Your walls are large surfaces prone to dirt, scuff marks, and unknown (and sometimes unthinkable) smears. These unsightly marks can make your home appear dirtier than it actually is.
To help keep your home looking its best, use these ten hacks that professional maids in Toronto trust and use every day.
1. Use vinegar to tackle grease on kitchen walls
Of all the walls in your home, your kitchen walls take the biggest hits when it comes to built-up grime. Grease becomes very tacky over time, attracting more grease, dust, dead bugs, and all kinds of other horrors. To help keep grease under control, vinegar is the ultimate cleaner. A great hack is soaking a clean sponge in a mix of ⅔ cups of vinegar and ⅔ cups of water.
Using a sponge with a gentle scrubbing pad works best. Wring out the access liquid, and then use a circular motion on the greasy areas. This should loosen the grease so you can easily remove it. You can then use a clean sponge and water to remove the loosened mess.
2. Use liquid dishwashing detergent to remove dead bugs
We’ve all been there. A pesky bug has been flying around your home, or you spot something crawling on the wall and, splat, we squish them in their tracks. That can leave a nasty streak of bug guts and blood.
The trick here is to act fast with a clean cloth or paper towel and a mix of water and dishwashing detergent. Wipe the mess away, and then use a clean damp cloth to remove the soapy residue. This works on old bug guts and blood as well.
3. Use lemon juice to remove rust stains
Rust stains on shower walls are distressing and unsightly. They can also be tough to tackle with basic shower-cleaning products. A good natural hack is to use lemon juice with a bit of salt or baking soda on the tiles.
This creates a mild abrasive paste that can safely remove rust. Using a microfibre cloth or sponge to gently rub away the stain, along with a quick rinse, should reveal a rust-free wall.
4. Use cleaning “erasers” on stubborn wall art
If you’ve got a little artist in the family who thinks of your home as their canvas, you’ll likely find more than a few stubborn pencil or crayon marks on your walls that are a nightmare to clean. These marks can pose a real cleaning challenge—unless you have a cleaning eraser, that is.
Cleaning erasers are designed to tackle those glaring marks that tend to stay where they are—forever. However, with a quick scrub of an eraser, those pencil and crayon marks are gone.
Bonus hack: You can also use an old DIY cleaning hack: hairspray. Hairspray contains ingredients that “housewives” of the past discovered can remove ink stains from clothes.
You can try a spritz of hairspray on pencil, ink, and crayon-marked walls to wipe them away.
5. Use toothpaste on lipstick smears
We won’t ask how that lipstick got on your walls (it’s none of our business). However, lipstick has a lot of moisturizing oils and waxy materials that cling to walls a lot better than they cling to lips in some cases. This mess calls for a three-step process:
- Use something non-metal like a popsicle stick or rubber spatula to scrape off the majority of the smear.
- Apply white toothpaste (it has to be toothpaste; gel won’t work) to the remaining blotch and let it sit a bit.
- Wipe the toothpaste away with a damp cloth.
6. Use rubbing alcohol on permanent felt tip marker
The word “permanent” is the first clue that these stains mean business. However, cleaning permanent marker messes isn’t always hopeless. Here are a few possible hacks:
- Your first choice is rubbing alcohol applied with an absorbent cotton ball or pad. Gently wipe at the mark to see if it comes off.
- Next, try our hairspray trick mentioned above.
- No luck? Your next choice is (wait for it) shaving foam. Something in it can sometimes work on this type of permanent ink.
- If this doesn’t work, your last resort is nail polish remover. However, there’s a reason we don’t recommend this as your first choice: it will likely also take off the paint with it. We advise you to try this behind the couch or somewhere less noticeable before applying it to the stain.
7. Use mild dishwashing liquid on candle smoke stains
No doubt, the flicker of ambient candlelight is romantic and classy. However, if you have candle wall sconces, that pretty flickering light also causes black smoke stains. If you love your candlelight, you can still enjoy it with the help of this hack. Mild dishwashing liquid, water, and a sponge will usually do the trick.
8. Use a mix of liquid detergent, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda on tile walls
Tile walls are becoming more popular as interesting statement walls, especially around fireplaces. To keep them clean, use a simple mix of hydrogen peroxide and liquid detergent to create a mildly abrasive paste with baking soda.
Apply it to the tiles with a soft brush and clean in a circular motion. Remove the paste with a damp cloth and finish with a final rinse with water and a clean cloth.
9. Use vinegar and water on mould and mildew
Mould and mildew can be removed using a mix of 1 tablespoon white vinegar to 1 quart water. Spray it on the walls and it should almost instantly dissolve the marks. If not, try a spray bleach. In both cases, rinse the residue away with a damp, clean cloth.
10. Use a damp, clean cloth on scuff marks
Scuff marks look like they’d be tough to clean, but honestly, in most cases it just takes a damp cloth and a bit of elbow grease to remove black scuffs from your walls!
Contact the Cleaning Experts
These budget-friendly cleaning hacks that professional maids in Toronto use will help keep your walls looking freshly painted.
If you don’t have the time to worry about wall stains, let Maid4Condos tackle your cleaning jobs for you. You can call us at 647-822-0601 or contact us online for more information.
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