How to clean a mouse pad without ruining it? 3 best ways.


How to clean a mouse pad without ruining it?

  • Determine your type (cloth, rubber, electronic)
  • Logitech G: Wipe with wet microfiber cloth.
  • Rubber: Wash in sink with DAWN soap, rinse, repeat.
  • Avoid alcohol & acetone
  • Wood: Wipe with soapy water, rinse
  • Touchpad: wipe with damp (soap free) cloth until clean.
  • If extensive damage has occurred, then take touchpad apart
  • Unplug, clean with damp cloth, reassemble, dry

You will Learn & get:

  • How to clean a mousepad
  • Different types of mousepads that can be cleaned
  • Best ways to clean these mousepads

Is your mouse not moving as smoothly across your mouse pad?

Most of the time it is because of the energy drink or food you spilled on your mousepad….and didn’t clean it up. Yeah, I’ve been there too.

Well now we can give you the tools to learn how to clean your mousepad without ruining it and wasting your time.

Ok. What is the best way to clean a mousepad? This thing is pretty dirty!

Let’s check it out:

What type do you have?

  • Most common. Most mousepads are made up of low-density rubber with the fabric attached on the top surface.
  • Other types involve the use of fabric, plastic, recycled rubber, neoprene, glass, wood, and stainless steel. All of these materials are used for the ball mouse and the laser mouse.
  • The touchpad is made of electronic circuits and a special type of plastic.

Neoprene mousepads (rubber base, fabric top)

Most common. This mousepad consists of rubber which does not absorb water and it will be easy to dry after it is cleaned with water. You do not need to wait for a long time to use this pad. You can even wash this mousepad inside the washing machine.

Avoid: alcohol and acetone. Acetone, especially will destroy your mousepad by disolving the rubber glue that holds the fabric on. Get too much on the mousepad and you could be in worse shape than you were with the spilled coke!

Process

MaterialProcessAvoid
Neoprene
(rubber)
1. Wash in sink,
2. Use DAWN
dish soap,
3. Washcloth,
4. Rinse,
5. Repeat
6. Let dry
7. If really dirty
use washing
machine
alcohol &
acetone
Fabric 1. Wash in sink,
2. Use DAWN
dish soap,
3. Washcloth,
4. Rinse,
5. Repeat
6. Let dry
Washing
machine
Logitech G
Powerplay
Wireless
1. Microfiber cloth
2. Wet and rub til clean
Hand wash only
Logitech G440 Same
Wood
(Bamboo)
1. Gently wash,
2. Use any soap,
3. Washcloth,
4. Rinse,
5. Let dry
washing
machine
Laptop
touchpad
1. Use damp
cloth
2. gently scrub
3. Use soap
only if
necessary
4. Let dry
Washing
machine,
sink or
bathtub.
Water is
horrible
for
electronics

Cloth based mousepads

Sometimes only cloth is being used as a mousepad so you can wash it directly underwater or you can put it in the machine. In this case, you will also have to wait for a long time to get it dried. You can wash your cloth mousepad inside the washing machine but it should be thick enough.

Wrist rest mousepad

There is a special type of mousepad that has extra rubber at the site of placing the wrist. To clean this, you should start from the edges of the wrist rest location. This can be done with cloth or brush. You can use shampoo and other surfactants on this. It is difficult to clean so you can put it in the washing machine and run the washing machine at a low-speed with detergent.

Hard surface mousepad

This type of mouse pad is produced by using the wood, glass, or metal sheet. The hard surface mousepad is easy to clean but there are fewer options. You can put strong detergents on a hard surface mousepads. You can use the hard brush on this mousepad but you cannot put it in the washing machine. Putting this type of mousepad in the washing machine can damage your washing machine.

Touchpad Cleaning

Cleaning this type is very difficult because you cannot use water, directly. The touchpad is always attached to laptops or MacBooks.

  • If there is less dirt on it, you can easily clean it with the cloth. It can be cleaned even by
  • Adding a little surgical spirit on the Touchpad and cleaning with a cloth.
  • You cannot use water for cleaning the touchpads. This is because using water will damage it. Moisture can get inside the Touchpad and corrode the electronics.
  • Be careful. Applying excessive force can damage the touchpads also.

Conclusion

We can conclude that it is easier to clean the regular mousepads, which are made up of rubber and material like that. The second level of difficulty is cleaning the hard surface mousepads. Cleaning the touchpad is most difficult. If you follow the proper procedure, you can clean your mousepad easily. You can do it yourself and clean all types of mousepads without any professional help when you understand the basics.

D. Hahn

DIY guru, dad, husband, blogger. When I'm not creating life hacks I'm teaching my kids how to fix stuff after their dad breaks it.

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