selleys Sealant Remover, applied about 5 mm thick and left at least 10 minutes. See how to remove old sealant for the full method.