Painting walls are costly and time-consuming. Many people like to have clean, non stained walls around them. Even the slightest discolouration through stains create a lot of tension. Most people feel that when there is a mark on the wall, that it cannot be removed and the best option would be to paint the whole wall. This, fortunately, is not true at all. The cost of painting walls or a house will cost thousands of dollars depending on the size of the house, the paint code, labour cost, etc.
Most of our End of Lease clients tend to paint the walls, just for the sake of getting back the bond money from the landlord. They believe that as the walls have been neglected for a year or so, that the best option would be to paint and get done with it. It is true that there are some marks that cannot be removed at all. Some stains have been on the walls for so long that it takes a lot of labour hours and chemicals to remove them, that it would not be worth to spend the money or time to try and wash them off. But it is worth trying out some products which have worked miracles for us:
1.Sugar Soap
One of the best chemicals that could be used to remove marks on walls is Sugar Soap. Sugar Soap is not a very strong and harmful chemical but it can do wonders for your wall. It is important for every End of Lease cleaning company to have a bottle of sugar soap as it will need to be used a lot depending on the state of the walls. Some of the clients have neglected the walls for years and years and they want the cleaners to do wonders and sugar soap has come to our rescue in many occasions.
The sugar soap is available at Bunnings and is quite cheap. Most of the sugar soap brands are concentrated, which means that it needs to be mixed with water and a typical 750ml bottle can make up to 30litres. It is best to use a microfibre cloth or a sponge to apply the sugar soap on the wall and once the mark is removed, it is best to use a clean cloth to wipe off any excess sugar soap on the wall.
2. Magic Eraser
This sponge that looks like any normal sponge, only whiter, is able to remove marks from the walls. The Magic Eraser is a melamine based sponge that works great when mixed with water. The Magic Eraser is a bit more costlier given that the sponge tends to wear off very quickly with usage. I found an interesting article on how to make your own Magic Eraser which will save you heaps of money. The Magic Eraser is also available for purchase at Bunnings if you do not have the time to make them on your own.
The best method to use the magic eraser that I have found is to spray a wipe out chemical or spray water onto the spot and use the Magic Eraser to rub it off. The melamine in the sponge only starts working when it is in contact with water so it is important to spray the spot with water and then rub the Eraser, which will remove basically the toughest stains in our experience. It is also important to note that the whole Magic Eraser sponge should not be soaked into a bowl of water, which was a mistake I made when I first used. Once soaked, the melamine in the sponge will react with the water and disintegrate. This will be a waste of money as the Magic Eraser could be used for longer and in more spots if used properly.
If these two products cannot remove the marks on the wall, then it would be time to move onto the option of painting the walls. These two products can basically remove most of the marks, however if they cannot remove it, in my experience, no other chemical or product can remove the marks without removing the paint.
If you do not have the time to do all this strenuous work of removing the marks, contact us and we will be happy to help.
