Can WD-40 Fix / Clean It?

I'm going to start a new, ongoing, set of posts about one of the handyman's best friends - WD-40.

Did you know WD-40 has its own fan club? Did you know that there are over 2000 uses for WD-40?

A wise man once said, "if it moves and it shouldn't, use duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use WD-40." Truly words of wisdom. I'm going to start looking for places to use WD-40 around the house to see just how many uses I can find for it.

Use #1 - Cleaning sticky glue from carpet.
We had a major spider problem when I moved into this house, so I bought some sticky spider traps. They work great. They are about the size of a postcard and have very sticky glue on one side. You just lay them down and wait for the spiders to get stuck on them.

One day I tried cutting one of the traps into strips to tape together to make one long trap. I stuck it across the bottom of my door so that the spiders would have to hit it when they snuck under the door. Well, of course I ended up stepping on it later that day. I got it stuck to my carpet, and the sticky residue is still there months later.

Here's the before image. It lost a lot of its stickiness as it got dirty, but it definitely is not coming off that carpet easily. Armed with an old toothbrush and a can of WD-40, I attacked the spot.

After letting it soak in for a few moments and giving it a little elbow grease with the toothbrush, the stain is mostly gone! Looks like WD-40 did the trick.

Effectiveness: 10/10. This couldn't have been easier or more effective.