My walls are painted a light color and there are many dirty marks on them. Is there a way to clean them without harming the paint?
I agree with FaZizzle but you might try adding vinegar to the soapy water to cut through any crud.
Any multipurpose cleaner works. Start at the BOTTOM. If it's flat paint, NOTHING will work without taking the paint off, too.
Start with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser - those things work well on nearly any wall. If that doesn't work, take a rag with some gentle detergent and scrub gently. If that doesn't work, grab your paint and just paint over the marks.
Get two buckets, one with soapy water (Dawn works well) and one with clean water. Then you will need a microfiber cloth for each bucket and a couple of clean, dry, old bath towels. Take your vacuum's dust brush and remove and dust, cob webs and such from the baseboards and around the ceiling. Getting these wet just makes your job harder. Starting at the top with your soapy water microfiber cloth that has been wrung out fairly well, wipe downwards in overlapping strokes. The microfiber cloths wipe much more efficiently than a sponge or a rag and get in those little dimples and such. Don't do more than you can get back over with the clean water cloth in a few minutes. Then go over the same area with the clean water cloth. Wipe dry or you may end up with water spotting. Keep moving down the wall and around the room. Change your water as soon as it starts to turn color. No sense in scrubbing with dirty water because all that will do is make your walls streaky. I'd hesitate to use the erasers on a painted surface. They are abrasive and will take the top layer of the paint off. You might end up with a spot that is going to require repainting. If any of the dirty spots don't come up, take some all purpose cleaner, spray, wait a minute and then scrub with the microfiber cloth. Rinse and wipe dry.
You might just re-paint the walls. Personally, I find painting less work than cleaning, and it's possible that nothing will remove the dirty marks. An interesting tip that I learned: for darker rooms, use a mid-tone paint. Light paint always looks dirty in a dark room (even if the paint is fresh) and dark paint makes a dark room look like a cave. If the room has poor light (just 1 window or windows facing North), use a mid-tone. Mid-tones are the colors in the middle of the paint sample card. Avoid the colors at the very top and at the very bottom of the paint card. If you absolutely do not want to paint, try scrubbing with a plastic scrubber and a mixture of white vinegar and water. Mix the vinegar and water in a ratio of 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water. Don't scrub too hard or you'll end up removing some of the paint. -
