Some of you might have decorated your new or existing home with wallpaper. This varies a lot depending on the type of wallpaper you currently have, and how well you have taken care of if however, while you’re cleaning your home, it’s always important to be gentle and not damage wallpaper or your precious carpet in the process of cleaning your wallpaper and general maintenance of your house in general.
REMOVAL:
If you haven’t really taken care of your wallpaper that well, here are some of the different kinds of stains you can clean up: (Note: If you have extra fabric or if you want to be extra sure, test out different kinds of cleaning material. Uncoated wallpaper, as well as wallpaper with natural coverings and ones with textures / fabric are more delicate and prone to water damage and might not be washable. For these delicate cloths, you can use a special product called wallpaper dough, a product sold at paint stores and home centers.
1. Roll these bad boys into a ball and roll it across your wallpaper you’re good to go.
2. When there’s too much dirt, knead it into the center. Repeat until finished.
Removing Dirt and Dust- For this, you’ll need:
1. An artist’s brush
2. Some kind of detergent
3. A sponge
4. Water
5. A dry towel
6. Something to prevent damage to the floor in case of water spills. ( Some piece of cloth or towel is fine)
A bucket How to do it:
1. Protect your floor by placing your towel on the ground where there’s dirt.
2. Use your brush to scrape off loose dirt, dust, and anything else. Again, be sure not to damage your wallpaper by scraping too hard.
3. Fill up your bucket with water
4. Start at the top of your wallpaper and clean the bottom-up. Although the most efficient way is top-down, especially when you have needed a ladder, this is ideal because you don’t leave behind streaks of dirty water after.
5. Pour detergent into the water. Make sure to use common sense and use as much as you have to create bubbles.
6. Dip your sponge and get to work.
7. Use your towel to dry off. In addition to these materials you’ll probably need a ladder, especially if your ceiling is tall.
8. Use your towel to COMPLETELY dry up your wallpaper as well as anything that might have gotten onto your floor.
Removing Crayons, Markers, and Ink. For this, you’ll need:
1. A Mr. Clean Magic Eraser pad (Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with this in any way, it’s just a really nice product and really just a staple for cleaning. )
2. Mr. Clean Erasers usually take care of any crayons, markers, ink, or anything that won’t go away from just water.
3. If that doesn’t work, however, just go ahead and use baking soda and water at around a 50/50 ratio so it becomes a smooth paste. **Disclaimer: Don’t try to save money here. Inferior cleaners will dis-color and taint your wallpaper!! I’ve heard good things about some kinds of toothpaste, vinegar, washing soda (borax), and even ammonia, believe it or not, but I’d be extra cautious.
4. Rub the affected spots gently to remove the affected areas in the wallpaper.
5. If that doesn’t work, dry the wallpaper and test it with rubbing alcohol as a LAST RESORT. Depending on the quality of the wallpaper and how much alcohol you use, it could damage/dis-color the wallpaper also. Again, use this at your own discretion.- Finger marks or smudges Things you’ll need is Art Gum eraser.
Simply lightly rub the gum eraser onto the wallpaper and the small smudges and marks will be all gone.Older wallpaper that isn’t coated: Things you’ll need:
1. A sponge look for dry CLEAN, rather than dry ERASE.
2. Use the sponge without any water and rub it lightly against the surface in LONG strokes. While this might not be as effective as with water, it will get the job done and most importantly, will not ruin your wallpaper.
MAINTENANCE:
You’ve cleaned up all the dirt, ink, coffee, cobwebs, crayons, and your children’s’ apple juice from your wallpapers. Now, to keep it looking nice and fresh, can take these steps if you want to further make it fresher and nicer for everyone. If you do not have any of these fancy supplies, don’t fret! Wallpaper has been around for hundreds of years and they have always had ways to clean wallpaper. However, it’s best to just use these on vinyl wallpaper only because they’re not used as often any more for a reason:
1. Using bread. A soft slice of bread will act as a natural eraser to take out stains, dirt, and dust.
2. Using an iron–properly, for grease.
2. Hold your iron close to the wall.
3. Wear an oven mitt
4. Get a few sheets of blotting paper against the spots you want to clean up.
5. Move close to the wall where you want to clean.
6. DO NOT DIRECTLY PRESS THE IRON ONTO THE WALLPAPER! The blotting paper will absorb grease from the wallpaper and voila, you’re done.
Vacuuming:
An artist brush / soft brush you used to clean off dirt/dust attached to a vacuum do the job perfectly. This is absolutely necessary if the paper is flocked of has texture. However, if you don’t have a brush, you can also use a microfiber cloth instead and it’ll do the job if your wallpaper isn’t delicately you vacuum your wallpaper this way frequently, there won’t be a need to clean dirt off of your wallpapers.
Washing:
Washing your wallpaper every month gives you significant benefits in cleanliness. Wipe your kitchen wallpaper (Or any wallpaper that is waterproof sheet vinyl with a natural sponge, dampened in a water/dishwasher solution. Lastly, even these wallpapers are deemed “scrubbable”, they are still very delicate fabrics and scrubbing abrasively is still not ideal and still can result in damage. Pat it dry after, and let it dry before washing it again if necessary. lf you’ve read up to this, congratulations. You now know more about cleaning wallpaper than 90% to 95% of people.