How to Clean Dirty Walls the Right Way

You just had the interior of your house painted. After you gave your final approval and the painters left, you have loved admiring your walls. You hope they are this amazing for a good, long while! Keeping your beautiful rooms looking their best is actually quite simple—just clean them by dusting and washing the dirty walls on a regular basis.

But if you aren’t careful, you could damage your newly painted walls. Here are some tidbits of information you need to get the job done right.

The Right Type of Paint

You need to know what sheen of paint you’re dealing with before you start scrubbing the walls. If you’re cleaning a wall in a high-traffic room, such as the kitchen or bathroom, chances are that the paint finish has a higher gloss. In this case, you may be able to use more powerful cleaning products and scrub a little more without worrying about taking off paint. However, you need to be more delicate with satin or eggshell paint, which can come off more easily.

In addition to the sheen, the materials used in your paint can also determine how you clean them. For example, walls with latex-based paint require a different cleaning agent than oil-based paint (see below for more details on this). Paying attention to the type of paint on the wall can help you avoid accidentally using the wrong cleaner.

The Right Supplies

Regardless of the type of paint or the cleaning agent, there are certain supplies you should use for every wall: a non-scratch sponge, two buckets (one for water, the other for the cleaning solution), and towels or rags to dry the wall after washing.

The Right Cleaning Agent

Although it can be tempting to take a powerful degreaser or strong cleaner to the walls, you need to be careful that you’re using the correct product, or you could end up taking paint off instead. Again, while you may be able to use a degreaser on high gloss paints, you shouldn’t on satin or eggshell finishes. In fact, cleaning walls usually requires simple cleaning solutions.

For latex-based paints, you can use warm water and general all-purpose cleaner. Oil-based paint can be safely cleaned with warm water and dish soap. If you see noticeable stains after you’ve cleaned with the normal cleaning agent, hydrogen peroxide is usually gentle enough to bleach out stains without harming the paint.

With this information in mind, you can make the right decisions and take the right steps when cleaning your walls. As a result, you can hold onto that newly painted, perfect look long after the contractor leaves.

About Platinum Painting of McKinney

As North Texas’ #1 residential painting company, Platinum Painting of McKinney has served homeowners for more than a decade. Customer service is our first priority, even if we are only scheduling an estimate over the phone. Our job isn’t finished until we’ve cleaned up the mess and get your final approval. To talk to our customer care team, you can reach out to us online here or give us a call!