How do you clean your walls?

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Few_Scientist5381@reddit

I hoover mine with the bristle attachment, I have celler dwellers and they leave gothic horror cobwebs everywhere.

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Few_Scientist5381@reddit

I wish, I'd look well ropey in that outfit. 😆😆😆

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NaniFarRoad@reddit

You should, e.g. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh8263

> Wildfires are increasing in frequency, raising concerns that smoke can permeate indoor environments and expose people to chemical air contaminants. To study smoke transformations in indoor environments and evaluate mitigation strategies, we added smoke to a test house. Many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) persisted days following the smoke injection, providing a longer-term exposure pathway for humans. Two time scales control smoke VOC partitioning: a faster one (1.0 to 5.2 hours) that describes the time to reach equilibrium between adsorption and desorption processes and a slower one (4.8 to 21.2 hours) that describes the time for indoor ventilation to overtake adsorption-desorption equilibria in controlling the air concentration. These rates imply that vapor pressure controls partitioning behavior and that house ventilation plays a minor role in removing smoke VOCs. However, surface cleaning activities (vacuuming, mopping, and dusting) physically removed surface reservoirs and thus reduced indoor smoke VOC concentrations more effectively than portable air cleaners and more persistently than window opening.

A lot of science on this topic has come out since the most recent catastrophic LA wildfires.

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anabsentfriend@reddit

No wildfires in my neck of the woods!

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NaniFarRoad@reddit

No, I'm saying that after the wildfires, the issue of indoor pollution has come under a lot more attention than in the past (when we typically worried about car pollution, wood fires, etc).

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Cosmic2Ducky@reddit

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rkr87@reddit

Do people not clean their walls?

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Cosmic2Ducky@reddit

I bet you don't ever wash your ceiling

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rkr87@reddit

Funnily enough, kids and dogs struggle to reach ceilings - I do however dust there, do you just cobwebs?

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Cosmic2Ducky@reddit

No. I pay the spiders to clean it. They do it on the side as they don't won't get taxed on top of their main job as web developers.

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Oh-reality-come-back@reddit

I never do unless it’s a really obvious stain. I’ve just never thought to because nothing really touches it

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anabsentfriend@reddit

Why do you clean your walls? Do you have dirty walls? If my walls had marks on them I'd give them a fresh coat of paint.

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rkr87@reddit

So you're gunna paint your wall every time a dog/kid dirties them up? Good luck with that.

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DrZonino2022@reddit

You guys have walls?!

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Smeeble09@reddit

I clean marks off as best as possible, but regularly cleaning your walls is weird.

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ProfessorYaffle1@reddit

Yes. Not everywhere, but they do get marked - round lightswitches, and where you have pets or small children. Or clumsy people who spill stuff.

I use wetwipes. Usually its getting cat footmarks off from below the windows,

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M4l3k0@reddit

Absolutely, dogs and kids... Walls eventually get dirty. So glad I go with vinyl paint.

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Fyonella@reddit

Yes, of course they do!

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Fun-Lingonberry4676@reddit

Paint walls with satin paint its alot more durable than other paint can wipe it clean without losing paint.

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Chicken_shish@reddit

Shit paint.

Dulux diamond white is very expensive, but really washable. We have dogs. so this is tested regularly.

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Meta-Fox@reddit

Dulux is on the higher end of general consumer paint, but if you want the really good stuff go to your nearest Johnstone's Decorating Centre. It's where the tradies go. Don't expect it to be cheap, but you get what you pay for.

Source: My late mother worked at a Johnstone's for over 15 years. I vicariously learned a lot about paint and the trades.

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PuzzleheadedTie4757@reddit

He's referring to the trade version Dulux Trade Diamond Matt/eggshell. It's not a retail paint, you'll find it in DDC, Brewers etc

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Business_Act_127@reddit

I agree. Worked for them once. Good company with a quality product.

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skelly890@reddit

>Johnstone's Decorating Centre.

Or Brewers.

Little Greene Eggshell works pretty well if you need it to be scrubbable but without too much sheen.

