How To Remove Double-Stick Foam Adhesive Tape From Horizontal AND Vertical Surfaces

Ugh.  Sticky stuff.  I love removing labels from containers to redecorate them (like Chloe’s Toy Doctor’s Kit from Target that I created a Silhouette decal for) and to reuse containers (like those cute Rice Select pasta & rice containers).

My latest nemesis?  The double-sided adhesive foam roll stuff… usually made by 3M.  I had used to mount our toddler behavior chart to the refrigerator, but we have retired that chart in favor of a more graphic one that I’ll post about soon.  The adhesive has been stuck to the refrigerator for literally months because I haven’t gotten around to dealing with it and it wouldn’t peel off easily.

Then I removed some of the stuff elsewhere on a horizontal surface and it dawned on me.  I was making life too complicated.

So, I got out small paper towel sheet and s piece of scotch tape…

1.  Fold the paper towel so that it covers the area of foam tape easily and allow extra room at the top if you’re removing adhesive from a vertical surface.

2.  Wet the paper towel.  Wet the entire thing for a horizontal surface or the lower half for a vertical surface.

3.  Place on the offending foam… just set it on there for a horizontal surface and tape the dry part onto a vertical surface with scotch or painters tape.

4.  Walk away & let it sit, sit, sit.  I accidentally left this one on overnight.  If you’re removing from a delicate surface, like wood or canvas, be sure to check on it and consider doing a test-spot first.

5.  Remove the paper towel.

As long as it’s still wet under there, you should be good.  If it doesn’t remove cleanly, let it sit longer.  If you have let it soak long enough…

…it will peel right off.  Cleanly.

On the right you can see where I tried to remove the foam before soaking it, on the left, it peeled up easily on the first try.

Boom.

Now we can live like civilized people who don’t have random foam on the refrigerator.