How do I clean my dirty walls?
My walls are so dirty but I cannot afford to paint them. I am 66 so I am not able to paint them myself. I’ve read several sites on how to clean them but I am not sure of the best option. I did buy a squeegie type mop but what is the best solution to use to wash them. Also should I dust them first?
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You still might consider painting your walls after you have washed them. I just use Mr. Clean and warm water. If you are going to use a squeegie mop to clean them it is not much different than rolling on paint. You can do one wall a day if you have to. No one says you have to hurry to get it done. Or maybe you can ask someone to help you. Sometimes we don't want to ask for help but I know there's help out there and I just have to ask. You would be very pleased with freshly painted walls. You can get paint very inexpensively from a Habitat Restore, relatives/neighbors who might have partial cans of paint, and the mismixed section of your local home improvement store. Where there's a will, there's a way.
If it's just certain sections of walls that are dirty, the white Mr. Clean sponges are marvelous (just don't scrub too hard or it will take the paint with it). I agree that the best is to repaint and you can do it little by little. I'm older and this week I painted 4 interior doors over two days, you just need to pace yourself.
Really dirty walls use TSP, trisodium phosphate. I'm older than you and have installed pavers. painted metal railings, installed a new sump pump in a crawl space. Painting walls is a breeze. Like Ana says, take your time, pace yourself, and take short breaks.
I am not a spring chicken myself, and I don't do well on ladders so I understand your painting dilemma. My mother was very resourceful and would wrap and tie a rag around the bristles of a broom and use that to remove cobwebs and dust from ceilings and walls. Then she used ammonia and warm water with a sponge mop to wash walls. You could use dawn /water or whatever you like for cleaning, and then she would leave a window open for fast drying of the walls. She enlisted a helper (usually myself or my brother) to paint the upper edge of walls and then rolled the rest using an extension pole that screws into the end of the roller. If you clean your walls and they still need to be painted, do one room at a time until you can afford more paint. We may be "older" but we ain't dead yet. You can do this!
You could try spraying on Fabulosa … it works on mine.
Thanks!
If u can use a squeegee I think u might be able to paint,just take your time. Just a thought