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Some of my friends were painting the third story of their frat house today, it was sketchy/impossible to do from the windows so they asked me to rappel down and get it for them. I got a few specks of paint on my rope, nothing huge, just like two or three little eraser sized or smaller spots, Is the rope still ok to use? I read a lot about acidic solutions such as paint thinner and battery acid causing damage, but nothing on paint. It seems acidic is the main problem and paint is basic, but only slightly, so i don't think i'm too worried about it.

Sent the rope to me. I'll test it for the next few years for you.

is it oil based or acrylic (water-based) paint?

not sure if that would even make a difference, but i would personally feel better about climbing on it if it were acrylic. also, lots of paints will have strange additives that you might want to look into.

paint thinner is not acidic, however it will dissolve your rope. if the paint was not solvent based I wouldn't worry too much. then again i would still use the rope either way.

Find out the paint and ingredients. If anything is known to cause damage to Nylon, then pitch the rope, its not worth it. You are probably fine though.

This is advise from someone who knows a lot about paint, and not so much about ropes. The paint, whether it was oil base or latex, most likely is only on the surface of the rope and barely got into the outer layer. Since it is only a few splatters, it should be no problem. If your rope got a thinner on it or very much oil base paint, then I wouldn't use it any more. Thinners, also used in making oil paint, tend to melt nylons and plastics depending on the thinner and amount.

i would pm redpoint. i think he's an industry rep or something like that

The paint was latex based. I didn't see anything that could be a problem. Not flamable or combustible and washed off with light soap and water.

KD wrote:i would pm redpoint. i think he's an industry rep or something like that

I'll paraphrase Redpoints response....

"Black Diamond said you should retire it."

Haha, I figured it would be something like that. After gong over the rope again, I can't even find the spots. I think I'll probably continue to climb on it, unless smeone can specifically say latex paint has a negative effect on nylon.