If you have seen any kind of wall, you’d have noticed that walls gather dust over a period of time, which makes them look dull and dirty. Dirty walls also, unfortunately, possess the uncanny ability to make your house look exponentially grimy.
So it is very important to take care of your walls so that your house looks and remains bright and clean.
How to clean apartment walls
It can be a rather daunting task, however. For that very reason, we have curated easy methods on how to clean apartment walls, which will help you with yours.
We will look at walls that are wallpapered, painted and unpainted so that you do not face a problem no matter how your walls have been done before. So let’s get started!
Unpainted Walls
- Cover any furniture and/or valuables: All the furniture in the room should be covered with old bedsheets, newspapers, etc and any carpets should be rolled and kept in another room so that the dust from the walls doesn’t stick to anything else. It would also be a good idea to move all your furniture to one side so that you can clean all the dust that was on and around it and on the wall adjacent to it.
- Dust the walls: Dust the walls either with a vacuum cleaner, broom or a dusting brush. The instrument you choose to use for this task should be run up and down the walls vertically. Keep a ladder or a tall friend in handy for the hard to reach corners of the wall.
- Washing: Lastly, Wash the walls using a cloth or a sponge. Start with the topmost corner of the wall, and then move up, taking care so that you do not leave any streaks or drip marks behind.
Now you know how to clean apartment walls if they’re unpainted!
Painted Walls
- Remove Stains: Get a stain remover and take care of any stains that might have remained on it. Make sure to try your product on a small section of the wall so that you know it will not damage the paint on your wall. Make sure you read the instructions on your stain remover carefully and follow them accordingly.
- Washing: Fill two buckets with water for this step, and mix some cleaning solution in one and keep clean water in the other. Apply the solution on the walls first, as instructed for unpainted walls. If the dirt isn’t getting removed with some cleaning solution, you may use a cup of white distilled vinegar, and it won’t leave any residue behind. After five minutes of applying the solution, rinse it with the clear water in the other bucket. Make sure you keep changing or cleaning the cloth you use for rinsing so that the walls don’t catch dirt from the cloth.
- Spot cleansing: If spot cleaning is what you want to do, you can make one at home with half a cup of baking soda added to a gallon of hot water. Put this solution no a soft cloth or towel and rub the stain until it disappears completely!
Now you’re left with shiny, clean walls with the paint intact!
Wallpapered Walls
- Dust the Walls: Use a broom or a vacuum cleaner to dust the walls first.
- Clean Wallpaper: Wallpapers can be washed with warm, soapy water without causing any damage to them. A little ammonia will also do no harm to your wallpaper.
- Vinyl-Coated Wallpaper: If your wallpaper is vinyl-coated, you can use a mixture of water and vinegar to clean your walls. Dip a sponge in the solution and lightly dab it on the walls to make it clean again. Do not apply the vinegar directly to the walls.
- Mold: If there is mold on your wallpaper, and if the mold is bad, it would be best to use any proprietary cleaner which is suitable for your wall surface.
- Grease Stains: If there are greasy stains on your walls, simply using warm water to clean it off will also work nicely.
- Rinse: Take a cloth dipped in warm water to rinse off the cleaning solution of your wallpaper, and reveal a set of clean wallpapered walls which look as good as new!
Wooden Walls
When dealing with wooden walls, the biggest advantage is that you are not required to be very gentle with it, as there’s hardly anything that can get damaged during the process of cleaning wooden walls.
- Dusting: Dust the walls with a vacuum cleaner or a broom.
- Washing: Mix a mild detergent in warm water to create a gentle, mild solution that can be used to clean the walls.
- Removing Stains: If there are any stains on the walls, use a solution of a gallon of water and half a cup of vinegar. Dip a sponge or a cloth in it and rub the solution on the stain till it’s gone.
- Rinse: Use clean water to rinse the walls off any detergent solution which might still be on it. Since the walls are wooden, there is a possibility of it rotting if it is not dried properly. Therefore, make sure you dry it properly with a clean, dry cloth so that all avenues for developing a wood rot are shut fast.
Now you have a set of good, clean wooden walls, free from chances of further harm
Conclusion
Here are the ways in which you can clean your apartment walls. It can be quite a task, depending on the size of your apartment and how dirty your walls were, to begin with, but it is a very rewarding task as it leaves your apartment looking as good as new.
As a rule of thumb, if you can, use wallpaper on your walls, and keep changing them for ease in cleaning and maintenance!
We hope this guide on how to clean apartments was helpful to you and you achieved squeaky clean walls.