One of the first things that a visitor notices when they enter your home is the walls. Beautifully colored walls can significantly enhance the beauty of your entire home. However, no matter how well painted and decorated the wall is, if the walls of your home are untidy and filled with stains and marks then it will dampen the look of your house. Those who have naughty kids at home know the pains when their little ones make the walls their favorite canvas. But, amidst all these things you have to keep your walls clean. And if you are wondering about how to keep painted walls clean without removing and damaging the paint then here’s the post worth checking. Because today I am sharing a few quick and simple cleaning hacks that’ll help you to keep painted walls clean, without damaging and removing paints.
I personally am a clean freak and I ensure that everything in my house is well organized, and clean including walls, ceiling and floor of the house. No matter how strictly you follow your daily and weekly house cleaning routines, walls attract dirt and dust. Usually, a soft duster can be used to dust off the dirt from wall. But what become challenging is wet stains like stains of coffee, tea, sauce, food, oil etc. Getting rid of such hard satins need proper cleaning techniques or else you may end up removing or damaging wall paints. But that does not mean, keeping your wall clean and dirt free is not possible. I am sharing some of the most effective cleaning hacks that you can apply to keep painted walls clean without removing wall paints.
Let me tell you that if you got a big home and you plan to do all the cleaning of your walls in a single day, then it is going to be a complete failure. This is because, deep cleaning of all the walls in your home will take a lot of time and hence you may run out of energy, if you try to do it all in one go. So, what you need to do is to divide your work room wise and clean one room at a time.
When you are planning of deep cleaning, then try to concentrate on the portions of the walls that are easily prone to dirt for example those of your kitchen, bathroom, the portions near the windows etc. And, for the other spaces in the walls, it is good to clean them once monthly. But if you have got time, you can plan and clean the entire house in one go, so it’s totally up to you. But what works for me is cleaning one room at a time and hence I divide my cleaning tasks
So, are you ready to learn about how to clean painted walls, without damaging the paints? I guess you are. So let me get to the point.
Tips to keep painted walls clean without damaging paints
Beautifully painted walls look great but keeping it clean can be challenging for many of us. Getting rid of dirt and stains which can be just dusted off is no easy job. If you use harsh techniques, you may end up damaging the paints on the wall. Listed below are the simple yet the most effective cleaning hacks that will help you to keep painted walls clean without damaging paints.
Basic dusting
Accumulation of the cobweb, dust and dirt makes the walls really ugly and unhealthy. Moreover, they also shorten the life of the wall paint. But, to get rid of these dirt and dust, basic dusting with a soft duster works well. Microfiber dust cloth with a long-handed sweeper is the best tool for dusting on walls. Concentrate on the portions that are more exposed to the dirt. You may not take down the wall hangings or the pictures every single time you dust the walls, but be careful while cleaning such portion of the wall.
As far as dusting the walls are concerned, do not forget the ceilings. Many airborne dusts get collected there and so dust the ceilings as well. The standard time to dust one room will be around 15-20 minutes. You can divide the dusting work if you do not want to do the entire house at a time.
Kitchen and bath walls
It is preferable if you give special attention to the kitchen and bath walls for obvious reasons. These walls get most dirty and it is good if you can go for some deep cleaning 2-3 times every year.
Wash the walls properly and remove all residues of cooking and steamy showers. Rub the walls gently from the bottom using a natural sponge and soapy water. Wash and clean small portions and then move upwards and start cleaning the portion that overlaps partially with the area that you have just cleaned. After that, dry the walls using an old towel. Do not miss out woodwork as well.
Custom wall washing soap
Instead of depending on the harsh commercial market soaps, you can make your own wall washing soap using some of the common and easily available ingredients. Here are the simple steps to create your own custom wall washing soap:
Take a cup of borax and mix with 2 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid. Pour the two in a gallon of warm water. Use this mixture to deep clean the wall.
Another mixture that you can make is by taking around 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid and 1 cup of ammonia. Now pour both the ingredients in a gallon of warm water and mix well and you are good to go.
Ensure the paint is washable
Every wall paints are not washable and hence it is seriously important to do a bit of testing before you start cleaning the painted walls, especially for the first time. If you see the paint chalking off on your sponge, then it is better to avoid cleaning such painted walls.
Walls that are painted with glossy or semi-glossy paint are usually washable. Such paint is very common applied in kitchen and washrooms. Even, the satin paints are okay to be washed. But, still, I recommend everyone to test it first and ensure that the paint is washable. However, never wash your walls using trisodium phosphate (TSP) except if you have plans to repaint soon. This is because it dulls off the finish.
Cleaning high traffic areas
Your entire home does not need a thorough cleaning frequently and so you must put more emphasis on the high traffic areas of the walls. For instance, the portions of the wall near switch board needs to be cleaned most frequently. Also, the portions behind your sofa whether someone’s hair has made a greasy spot on the wall needs deep cleaning.
