Cleaning Walls Painted With Flat Paint

[ajrsmom]

All of the walls in our new house is painted with flat paint and Im not sure how to clean them.

There are numerous scuff marks left over from the last tennant and Im really wanting to remove them.

Whatever possessed them to paint with flat paint is beyond me but now Im stuck with it.


Help!


Thanks,
TAmi

[ajrsmom]

bumping up in hopes of getting some ideas

[Abear]

I have absolutely no clues but was just wondering if perhaps you could call a paint store and they might be helpful??

Might be worth a try.

[ajrsmom]

I didnt think of that. I will try that tomorrow and let you know what they tell me.

I have been looking on the 'net to see if I can find something but Im still at a loss there too.

[barbszy]

Have you tried the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser? (Try in a spot that will be hidden by furniture first, just to be sure!!)
I haven't used it on flat paint but it works well on semi-gloss or satin.

[MKS]

I've got flat paint thru my house also. I've tried rubbing with a cloth & it does not seem to work. Seems to rub the paint off. The problem mostly is the kitchen & bathroom. I agree that anyone who has any experience with paint ought to know better than to use it in busy areas. We didn't have any experience & now we do. I wish my kitchen would be magically repainted. I know I don't have the time to invest in it in the forsee-able future.

[apricot]

They probably used flat paint because it was cheap. We live in a house that had been a "demo" and it has the same problem. I've even tried cleaning the walls with warm water and that took some of the paint off, so now just dab it with cold water on a cotton cloth, which helps some. I haven't tired the Magic Eraser myself but heard that if you rub too hard with that it will take the paint off walls too.

[ajrsmom]

Im a BIG fan of the Magic Erasers but they do take the paint off of these walls. There are a few places though that had bad scuff marks and I used it anyway.

I talked with a lady that used to paint apartment buildings for a living and she told me that they only thing that I can do is use warm, soapy water and a sponge, then only wipe in ONE direction while wiping down the wall. While it works a little to clean the wall, it doesnt work to take off scuff marks or any places that have really dirty places on them.


The owners of these places will be back in town in a couple of weeks so Im going to ask them how they would like me to tackle this problem. My suggestion will be to paint in a semi-gloss. If they will pay for the paint, we will do the painting. My biggest problem is the wall going down the steps from upstairs. My DD holds onto the wall to walk down the steps so you can see finger prints all the way down the wall---not to mention the scuff marks from the previous tennants.

[Melanie]

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser should do the trick - it is my favorite cleaning tool! I use it on my kitchen garbage can lid (white), the handle of my refrigerator (also white), marks on the walls, etc. And, it's inexpensive to boot!

~Melanie