Tips To Cleaning Smoke Stains Off Of Your Walls
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Whether you have smoked in your home for years and the walls are stained from that or if your home has been the victim of a fire recently, the stains on the walls need to be cleaned. Cleaning them may take some time and effort, but when it’s all over with, it will have been more than worth it all.
The first thing that you need to do is assess the damage and determine whether this is a job that needs to be done by you or by a professional cleaning crew. Depending on the size of the job, a crew may be more practical. If it is due to a recent fire, you will want to call your insurance company before you begin cleaning to find out whether they will cover the cost of hiring professionals to do the job for you.
Don’t use water based cleaners to remove fresh soot from your walls, since the water can cause the soot to permanently stain the wall. Remove all of the soot from the walls with rubbing alcohol before attempting to clean the walls with water.
Make sure your work area is well ventilated by opening windows and using a fan to direct the chemical fumes outside. These fumes can cause you to pass out or worse if you are exposed to them for a long period of time.
When you begin cleaning, if you are using a chemical cleaner, do a spot test first to make sure it won’t damage the walls when you start cleaning larger sections with it.
Cleaning up years of cigarette smoke residue is simpler than cleaning after a fire, but the process can still take a while. A TSP cleaner, which is available at most hardware or paint stores, can be used to clean walls like this, but make sure you wear gloves, because it is a very harsh cleaner. Depending on what your budget is, you will likely want to repaint after you are finished. If you do choose to repaint, use an oil-based primer so the cigarette odor is sealed in.
While cleaning, try not to let water settle around the baseboards or the floor, since this can encourage mold to grow. Getting sheetrock wet is something else you want to avoid, because if it gets soaked, repairing that entire section of drywall may be necessary.
Keep in mind that you may have to go over the walls several times before they are completely clean of smoke residue.
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