How to Wash Walls
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Washing walls is an easy task to accomplish but a time consuming one. You will need a large bucket with hot water, a cleaner with a degreaser in it (Mr. Clean, Pine-Sol), a mop with a sponge head, and lots of towels.
Pick a starting spot that you will recognize as such, like a corner. Soak the mop in the water and cleaner, squeezing out any excess and then simply mop the walls. Follow with a dry towel to wipe dry.
Tips
You will also need to wash the molding around the room. So keep a rag for cleaning those with you, as well as a towel for drying. I like to do all the top moldings first, then wash the walls and finish with the bottom moldings.
In a pinch, baby wipes can clean a lot of stuff off walls. So if you have a little one who likes to throw their food just grab a baby wipe and wipe off the wall.
A quick easy recipe for a cleaner is:
2 tablespoons ammonia,
2 tablespoons liquid detergent (like Dawn or Ivory for your dishes),
and 1 Quart water.
If you have small children you have had at least on instance of that little one coloring the walls with their crayons. Use a small amount on Endust and gently rub in a circular motion to remove the wax, then follow with your cleaner and wipe dry.
Swiffer Wet is the easiest and fastest way to clean your walls. It even takes off cigarette smoke residue with no scrubbing! It also leaves a clean scent with no need to rinse.
Don’t try to wash textured walls you will just flake the texture off. Talk to your painter about the best way to clean them – it might just be repainting.
Mr. Clean’s Magic Eraser is the best thing since bottled water! It will take just about anything off a white wall. Be careful with colored paint as it also can take the color off and leave you with streaks and blurs of paint.
Wash your walls from the top down. Any excess water is going to run down the wall and if you start at the bottom by the time you get to the top you will have runs of dirty water all over your clean areas.
Kitchen walls are probably the dirtiest. Wash them more frequently with a cleaner that contains a degreaser. Pay close attention to the top of the walls as heat and all the dirt trapped in it will rise to the top.
Take down the pictures and anything else you have hanging on the wall. Not only will this be a good judge of whether the walls are clean but if you leave them up they will just get water dripped splattered on them.