Many of our customers often ask us about the proper way to clean painted walls. By rubbing too hard or leaving a stain on too long, shiny patches can be left behind, marring the surface. The trick to keeping painted walls clean is to react quickly and gently.
How should you clean painted walls?
Start with clear water on a nonabrasive rag and rub the stain gently. If that doesn’t work, dip the rag into water mixed with a little dishwashing liquid, the milder the better. If the stain persists, the next step would be to apply a few drops of the soap directly onto the rag you’re using (or even directly onto the stain). If you finally need to resort to a stronger product like Fantastik or Formula 409, realize that those products have strong solvents in them that can soften the paint surface, especially if they are left on for a while. Make sure that whatever you do to get rid of the stain, you rinse the wall afterwards with plain water.
Are there different types of stains?
There are basically two types of stains – oil and waterborne. Frequently just a wet rag takes off the waterborne ones like wine, jello, ketchup, or even smashed bugs. For oily stains like cooking grease, crayon, or shoe polish, you may need to escalate to the mild dishwashing soap method.
What about scratches or dents from chairs, strollers, etc?
For scars you already have on walls, you can do touch-ups with paint from the leftover cans provided to you by Colorworks. Be sure to smooth out any abrasion beforehand and keep your patches as small as possible. For little patches, stipple and dab on the paint. That will even out the gloss and sheen and minimize the difference in texture between new and old paint. Of course, Colorworks is always available to provide service calls for touch-ups.
(Excerpts from www.housebeautiful.com)
