If you live in Philadelphia and have walls that have accumulated some nasty stains over the years then you may be at a loss on how to get those stains off. Removing stains from the walls of your homes especially in Philadelphia can be a tricky process as you don't want to damage the paint or other finish on the wall any more than you can get away with. Too much damage from stain removal will eventually result in your needing to get the wall repainted, so taking a careful approach can help delay the need for you to hire painters to resurface the wall. To get the best results, the approach you use will often depend on the type of stain you are removing. Different staining materials require different cleaners and techniques to loosen and remove the stain without harming the wall and its finish. So here are ten different ways to get specific stains off the walls of your Philadelphia home.
For general purpose cleaning you can begin with:
1. One gallon of warm water
2. Quarter cup of baking soda
3. Two Spoons of lime juice
4. Three Spoons of Vinegar
5. Three Spoons of baking soda.
Mix with warm water and use a damped towel to clean any surface.
1. Clean off loose dirt.
To start, get a bucket of clean cold water and one or more cleaning rags. Soak the rags in the water and rinse the excess water out. Wipe down the walls with the rags to remove the loose dust, rinsing out the rags and replacing them with fresh rags as needed. Once you have all the loose dust removed, fill the bucket with a solution of warm water and detergent. You can use dishwashing detergent or laundry powder. Use a sponge or microfiber cloth to wipe down the walls while rinsing it out as needed. This should get rid of any surface dirt but you may be left with deeper stains that may require one of the other approaches to remove. Be careful to rub the drywall gently because too much pressure may take the layer of paint off and damage the drywall.
2. Removing general grime.
Dishwashing detergent dissolved into warm water does a good job of cleaning off general grime for wall stain removal. You can also make your own cleaner using one cup of ammonia, half a cup of white distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar, and a quarter of a cup of baking soda. Mix the ingredients into a gallon of warm water and then use the result to clean the walls with a sponge or cloth. Wipe off with fresh water when you are done. This process will not only remove general grime but also disinfects your wall from micro bacteria which may have accumulated over the years. This method is especially useful for a home with kids or infants.
3. Removing crayon, pencil, ink stains,etc.
The secret to removing crayon, pencil and ink stain is acting quickly. Fresh crayon wall-stains can be removed quickly using a cleaning wipes or baby wipes if you have one handy. Cleaning erasers also work well for crayons. The graphite-based lead used in pencils is designed to be erasable, so pencil marks can often be removed with rubber erasers or art gum erasers. You can also try a suede stone or a melamine-foam eraser. A wet cloth dipped into baking soda can be used as a pencil stain eraser too. For oil-based materials such as ballpoint ink, you can try using foaming shaving cream to dissolve the stain. Spray it on and rub it over the ink stain. Wipe off with a wet cloth afterward. Hairspray and nail polish remover will also work. You can also try using the white chalky type of toothpaste (not the gel type) by rubbing it onto the stain, letting it sit on the stain for about fifteen minutes, and then wiping it off with a wet cloth.
4. Get rid of permanent marker wall stains.
Permanent markers are specifically designed to be hard to remove so getting these marks off your walls can be tough. Get some rubbing alcohol (Isopropyl Alcohol) and soak a cotton ball with it. Then use a cotton ball to dab the permanent marker stain until it is gone. Rotate the wad of cotton so that you are using an unstained piece with each dab. If that doesn't work then try using hair spray on the mark, and wipe away the resulting runs. You can also try nail polish remover. If none of these methods work, then take a dab of toothpaste and rub it on top of the marker stain. Let the toothpaste settle for five minutes and rub it off with a warm wet towel.
5. Get rid of kitchen grease.
Kitchen grease wall-stains can generally be removed by scrubbing with hot water and dishwashing detergent. Before you begin though you may want to get a plastic spatula and go over the greasy areas to scrape off any loose built-up grease first. Removing this easy-to-shift grease before cleaning with detergent will reduce the amount of detergent that you need to dissolve the remaining grease. If the grease is stubborn and taught to remove, your last resort will be to use WD-40 Degreaser. WD-40 Degreaser will remove the toughest of grease. Once the grease is removed make sure to go over the surface with dishwashing detergent to wipe out the strong chemicals from
WD-40 Degreaser.
6. Getting rid of soot marks from candles.
Candle soot tends to be a fairly greasy mix so most of the methods for removing grease will also work for it. You can also use rubbing alcohol to dissolve it and wipe it off. To restore the surface to the original look, use baby oil or kitchen counter polish to restore the shine.
7. Clean off greasy finger marks.
Fingerprint marks tend to be oil-based with some grime mixed in. For marks around light switches and doorknobs that have been there for a while, they may have been ground into the porous paint on the wall and may take some removing. This will be easier to do if the surface of the wall has a gloss finish, but most interior walls use a flat matte paint that can make finger marks hard to shift. To start with try using a mixture of dishwashing detergent and hot water. If that doesn't work then you can try distilled white vinegar dissolved into hot water. Use a ratio of around half a cup of vinegar in half a gallon of water. Clean with the mixture and then rinse off with fresh warm water. You can also try using white chalk to clean off any persistent finger marks. Rub a flat piece of chalk over the marks. The porous chalk should absorb the greasy finger marks. Wipe off with a wet microfiber cloth afterward.
8. Remove persistent grease stains.
If you are left with grease that doesn't want to come off despite all your scrubbing then you may need a more serious approach to shifting it. Get some absorbent paper and place it on the wall against the stain. Then use an iron to heat the area over the paper so that the grease under the paper melts and is absorbed into the paper. Do this a few times with fresh paper until you are not getting any grease being absorbed. Then go over the area with detergent and water to remove the remainder of the grease.
9. Clean off mildew.
Mildew is the result of a fungus feeding on grime on the wall, or on the material of the wall itself. For mildew wall stain removal, mix up a solution of one tablespoon of white vinegar in a quart of water and spray this solution onto the mildewed area of the wall. Leave the vinegar on for a few hours and then clean off with water and detergent. You can also use enzyme-based laundry detergent to clean off mildew. Follow the pre-treating directions for the detergent to soak the stain and then clean off the result with water.
10. Use cleaning erasers for fresh spot stains.
For fresh stains that don't need elaborate cleaning, you might want to try using a cleaning eraser such as
Mr.Clean Magic Eraser. You can buy these from most stores that sell cleaning products. These can be great for cleaning up small spot stains along with stains from your children's impromptu crayon wall art projects. With a bit of careful wall stain removal, those nasty stains and smears on the walls of your Philadelphia home will be gone in no time. And by using the right approach for each type of stain you can minimize the wear on the wall surface. If your walls are looking in need of some new paint after years of stain removal though then you can always find
Painters In Philly to help you get your house back to looking like new.