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Suspicious_Tax8577@reddit

This. My sister tried to cheap out with paint from wilkos when she moved into her first house. Dad's told her in no uncertain terms that next time its dulux, or he's not doing the painting!

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Ok-Personality-6630@reddit

Use kitchen or bathroom paint. Or special kids washable paint.

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nightfire_83@reddit

Watered down paint. If you can, repaint with decent, wipable paint (most is anyway, just some more resilient)

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Raven-Nightshade@reddit

Bathroom paint is the easiest thing to look for.

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JaBe68@reddit

Something I have never understood is why everyone paints with matt paint. It absorbs everything and can not be wiped down. I slowly repaint with egg shell whenever I can - so much easier to clean.

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LeahDragon@reddit

Gloss or satin paint for the walls if you have animals, not matt. And good quality paint.

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No-Ease98@reddit

Sugar soap Read instructions on box

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VodkaMargarine@reddit

Well being a millennial I painted all my walls grey, which also happens to be the same colour as the dirt.

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yepyep5678@reddit

Sugar soap, you can get it from b&q

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MathematicianSad8487@reddit

Need to paint with good quality wipable paint . Cheap water based paint will come off with a wet cloth .

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Dry_Action1734@reddit

I’ve never thought about cleaning my walls. If there’s cooking splashes on every now and again, eventually I’ll just paint over it.

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fluffy_samoyed@reddit

My dog loves to make a mess of the walls, so I redecorated the house in kitchen and bathroom paints. They still transfer a little bit, but not nearly as much as normal paint.

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Terrible_Spot_3454@reddit

I clean the walls in the bathroom. Did it with a semi gloss cos moisture. And the kitchen as I find things get so gross in there quickly from cooking

I do the skirting etc once a monthish, sometimes doors, mainly the kitchen one or most high traffic. Those are all full gloss so v easy to clean.

All my rooms are painted so of they get dirty I clean what I can. Gotta be careful not to remove paint which is easy done. None of my walls are white so when I decorated, I got spare pots for touch ups.

I think I'm outside the norm though maybe? Cos I don't think any of my friends give two fucks about dirty/scuffed walls

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arenaross@reddit

Cleaning your walls?

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MassiveManTitties@reddit

This don’t seem right. Even the cheapest, lowest quality, badly applied, white contract matt should survive a damp rag or paper towel…?

Take a video of what you are doing cos there’s a missing link here…?

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AnonymousOkapi@reddit

Mine does come away on a cloth, its the custom colours ones from B+Q. Ive accepted this as a reasonable price to pay for having brighter colours than any of the off the shelf ones paints though. They look fab but they are not durable.

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Beneficial-Half-47@reddit

This is what I'm thinking. Questioning if the wall was ever even painted or if it's bare plaster....

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dwair@reddit

Cheap emulsion and a mini roller over the grubby bits. Ten mins gping round the house every 6 months keeps it fresh looking fresh.

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Hancri84@reddit

Repaint them

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deadeyes1990@reddit

If a wet cloth is taking the paint off, I don’t think you’re cleaning it wrong — I think the paint is just rubbish. I’d probably leave it for now and repaint with washable paint when you can, otherwise every mark is going to become a whole renovation project.

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Automatic_Screen1064@reddit

Buy better paint the valspar stuff in b and q is washable if you get the good one

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-myeyeshaveseenyou-@reddit

Washable paint. Or when I’ve not had washable paint a very gentle wash with a magic eraser, used this any time I moved out of rentals for scuffs. You do need to be careful to not scrub too hard or you will lift paint if it’s not washable

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Woodstocker77@reddit

Wet wipes, then kitchen roll.

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Beneficial-Half-47@reddit

Are you sure they are actually painted and you arent just living with bare plaster?

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sihasihasi@reddit

Bare plaster isn't going to wash off, now is it?

Crappy trade emulsion will just wash off.

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Beneficial-Half-47@reddit

Gotta be honest I've bought some pretty shitty paint in my life and had no trouble washing it, but I've got no experience attempting to wash bare plaster so Im not sure what would happen 😂

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sihasihasi@reddit

I've seen it happen.

