How do I clean marks off painted walls?

How washable a wall is depends entirely on the paint. Silk and satin finishes tolerate cleaning; matt emulsion is porous and marks easily, and aggressive cleaning burnishes it. Knowing which you have determines how far you can go.

What you'll need

• Soft cloths
• Washing-up liquid
• Bicarbonate of soda (optional)
• Magic eraser sponge (optional)

Step by step

1. Test in an inconspicuous area first.Behind a door or below a shelf. This tells you whether the paint will take cleaning at all before you find out in the middle of a wall.
2. Dust the area first.Wiping a dusty wall with a damp cloth creates a muddy smear that is harder to remove than the original mark.
3. Start with a barely damp cloth and mild detergent.A drop of washing-up liquid in warm water. Wring the cloth well — a wet cloth runs and leaves streaks.
4. Work gently, in small circles, from the outside inwards.Gentle and repeated beats hard and fast. Hard scrubbing burnishes matt paint and leaves a shiny patch.
5. Rinse with a clean damp cloth and pat dry.Detergent residue attracts dirt and leaves a visible film once it dries.
6. For crayon and grease, try bicarbonate of soda paste.Mildly abrasive, applied with a soft cloth. Test first — on matt emulsion even this can remove the surface.
7. Use a melamine sponge with real caution.They work well but are abrasive and will remove paint and sheen. Light pressure, small area, and always test first.
8. Accept when touching up is the better answer.On matt emulsion, a small dab of the original paint is often faster and looks far better than any amount of cleaning.

Tips

• Keep a labelled jar of each room's paint. Touching up a mark takes two minutes and is invisible; cleaning often is not.
• Wash a whole wall section rather than a small spot. A cleaned patch in the middle of a dirty wall is more noticeable than the mark was.
• Wipe marks when they are fresh. Almost everything comes off easily within a day and becomes far harder after weeks.

Common mistakes

• Scrubbing hard on matt emulsion — It burnishes the surface, leaving a shiny patch that cannot be cleaned away and is more obvious than the original mark.
• Cleaning a small spot on a dirty wall — You end up with a clean patch surrounded by grime, which draws the eye far more than the mark did.
• Using a wet cloth rather than a damp one — Water runs down the wall leaving streaks and can soak into and damage the plaster beneath.

Questions people ask