As the popularity of chalk paint continues to increase in popularity with more and more people starting to use it for their home decor projects, we have noticed more and more people making simple, easy to avoid mistakes. Due to chalk paint being based on a different paint formula to give it the unique look and feel, you have to apply and seal chalk paint slightly differently to other popular paint formulas so it is understandable why so many beginners make these mistakes.
One of the more commonly asked questions that we have noticed people asking time and time again is based around what they should do if they apply too much wax on chalk paint. This is a very common mistake when waxing or sealing chalk paint and thankfully, it is easy to avoid as your gain experience in the process. If you have already applied wax to your chalk paint but noticed that you have applied too much then you are able to use a number of quick and easy fixes to remove the wax from your chalk paint, even if it has fully cured.
We will be going over these various tips and tricks in our article below to try and help you avoid having issues when trying to remove chalk paint from your wax. Although the process is very simple and easy, the majority of beginners do tend to make easily avoidable mistakes when trying to remove excess wax on their chalk paint.
How To Fix Too Much Wax On Chalk Pain!
The easiest way to fix having too much wax on your chalk paint is actually to add a new layer of fresh wax to the wax that has already been applied. The new layer of wax has chemicals in it that will be able to quickly soften the dry layer of wax on your paint allowing you to remove it much easier than you would be able to otherwise.
You do need to be using a decent chalk paint wax for this to work though as the cheaper, low quality wax products on the market can be a paint to re-hydrate. Thankfully, these better wax products are usually only a few dollars more than the cheaper ones while performing much better considering the small price increase.
We know that a large number of people tend to try and keep their budget as low as possible and may have initially gone with a cheaper wax product. Thankfully, you are still able to use this same trick provided your fresh coat of wax is from a decent chalk paint wax product as the oils will still transfer and be able to hydrate the cheaper product and prevent you from having any major problems when removing the excess wax.
How To Get Wax Off Of Chalk Paint Easily!
To easily remove excess wax from your chalk paint, apply a thin layer of fresh wax onto the old wax so the oils in the fresh wax can transfer to the old wax and re-hydrate it. Once it is softer, you can usually scrape the excess wax from your chalk paint with your finger nail but a small spoon or other suitable tool is usually the best option to take.
We have seen people suggest that you try to head up your wax with a cloth that has been dipped in boiling water as a quick and easy way to remove wax from a surface if you have accidentally applied too much wax. Although this can, and does work, it can be hit and miss as the extreme heat will often cause all of the wax to start to melt and run across the surface uncontrollably.
As you can probably imagine, this will often lead to more problems than it solves in most cases so we would highly recommend that avoid trying the hot water method unless you know exactly what you are doing. The same goes for using tools such as head guns too as they tend to cause the wax to just leak all over with minimal control over the situation.
How To Tell If You Have Too Much Wax On Your Chalk Paint!
You can usually tell if you have too much wax on your chalk paint due to being able to see the wax and it often looking cloudy. As a simple rule of thumb, if it is obvious to tell that your chalk paint has wax on it then you have usually applied too much wax to the surface.
Keep in mind that using wax on a surface that has chalk paint over it will always slightly change the look and texture of it due to the nature of the wax. This is unavoidable and will always happen but the trick is to minimise the effects of this and make it difficult to be able to see the wax on the surface unless you are specifically looking to check if the chalk paint has wax applied to it.
Many beginners tend to apply far too much wax to their chalk paint as the drastically over estimate how much they actually need. For regular waxing, you only need a single very thin layer of the wax over your chalk paint, for actual sealing, you will probably add the initial base layer similar to waxing, let it dry, and then add at lease one more layer of the same thickness, and potentially one final layer on top of that too.
How To Make Sure You Don’t Apply Too Much Wax!
It is easy to make sure that you don’t accidentally apply too much wax to a surface. Our recommendation is to apply very thin coats of wax got the surface and then let them dry fully before applying the next coat. This allows you to see how the wax is performing prior to deciding if you want to apply your next coat of wax and offers more control over the situation.
We actually have a full article going over how many coats of wax you should apply to chalk paint too. That should be able to give you a ball park figure of what you should be aiming for when waxing or sealing your chalk paint in a number of different situations to help prevent you from accidentally applying too much wax.
If you are looking to wax or seal a surface that you have painted with chalk paint that will be kept outdoors, especially in an area that gets a large amount of rain, wind, or snow then the situation does change slightly as you have to protect the surface from the elements. We have an article going over how you should seal outdoor chalk paint that goes into much more detail on this though.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how do you fix having too much wax on chalk paint to an end. Although it is a very common mistake that we see beginners make on a regular basis, having too much wax on your chalk paint can thankfully be a very quick and easy fix. Unlike some of the other common problems that we see time and time again that can be expensive or difficult to correct. The methods in our article should be able to help you remove the excess wax without issue and get you a nice finish for your chalk paint.
