Freshly painted interior walls help make your home look like new and provide accent to each room’s features and furnishings. Over time, though, dust, dirt, and airborne contaminants adhere to walls and slowly dull their finishes. A thorough wall cleaning can restore the luster of your interior walls and, if done on an annual basis, can help maintain a wall’s beautiful finish for years.

If you’ve never washed interior walls before, who better to guide your efforts than the experts who applied the finish to begin with. With more than 25 years of service in the Naples, Florida area, FCI Painting has long-established interior painting expertise. We also know how to clean and preserve the beautiful finishes we create, and offer the following tips to help you clean your painted walls:

Begin with Dust Removal

You should begin your interior wall cleaning efforts by vacuuming or gently wiping away dust that hasn’t yet adhered to the painted surfaces. Use the vacuum cleaner’s dust brush attachment and/or microfiber dust-removal cloths like Swifter.

Keep Your Cleaning Gentle and Mild

The type of paint used on your interior walls should dictate your cleaning solution choice. You should always opt for the gentlest cleaner possible to best preserve the finish. Matte, flat, eggshell, and stain finishes tend to be the most delicate. Use a small amount of mild dish detergent in warm water for your cleaner and avoid using any elbow grease while washing the walls with a soft cloth—the key is “gentle” cleaning action.

Because glossy and semi-gloss finishes are hardier, they can handle stronger cleaning solutions, including those with degreasing formulations, though avoid those with abrasive scouring agents and ammonia. These cleaning solutions can also be used on latex paint finishes, and you can even add a bit of ammonia if cleaning oil-based finishes.

Don’t Forget the Rinse!

Consider using two buckets for the job, one for cleaning solution and the other for rinse water. Wash the walls with a gentle, circular scrubbing motion using dampened, non-abrasive sponges, rags, or cleaning cloths. Start at the top of the wall and move down in small sections, with follow-up rinsing before the cleaned sections can completely dry. Whether with the cleaning or rinsing, always try to limit the amount of liquid on the wall. Your efforts should be tailored as a damp wash and rinse rather than a soaking-wet wash and rinse.

Because you have used a damp wash method, your walls should air-dry quickly. To speed the drying, you can open the windows or can gently go over them with a drying towel.

Spot Treat for Stains, Streaks, Scuffs, and Marks

While cleaning your interior walls, you will undoubtedly come across various stains, streaks, scuffs, and other marks that your chosen cleaning solution will be unable to remove. Take an incremental approach to stain removal by using the gentlest cleaning agents first. Then try ever-increasing harsher solutions until you’ve successfully removed the stain or mark. A cleaning paste composed of baking soda and water can remove many stains and marks. Simply apply it to the mark, give it a bit of time to set, and then gently wipe it away. Baking soda is abrasive, so refrain from scrubbing too hard.

Hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol may work with red wine and similar difficult stains. And powerful cleaning products, such as magic erasers and stain-removal pens, can be effective, too. Make sure you try these products on an inconspicuous area first. This will ensure that they will not remove or damage the finish. Also, follow-up any stain removal action by wiping up and rinsing residual cleaning agents with a damp sponge.

If all stain-removal options fail, you may need to restore the finish at that section of the wall with a paint touch-up job.

When It’s Time, Consult with the Experts at Naples-Based FCI Painting

Despite your best efforts to maintain your interior finishes with regular cleaning, at some point your interior walls will need to be repainted. We trust that when this time comes you will consider consulting with the experts at FCI Painting. With more than 25 years of professional interior painting experience, we have beautified the interiors of thousands of Naples, Florida-area homes and businesses. To learn more, contact FCI Painting online or give us a call at (239) 435-1001.