Whether it’s stuck in hair or on a wall, bubble gum is one of those substances that’s a nightmare to remove. Even when you’ve spent a lot of time removing it, and you think you’ve gotten all of it, there’s still a sticky residue left behind! From ice and vinegar scrubs, DIY methods of bubble gum removal are, at best, painstaking. Check-out the complications that can occur with common DIY bubble gum removal methods.
Whether you should heat or freeze the stuck-on bubble gum from a surface depends on the surface, where the bubble gum is located, the time of year, and the climate. If the bubble gum is stuck to an outside surface, and it’s warm outside, use ice. Unless, of course, it’s too warm outside. If the bubble gum is stuck to an interior surface, use heat, but only if the heat won’t damage the surface you’re heating.
Heat & Ice
There are many questions that make it unclear which method to use, and perhaps the best decision on whether to heat it or freeze it would better start with a college course in physics. Even if you luck-up and make the best decision, it may take you several tries, plus other steps to completely remove the bubble gum.
Scraping & Scrubbing
Scraping works to remove bubble gum, especially if you scrape while freezing and heating, but most surfaces will be damaged in some way after scraping them. Ceramics will become more porous and less resistant to stains, and surfaces like wood will leave scratch marks unless you’re very gentle. Yet, if you’re too gentle, the bubble gum won’t even come off!
If you get to the point where you’ve scraped most of the bubble gum off, but there’s still a few specks hanging-on for dear life, as well as that sticky residue and unsightly stain, you can finally move on to the scrubbing process.
Scrubbing an already raw surface area, however, is also likely to lead to damaging the surface. Vinegar is a great way to help with the scrubbing of the residue, but you might think the residue is all gone before it actually is because your fingers or gloves have so much bubble gum residue on them that you can’t even tell.
Any combination of these DIY methods might remove some bubble gum at first, but complications will most likely lead to at least three battles with the stuck bubble gum! If you don’t want to deal with all that, contact a professional today. Professional pressure washing works great for exterior bubble gum removal: the first time!