I think you’ll agree with me when I say no matter how nice you decorate or what home decor you use in your home to give it your distinctive taste if the walls aren’t clean or are damaged in some way it will distract from the appearance of your home.
Right now, you might be asking how do you wash walls or what should I clean my walls with or maybe how do you clean paneling. In my youth, I wondered if cleaning interior walls were really necessary. And yes, it’s important to keep the walls in your home clean and not just for appearance sake but for health reasons as well.
What’s the bottom line?
You had clean walls before but not now. We understand your pain and thought it might be of value to you to share some tips we’ve discovered along the way to get and keep your walls clean. We have several tricks to clean your walls that we’re certain will perk you up.
For instance, we’re going to share ways on how to remove stubborn marks from walls without damaging them, how to clean paneling, and how to clean wallpaper. We’ll share a few cleaning tips and tricks you can easily put into practice to make your life a bit easier while cleaning interior walls that are dirty.
Another word bears mentioning. Dirty walls concern health experts, especially folks affected with asthma as reported by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. According to their statistics, the number of people who have asthma has greatly increased to over 59 percent since 1970 reaching a whopping 9.6 million afflicted with this deadly disease.
In fact, the General Services Administration reports on dirt being deposited on walls through contact with people, objects, and furniture.
Before we get started I would like to share with you a time that I remember when I was a little boy living with mom and dad. We lived in a rented home that had wallpaper everywhere.
Back in those days, wallpaper wasn’t as washable as it is today and so we cleaned every square inch of it with a dough that came in a can. I remember getting all excited when dad handed me a hunk of the dough and showed me how to clean wallpaper with it. The dough worked quite well and I jumped right in rubbing the wallpaper with the dough as my dad had shown me.
Funny, though, I distinctly heard my mom giggling in the background as she leaned against the wall before she looked directly at him and quipped, “You don’t think he’s going to keep at it, do you?” Dad in his good-natured way glanced back over his right shoulder toward mom and commented back, “I don’t see why not.”
Mom pressed in against the wall a little bit harder and replied, “You’re naive to think the way you do. You’ll soon see what I’m talking about.”
Of course, as my mom knew, I soon got tired of the whole ordeal and quickly realized I could use the dough to make stick figures of little men and also roll some of the dough into little balls. I stood the men up on the floor and rolled them over as if they were bowling pins using my newly formed dough balls I made from the wallpaper cleaner.
And here’s the best part:
When mom saw me with my new found heroes she began laughing uncontrollably as she pointed her small index finger my way. She leaned forward toward dad and with a wide grin on her face softly, but with her authoritative voice, reminded him of her earlier remark about me not staying the course.
Dad never acknowledged her remark that day but kept on rubbing the wallpaper with the cleaning dough as if the conversation never took place. He was good at side-stepping a discussion that he couldn’t win and mom definitely won this one and all while I innocently kept playing with my newly created toys.
You can restore dingy wallpaper to its former luster as long as it’s washable wallpaper and you take a few preliminary steps before washing it. First, you must know if your wallpaper is washable.
To discover if your wallpaper is washable squirt a bit of dishwashing liquid in an inconspicuous spot. If your wallpaper gets darker or if it absorbs the water then it’s not washable. Also, look for the color to run and if it does then it’s not washable.
If any of these tests fail then washing your wallpaper is a no-no but you can clean it using wallpaper dough which is more difficult and out of the scope of this article. In either of these cases, instead of washing it use wallpaper dough to clean it.
To start the process use your vacuum cleaner with its wall attachment and vacuum every inch of the walls. If you don’t take this step you risk making things worse. Too much dirt on the walls leads to more scrubbing and the potential for damage but in any case, bypassing this step leads to working much harder to remove the dirt than if you simply vacuumed before starting to wash the wallpaper.
You’ll want to use the soft brush attachment and lift the dirt using the suction power of the vacuum cleaner. Don’t use the bristles on the attachment to brush the dust or you might make streak marks. Always start at the top near your ceiling and work your way down to the floor when vacuuming your walls.
Your cleaning solution is simple but effective. Simply pour 1 quart of warm water into a bucket and add 1/2 teaspoon of dawn dishwashing soap. Soak a soft microfiber rag in the warm water and wring out the rag until it doesn’t drip.
Always start from the bottom and work in an upward manner using small circular motions. Gentleness is the order of the day when washing wallpaper. Blot the area dry as soon as it is clean before moving to the next area.
In general, clean an area about 2 or 3 square foot that is directly in front of you until you reach the ceiling. After that section is completed then shift to the right or left a bit before cleaning another 2 or 3-foot area. Work your way around the entire room in this manner always be certain to dry each area completely before moving on.
But there’s a catch.
If your wallpaper has greasy stains they are most likely from the cooking grease in your kitchen. Although not a bad as in the kitchen, sometimes the cooking grease can become airborne long enough to make it to another room before sticking to your wallpapered walls. We have 2 tips to deal with this situation:
A thorough deep cleaning of wood paneling is usually only needed once in a blue moon depending on how dusty your home gets. A quick, effective but inexpensive cleaning solution is easily made by mixing 1 cup of white vinegar, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of lemon juice and 2 cups of warm water into a bucket. For light cleaning lean toward the 1/4 cup of lemon juice and more toward 1/2 cup for heavier cleaning.
This is Crazy:
Believe it or not, pantyhose make for an excellent cleaning tool because they have just the right amount of abrasiveness needed but are gentle enough to clean wooden paneling. As before, dip the pantyhose into the solution and wring them out so they don’t drip.
Once more start at the bottom and work upward to the ceiling. Use a small circular motion and work in the recommended area of 2 to 3 square foot to prevent unnecessary stretching which will tire you out quicker and make the task harder than it needs to be. As before, shift to the left or right as each section is completed from the top to the bottom and continue around the room until the entire room as been completed.
If your paneling is real wood and after it has been cleaned, I would recommend treating it with a wood replenishing product like Old English. This treatment will help to prevent the wood from drying out and it will enhance your paneling’s appearance. Just follow the directions on the bottle to apply the Old English.
Your little one has decided to draw his or her mural on your wall using their favorite colored crayon and you’ve decided it might be best to remove it but you’re not sure how. No worries, we’ve got you covered right here with our 4 tips we’ve come up with to remove stubborn crayon marks.
Here’s the deal:
Please be aware that these tips are best used on walls without wallpaper.
We hope you learned a tip or two to help keep your walls looking their very best. I’ve discovered over the years that a little effort applied on a regular basis goes a long way to keeping your walls clean and in tip-top shape.
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