You could love making your home look spotless, but end up with scuffs, dirt, and marks soiling that perfect picture you have in mind. This is, especially, true when you have children or pets, who can easily leave pencil drawings, crayon marks, dirt, mud tracks, food stains and more on your floors and walls.

Going home to such situations can make your stressful day even worse! Modern home designs do not help much with their somewhat minimalistic tones like the porcelain white, ivory, sage, grey, and others. While these are said to create a soothing atmospheric aura around the home, they tend to highlight the slightest dirt or blemish on your walls.

Anyway, there’s good news. Cleaning dirt off your walls is as straightforward as washing your dishes. You just need liquid soap, a sponge, towel, and bucket. But before you run gathering them around you need to know what type of wall paint or finish you may have. This may change how you attend to the walls a little.

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How to Clean Dirt Off Different Wall Finishes

If you’ve ever tried cleaning dirt off your wall and ended up creating a much bigger smudge, pay attention to the tips below:

Walls with Latex (Acrylic) and Other Water-based Paints

For best results, use warm water and an all purpose cleaner for your wall if it has latex paint or any other water-based paint (like emulsion paint). Immerse your sponge in the solution, wring it and apply mildly onto the wall. If the area of application is closer to power outlets or light switches, make sure to turn off such electrical sources.

When the desired result is observed, rinse the application area with a second sponge with clear water. If the stain is proving stubborn and will not budge, make a baking soda and water solution (thick) and go over the same process as described above. But this time, use a less abrasive sponge than the one you used before to avoid a harsh unexpected result.

Walls with Oil-based Paints (Glossy or Semi-gloss Finishes)

Oil-based paints can usually withstand fingerprint stains and other mild stain-causing activities. Nonetheless, they are not resistant to stains in general. Due to their nature and finishes, it is easy to clean stains they might accrue, and can easily be attended to with any mild liquid soap and soft sponge.

Let’s get back to the cleaning process…

• Cover your Floors

No matter how you may wring your sponge, you are still likely to make some spillages. This is why it is always advisable to cover the floor directly under the area you are cleaning, to avoid wetting your carpet or floor (particularly if it’s wooden).

Brush Dirt off the Wall

Before you rush to apply your broom to your wall, make sure it’s free of any dirt or cobwebs to avoid creating more mess on the wall. Once this is done, gently brush the wall to clean it of any dirt, dander, mould, or cobweb.

Scrub Dirt off the Wall Gently

To avoid using the wrong solution for your wall, you can simply make an all-purpose solution by mixing liquid soap, white vinegar, and water. This is a potent solution that works on every wall. Simply apply the solution to the stained area and let it sit for 7-10mins, and go through the rinsing process as already directed above. Beware not to scrub too hard as you might damage the paint finish.

Wipe Down

Simply use a dry clean cloth, free of dirt, to wipe the cleaning solution off the wall and repeat the cleaning process if the result is not as desired. If you notice the colour of the cloth getting onto the wall, change it to a clean white cloth or towel.

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Cleaning dirty walls in your home is quite simple. Just follow these guidelines and tricks and you should be good to go. Try any of the listed guidelines and let us know how it went. Also let us know other methods which work for you which we missed in this article.