You chose a nice flat finish for your home and enjoyed the non-reflective matte walls for a while. But now smudges and fingerprints are showing up here and there. It’s a common occurrence with flat paint walls, but you don’t have to live with it if you know how to clean flat paint. Let this guide walk you through the simple steps.
Preparations
Before all the wiping and gentle scrubbing begins, there are a few things you should know about flat paint walls.
Things To Do:
- First, be sure you actually have flat paint on your walls before you start because different finishes require different cleaning approaches.
- Shine your phone’s flashlight onto the wall at an angle toward you and you don’t see a concentrated glow or outline of the light source. So if the wall just lightens up when you shine a light at it, you have flat paint and you can follow this guide to clean up the mess.
- Second, lay down a plastic tarp under each section of the wall you’re about to clean. The tarp will absorb drips and prevent them from damaging the floor or the carpet underneath.
Tools and Supplies You’ll Need:
The list of cleaning supplies is rather short for this one:
- Microfiber cloth
- Duster
- Soft sponge
- Ladder or step stool
- Vacuum with an upholstery brush
- Bucket
- Plastic tarp
- White vinegar
- Melamine sponge
- Baking soda
- Dishwashing liquid
- Warm water
- Painter’s tape
- Touch-up paint
Cleaning Flat Wall Paint – A Step-by-Step Guide
Follow these easy steps to properly clean your flat paint without any damage:
Step 1: Remove Furniture and Wall Hangings
Rearrange your furniture away from the to-be-cleaned walls and take off all the wall art or mirrors. Doing this will make things easier for you and open the room for convenient ladder access to all areas.
Also, carefully tape off all the electrical outlets in the room so you don’t risk water or cleaning solution damaging it or creating a fire.
Step 2: Dust Off the Dust
Set the ladder and start at the top of the wall, use a duster or a vacuum with an upholstery brush to clean cobwebs and dust. Work in a grid to ensure you’re not missing any spots and you remove dust more efficiently. If you skip this step and get straight to cleaning solutions and sponges, your walls will still look dirty and even a bit muddy.
Remember to change the head of your disposable microfiber duster cloth so it’s not redepositing dust on the wall when it gets heavily soiled.
Step 3: Wipe with Warm Water
Now that all the debris and dust are off your walls, it’s time to move on to the actual cleaning.
- Start with the most gentle cleaning method – washing with plain warm water – doesn’t matter if you’re cleaning a small area or the entire wall.
- Fill up a bucket of warm water and dip your lint-free microfiber cloth in it.
- Wring out the excess water so there’s no extra water dripping off.
- Again, start at the top wipe away the wall gently, and see the soft cloth loosening up the dirt.
- Keep rinsing the cloth in between and change water if necessary.
If you see clean walls and are happy with the results, stop at this step. But if there are lingering stains, it’s time to bring out the big guns (a.k.a cleaning solutions).
Step 4: Tackle Tough Areas
If water alone didn’t remove all the dirt, you need to up your cleaning game:
- Take two buckets of warm water. Add five to ten drops of liquid dish soap and one-half cup of distilled white vinegar into a one-gallon warm water bucket, and the other bucket will be used to rinse it off.
- Dip a microfiber cloth in this soapy solution and start to gently scrub the stained and heavily soiled areas in a circular motion.
- Rinse the soapy residues with a second cloth dipped in the clean water bucket.
- This cleaning process will clear up soot, grease, and smoke off walls.
Step 5: Treat Tougher Scuffs
If some scuffs and smudges didn’t budge with dishwater and vinegar solution, here’s what you do:
- Fold up your microfiber cloth into a square and sprinkle it with some baking soda.
- Gently scrub the stubborn stains with this microfiber square and rinse by wiping the residue away with another clean damp cloth.
- If this doesn’t work, as your last resort, dampen a melamine sponge with water and gently rub the stains.
- Be careful not to scrub too hard. If you see paint color transferred onto your sponge, stop right there. Continuing to scrub will leave shiny spots and missing paint, even if you’re using the softest sponge.
Step 6: Touch Up Where Needed
All the scrubbing may leave some scuff marks or missing paint on your walls.
- Cover all the blemishes with a small amount of touch-up paint.
- Carefully feather the edges and make sure the touch-up areas blend in well with the rest of the wall.
Why Does Flat Paint Attract More Dirt?
Flat paint is not glossy and doesn’t reflect as much light as semi-gloss or high-gloss paints do. Flat coatings have pigments that scatter light and protrude through the surface. This is because flat paint has a more porous texture than other paint finishes and traps dirt and grime more easily.
But the good news is that flat paints conceal small imperfections pretty well because of their porous textures. Small nicks and scratches are hardly noticeable because they blend in.
Why Flat Paint is More Challenging to Clean
Flat and matte finish walls are tricky when it comes to cleaning. Such paint is also easily worn away when you wash it because the particle protrusion through the surface. If you scrub away too hard, you will rip off the paint, so all the cleaning has to be very gentle.
Matte paint holds on to dirt, and if you don’t deal with the stains in due time, they will get worse. Depending on the stain, you may have to repaint some part of it or maybe even the entire wall. Flat paint does not resist water like glossier paints, so cleaning may leave unwanted streaks behind. Therefore, it’s best to regularly clean your flat-painted walls to avoid rigorous clean-ups later.
Since it’s the hardest type of paint to clean, experts don’t recommend using flat paint in high-traffic areas of the house. Plus, it does not hold up well to moisture either, so using flat paint in kitchens and bathrooms is also not a good idea.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should you clean walls with flat paint?
Here’s what you need to do with your flat paint walls to keep them in good condition:
- As Soon As Possible: Clean up any food or liquid splatters and pencil or crayon marks as soon as you see them because if they become deeply embedded, you’d damage the paint trying to scrub it away.
- Weekly: Wipe away gently around the light switches that accumulate dirt and smudges.
- Monthly: Dust the walls to get rid of loose soil and cobwebs.
- Yearly: Wash the walls thoroughly once a year or before you repaint them.
How do you remove crayon marks from flat paint?
Use a cleaning eraser or mayonnaise to remove fresh crayon marks from the wall. Mayonnaise has oils that work to break down the crayon wax and make it easy for you to wipe it away from the paint without scrubbing. When done, wipe the area with a clean and damp soft cloth to remove excess oil.
How should you protect flat paint?
- Keep up with regular dusting and cleaning
- Do not scrub
- Avoid using abrasive cleaners
- Keep furniture away from the wall to prevent furniture dents or marks
- Spot clean stain immediately
- Touch up problem areas as soon as possible
Not Up for it?
If your flat paint walls seem too demanding when it comes to cleaning or they’re just beyond help and needs new paint, call in a professional. Paint Gnome connects you with the best painters in your area to help you enliven your flat paint walls again.
Main Photo Credit: fullvalue / Canva Pro / License
