Walls get dirty, particularly in the kid- and dog-level. Regularly cleaning your walls is key to keeping your house looking pristinely sparkling. Here’s a guide showcasing seven easy tips on how to clean and maintain painted walls without damaging them.
Dusting is the way to clean walls.
In most cases, the way to get rid of the cobwebs, dirt, dust, and grime is the simplest one you expect. To protect the vibrancy of your painted walls, you just need to run a microfiber dust cloth over your walls every couple of months. No need to take down pictures or move furniture. Covered areas do not get very dirty—and they do not show anyhow.
Moreover, do not forget to clean your ceiling. Despite gravity, some airborne dust particles still collect there. It should only take about 10 or 15 minutes to do an entire room. Vacuuming with soft brush works, too. Additionally, Grandma’s solution also works wonders: a clean, cloth wrapped around the head of a broom.
Wash your kitchen and bathroom walls.
Want to get rid of the grime and hard water markings left by steamy showers? Want to clear out unwanted odors and residual deposits left by constant cooking in your kitchen? Well, it is relatively straightforward to do, just clean the kitchen and bathroom walls least once annually. Do the same thing in other rooms as well. When cleaning them, make sure to always begin from the bottom, heading towards the top.
Gently rub it with a natural sponge and soap-and-water solution. Rinse a small area. Then, move up a little, and do an area which partly overlaps what you have already cleaned. Dry the wall using an old towel. Do not forget to clean and wash the woodwork too.
Make your very own wall-washing soap.
Homemade soap does an excellent job cleaning up painted walls. The mixtures found below are both inexpensive, easy to make, and as good as commercially-available cleaner solutions.
– Combine a cup of borax and two tablespoons of dishwashing liquid in a gallon of warm water. You can find borax in the cleaning-products section at the supermarket.
– Mix a cup of ammonia and one teaspoon of dishwashing liquid in a gallon of water.
Test a tiny section of the painted walls before cleaning it whole.
It is safe to clean and wash glossy and semi-glossy paint, often found in baths, kitchen, and on woodwork. Additionally, most modern flat and satin paint are also washable. However, it is best to test them in an unnoticeable point. If paint chalks off on your washing sponge, you should stop, and do not wash that painted wall. Furthermore, Never attempt to wash with trisodium phosphate (TSP), as it dulls the finish.
Wash high-traffic areas.
Even if you do not need to clean an entire room, the areas around switches and thermostats may require an infrequent washing. We recommend washing these portions about twice a month. Dirt and dust also tend to collect on the section of the walls behind TVs or other electronics. Additionally, dust and grime also accumulate above radiators or heating grates. If dusting does not get rid of them, you should clean and wash the area.
Touch up damage.
To keep painted walls looking fresh, touch-up damage as it occurs. Sand and touch-up a scraped or chipped surface, feathering the paint over the surrounding area. Fill in holes first. And coat a stubborn stain using stain sealers before touching it up. Now, if a leak causes peeling and bubbling, repair the leak source first. Next, you should scrape and sand the location and then, repaint it. Whenever possible, utilize the same paint left over from the initial job.
Computer-match your paint color.
Did a leak damage the paint in the corner of the ceiling and a bit of the wall under it? Then, you found out that there is no original paint left over. Does it mean you should repaint the entire room all over again? No! Here is how to fix it.
– First, just nib the painted wall with a sharp utility knife in an out-of-the-way area and get a good-sized chip.
– Then, take the chip to your local paint shop that has computerized paint-matching machinery.
– Lastly, they will then produce a recipe that you can use to match the paint’s original color.
Digital Color Matching is usually free, and it can save you from having to repaint an entire room for a few years.