How To Remove Stains From Your Walls
Removing stains from your walls can be a daunting task, but it’s important to think of the rewards; not just making your wall look great but also ensuring a clean home with no surface stains.
Stains such as fingerprints, dirt and dust and water stains can damage your walls, and while it may seem that addressing them is arduous, with the right tools and approach, this will be much easier to do.
Consider your approach:
Depending on the extent of the mess, you might approach cleaning up your walls differently.
In some cases, hiring a painting contractor with the expertise in residential painting services can help you in removing stains from your wallpaper safely, so look to see if there are any nearby. In extreme cases, it may be worth simply repainting!
Gather your tools:
There are specific items to make use of when eliminating stains from your walls. Here are some tools that might be useful for cleaning stains:
- A natural sponge (avoid using a coloured sponge)
- Broom
- Clean water
- Brush
- Dust cloth
- Vacuum with broom attachment
- White cleaning cloths
- Lamb’s wool duster
- Buckets
- Rubber gloves or washing-up gloves
- A step tool
Know your stains:
Image Source: houselogic.com
First, identify the type of stain you’re dealing with, as cleaning procedures differ between them.
Some common types of stains are:
- Water-based stains (e.g. coffee, ketchup, wine, food etc.)
- Oil-based stains (e.g. cooking oil, gasoline, grease, crayon etc.)
- Dirt and grime buildup
- Permanent marker or Ink
- Mildew
Removing stains from your walls:
Cleaning stains from walls is a big task, so prepare yourself well. Here are some methods of cleaning stains from your walls:
1. Removing stains from oil-based painted walls:
Using an all-purpose wall cleaner is one of the best ways to clean heavier stains such as oil or grease stains. This all-purpose wall cleaner is best used wall painted with an oil-based paint. The process of making an all-purpose cleaner for cleaning your oil-based paint walls is:
- Take one teaspoon of liquid dish detergent and stir into a quart of warm water.
- Add ¼ teaspoon of white vinegar.
- Finally, allow the solution to sit on the stain for 10 minutes before drying.
The main advantage of using an all-purpose cleaner is that you can adjust the cleaner according to the size of your wall and stain.
2. Removing stains from a latex painted wall:
Removing
stains from a wall painted with latex paint is simple. All you need to
do is to make a nonabrasive, all-purpose cleaner by mixing ½ cup vinegar
and ¼ cup baking soda into one or two litres of water. Then, dip a
clean sponge in the cleaner, wring it dry and gently rub the wall to
remove stains.
Be careful while cleaning the spots around light switches and other electrical connections; you’ll want to make sure you turn off the electricity at the circuit box before cleaning those areas.
Texture-painted walls, particularly those with a trowled finish might require deeper cleaning, so adds 1 ounce of borax in the water for cleaning the wall.
3. Use a DIY magic eraser when cleaning your wall:
A DIY magic eraser is the most suitable option to remove crayon, pencil marks, Ink or even furniture scuffs. You can easily make one at home. All you need is the following ingredients:
- ½ teaspoon of Borax
- One teaspoon of baking soda
- And ½ cup of warm water.
When these things are ready; take a rag or sponge, dip it into the solution, and clean your walls.
Removing stains from wallpaper:
The vivid colours and varied textures available in wallpaper are enough to liven up any room; but when it is the time to clean, they can cause problems. The following are some cleaning tips for removing stains from wallpaper:
As the colour, texture and coating of wallpapers vary, you should be aware of the different types of wallpaper you have, and how best to clean them. For instance, cleaning coated fabric wallpaper is comparatively easy as it is covered with acrylic or vinyl, making it easily washable.
- Use a lambswool duster or a broom to dust the wallpaper before you clean. For older, non-coated wallpapers, use a dry sponge to remove stains. While removing dirt, rub it gently against the surface of the wall. For scrubbable or washable wallpaper, you can use a natural sponge by dampening it with a warm water solution and adding a small amount of liquid detergent.
- To remove finger marks or smudges from your wallpaper, use an art gum eraser and rub on the stains lightly. You can also use commercial wallpaper cleaners to remove stains.
- We advise you not to use any abrasive cleaners, scouring powder, or even soft-scrub cleansers when cleaning wallpaper as they contain abrasive particles, which can damage the wallpaper’s coating.
When removing stains from your wall, follow the approaches mentioned. If you want to know more about painting your home to remove stains, contact a professional painting service provider.
