How to remove tar and bitumen

It is always very difficult to remove tar and bitumen. Tar seems to go everywhere and the more you clean it the further it spreads. It also sticks to your hands and cleaning cloths. Recently on a construction project of my tiny house garage annex conversion project, which you can read more about on this blog, I removed the old felt roofing, and the tar went over the nice white window frames and downpipes.

Instructions to remove tar

I was looking in my shed for a product that could easily remove tar. I decided to give the WD40 as this is oil based and it cleans oil of engines. Oil is a major component in tar so here was a similarity.

To clean the plastic, glass and brick that had got tar on it, I firstly put on a par of disposable gloves to protect my hands. Then I started by spraying liberally with WD40. I used a washing up sponge and rubbed down the area with the smooth side on upvc plastic windows frames, drain pipes and glass panels. On a brick wall which also had tar on it, I used the abrasive side. On the upvc plastic windows and glass I polished it with paper towel to make it look shiny and new. Very quickly I managed to remove the tar.

If you want to watch my attempt at removing tar you can see it here on you tube:

or as a short here