Cleaning hacks: The common cooking ingredient that takes permanent marker off tiles

A horrified parent has discovered their toddler has taken to their tiles with a permanent marker, making a terrible mess that won’t come up

“PLEASE HELP! My toddler drew on our tile and wooden floor with permanent marker,” they shared on Reddit’s ‘Cleaning Tips’ thread.

“We are in a townhome and I don’t know how to get this marker up.

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“This isn’t nearly as bad as it was because I scrubbed with spray and a microfibre cloth. Help!”

Explaining the situation, they later added, “I swear I turned my back for only a couple minutes and he climbed up to the counter to grab the marker.”

Redditors were quick to off up their advice, suggesting a range of methods that may work.

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“Denatured alcohol,” one person suggested, with another adding “definitely try alcohol and some elbow grease on it.”

“With how porous those materials are it may take some time to get it out if you can,” they added.

Others suggested using ethanol or isopropanol.

“I got the denatured alcohol tip from a professional woodworker,” another said.

“In housing manufacturing, you can get a lot of different substances on something you’re trying to build, like cabinets, countertops, finished woodworking stuff in the house.”

Another commenter said, “I write with Sharpie on glass all the time and a 70% ethanol or isopropanol solution works great. Iso is cheaper but ethanol is gentler.”

The parent was thankful for the advice, saying they would “get the rubbing alcohol now”.

They were advised to patch test the wood to ensure it wouldn’t be damaged.

One Redditor suggested using “Bona hardwood floor cleaner”, which another explained is ph neutral and has no alcohol, as alcohol “can do serious damage to wood”.

“Yes definitely do a spot test on the wood areas before pouring rubbing alcohol on it,” another said.

“Any oil based cleaner or spray could help a lot with taking it off it doesn’t need to be alcohol,” they added.

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One said to avoid Magic Eraser-style cleaners as they are “literally taking off the top layer of wood using it”.

Conversation then turned to some common household items that may clean the marker up without damaging the floors, including a common pantry staple.

“We learned that sunscreen takes sharpie off when my kids were on swim team,” one said.

“Sharpie was transferred from skin to leather seats once, due to sunscreen, so we used sunscreen to get it off the seat,” they explained.

“We’ve used that truck countless times. I even got sharpie out of an American Girl doll’s hair.”

Another suggested acetone, which is found in many nail polish removers.

“You can use acetone also and it evaporates faster than the alcohol,” they said

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Another commenter replied with a warning: “Have you ever used acetone on wood before? It strips the finish and stain right out. You have to completely sand and re-stain it.”

Others suggested vegetable or olive oil, as they would be “safer on the wood”.

Another shared this comforting advice:

“Don’t worry if you can’t get it all off now. I got permanent marker ink splattered all over my floor after stupidly flicking the the pen to get it to work… As people have said I used rubbing alcohol but after a lot of work it didn’t all come off.”

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“I gave up as it was only a temporary floor but after awhile I noticed it had gone away completely just from normal mopping,” the Redditor added.

To avoid further disasters such as this, the parent was warned they should “have markers accessible but to get the wash safe ones like carioca baby”.

“They don’t stain or anything,” they explained.

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