How To Wash Painted Walls
You love your sunshine yellow walls, but the fingerprints around the switch plate, not to mention the masterpiece created by your two year old call for attention. Before grabbing your spray cleaner and scrubby sponge, you will want to read this first. Properly painted interior and exterior walls are attention grabbers. But when it comes to maintaining the look of freshly painted walls, only the proper methods will keep them free of dust, dirt, mildew and grease stains. Preventive measures applied after cleaning the walls also help maintain a fresh look. Discussed below is the procedure to be followed when cleaning walls.
***NOTE: Most paints have a 30 day cure time before they can be wiped down!!!
Walls with latex paint
A non abrasive cleaner and hot water are your best bet when it comes to cleaning walls painted with latex paint. To get started, dip a clean, soft sponge into the water then use it to rub the wall. As you clean, beware of the areas that are touched often. Such areas include areas around the light switches and doorknobs. These areas are delicate and therefore need to be handled as such. Once you are done, you will need to go over the surfaces again, rinsing with a sponge dipped in uncontaminated water. Extra care should be exercised especially when dealing with electrical outlets, telephone wires, light switches and any other electrical connections. In fact, you should turn off the electricity from the main supply box before tackling such areas.
PRO TIP: USE a powder mix of TSP & water
Using a paste made out of baking soda and water along with a soft sponge is an effective way of tackling stubborn spots such as newspaper smudges, lipstick spots and fingerprints. If that doesn’t work, try using a cloth dampened with alcohol on the wood works.
Walls with oil based paint
Oil based painted walls are quite different from latex painted walls but that doesn’t mean that the cleaning is all the different. In the case of oil based painted walls, milder cleaners such as white vinegar mixture are more effective as compared to detergents. Simply dip a soft sponge in the white vinegar mixture or any other cleaner you have and use it to clean the walls using rubbing motions. Extra attention will need to be given to walls that are texture painted as these tend to accumulate more dirt within a short period of time. Such walls will need to be cleaned with a deep cleaning process such as a mixture of 1 ounce of borax and water to clean the surface.