Dirt also gets accumulated on the walls behind the TV or any electronics and also above heating grates and radiators. So, if you find dusting is not giving satisfactory results, you may wash those portions of the walls.
Wash the walls before repainting
If you have any plans of repainting your walls soon, then you must never forget to wash them properly before repainting. The reason is that although the new paint will cover all the dirt, it will ultimately not stay for much long. Therefore, if you want your new paint to stay longer and your walls to remain attractive for long, then please repaint on a clean surface. Trisodium phosphate is a good option with which you can clean your walls before repainting.
Moreover, using TSP will also make the previous glossy paint dull thereby enabling the new paint to adhere better on the dull surface of the walls. So, please try it out as it is one of the simple tricks to keep your painted wall clean and beautiful for a longer time.
Removing spots and stains
See, if you have kids at home, it is not just dust which you find on the walls but many other marks probably. But, instead of worrying so much, if you use the right ingredients to clean the marks, then your walls will look like the newly painted one.
Here are the few situations that you may consider:
If you have dirty hand prints of your kids all over the walls, then you can use the mixture of baking soda and water to clean your walls. Simply apply the solution to the target spot using a soft cloth and then wipe it gently using a damp sponge.
In case of small wall smudges, you may simply rub the portion gently with an art-gum eraser.
And, if your naughty kids have painted the walls with crayons, then you may remove those marks using a good oil lubricant.
In case of spots of any ink or marker, take the help of rubbing alcohol.
For grease, mineral spirits are best.
Go for darker paint shades
The color of your paint is a very important aspect that makes your rooms look beautiful. It is basically the choice of the owner regarding what kind of paint color they want to have. Many want bright colors while others prefer light soothing colors. That is actually right as after all you live in the house and you have the right to choose the colors as per your choice.
But, if you are considering the cleanliness factor, then before choosing the paint color, you need to keep in mind that the subtle colors may look nice but maintaining them is difficult especially when you have kids at home. So, take it all in consideration before choosing a shade. If you have to take my advise then you may go for darker shades especially in the walls of your kids or in the rooms where your kids are mostly active.
Also, in the high traffic areas like for example in the kitchen, the strong smokes will already make the walls dark and so if you have a higher shade there, probably that will make them look less dirty.
This is my personal suggestion just to lessen your cleaning load as I feel it to be one of the easy tricks to keep your painted walls clean and fresh looking for a long time. Rest is upon you to decide.
The bottom line
Most of us have the dream of making our home look best and one such thing that makes our interior space look beautiful is the painted walls. It is the walls that most of us first notice when we enter any home and hence naturally, it is an important aspect. The painted walls can make the whole room look bright or it can make the space very gloomy and dull, especially when the walls are not cleaned properly and regularly.
While the paint color is one important factor, the condition of the walls also matter a lot. Cracked walls, untidy walls or walls full of cobwebs hamper the whole aesthetics of the house. In case of cracked walls, you have to go for repairing but as far as the cleaning of the wall is concerned, it is definitely on your hands.
Having naughty little ones at home makes it difficult to keep the home clean all the time. In fact, most of them find the walls to be their favorite painting board. Childhood is the best phase of an individual’s life and sometimes it is hard to keep an eye that the kids are not dirtying the walls. But, what you can do is to take a little more effort and keep your walls clean.
In my today’s article, I have talked about some of the best cleaning hacks and tricks that’ll help you to keep painted walls clean and fresh for long. The methods I have discussed above are cost effective and easy to apply. I personally suggest deep cleaning every 3-4 months as only then will your walls look new as always.
Also, remember that it is not only your duty to keep the home and the walls clean but also the duty of other family members. Hence, you all must divide the work among yourself which will not put unnecessary burden on any single individual. And, as far as the kids go, try to tell them not to untidy the walls and rest is upon them to follow.
So, if you find it hard to keep painted walls clean without damaging the paints then, you may like to try some of the cleaning hacks we have discussed above. I hope that if you take proper care and use these tricks carefully, then you will be also able to keep your walls clean and that too without disturbing the wall paints. And, do not forget to share your feedbacks one you try these wall cleaning hacks. How do you ensure your walls are cleaned all the time, especially without disturbing the wall paints?
Until, then, stay clean and please do like, comment and share my post with others and follow our blog to learn about simple home improvement tips and tricks.
I personally am a clean freak and I ensure that everything in my house is well organized, and clean including walls, ceiling and floor of the house. No matter how strictly you follow your daily and weekly house cleaning routines, walls attract dirt and dust. Usually, a soft duster can be used to dust off the dirt from wall. But what become challenging is wet stains like stains of coffee, tea, sauce, food, oil etc. Getting rid of such hard satins need proper cleaning techniques or else you may end up removing or damaging wall paints. But that does not mean, keeping your wall clean and dirt free is not possible. I am sharing some of the most effective cleaning hacks that you can apply to keep painted walls clean without removing wall paints.