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Beneficial-Half-47@reddit

Then I stand corrected!

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Oh-reality-come-back@reddit

There’s this white sponge that you rub on the wall for small stains and it cleans it off properly! Sorry I’ll come back if I remember the name . Maybe a magical sponge

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Tumeni1959@reddit

Internal walls? Figure out how they got dirty, then stop doing whatever that is.

By the time our walls are looking shabby, we're looking at repainting them.

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LilacRose32@reddit

How do walls get dirty? Cleaning them isn’t something I’ve ever thought about.

I got some damp fixed and had to repaint the area that dried out and began to flake.

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Prestigious_Sand1978@reddit

I moved into a house in January that has filthy walls. Some of the marks are too high up to be from her kids. I think her and the hand soap were estranged.

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Martipar@reddit

Children, pets and house guests often lean on walls, touch the walls, vomit on walls, rub on walls, put things on the walls and ther things that make the walls visibly dirty.

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MassiveManTitties@reddit

Pets and/or kids and/or busy HMOs… lots of reasons!

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a-liquid-sky@reddit

Shit paint, nowt you can do!

If you're renting, see if the landlord would be open to repainting with proper paint.

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danddersson@reddit

It could be distemper.

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Kent_Tog@reddit

My dog had that

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Prestigious_Sand1978@reddit

So did mine in 1978

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acorn298@reddit

My mum had that

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thorn312@reddit

I only clean the walls if I've spilled something, avoid anything abrasive like magic sponges and ideally if it's in your control, a decent cleanable paint will help.

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BalthazarOfTheOrions@reddit

This is why we have so many pictures on our wall, one for every stain.

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thorn312@reddit

Ha I've got a photo of my old cat covering a heinous coffee stain in my kitchen. My friend came over after a removed in and decided to make herself an espresso martini. She did not hold the lid on the cocktail shaker. She was suitably mortified 🤣

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ExcellentAd6853@reddit

I've never had dirty walls above toddler height,so I've always asked the decorator to leave the paint tin so I can do a touch up if needed.I have used a magic eraser too but they can be vicious!

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these_metal_hands@reddit

First, you need to paint your walls with better paint. Then, you can clean them a damp cloth.

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Kewgirl45@reddit

No chalk paint is very durable. All of the more natural modern ones are less hard wearing than Dulux etc.

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Impatient_butterfly@reddit

We have 4 kids and two dogs so I'm always washing the walls... Actually, scrubbing the walls. Our walls are painted with valspar. Very little paint comes off and they've been going strong for 5+ years. Even when I use an abrasive on stubborn marks, it doesn't leave an obvious patch.

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Cold-Kaleidoscope974@reddit

This is why I did my whole house in eggshell acrylic. You just wipe that bitch up good and proper.

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Kewgirl45@reddit

Get the white scrubbing sponges - you just use a light hand to rub scuffs off (esp need a light hand with matte chalk paint, F&B, COAT, Fired Earth etc). Magic Erasers. They’re brilliant. Or a light brush with a cream cleaner light CIF.

As for people not getting scuffs, lucky you! The rest of us get shoe marks, dog marks, hairspray etc on the walls and not all of us have hard wearing glossy plastic paint.

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NoEnthusiasm2@reddit

We've always repainted every house we've had with a satin. Housebuilders and landlords use the cheapest crappy matt paints around. Satin tends to stand up well to washing.

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kalendral_42@reddit

Sugar soap is great for cleaning just about anything, including painted walls

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CurvePuzzleheaded361@reddit

Most people use some kind of cleaner which stains the walls. You should only use water. A damp cloth is enough. If that removes the paint, then cheap terrible paint mustve been used, or the walls werent prepped well. Probably both.

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WatchingTellyNow@reddit

Go for paint with a satin or sheen finish, it tends to be more wipeable than matt finish. But yeah, you've got crap paint on your walls. Make sure you go over your walls with sugar soap before you repaint, so your improved paint can have a decent surface to stick to.

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