Hi Ladies,
I have a quick question about washing my apartment walls. I desperately need to get my security deposit back, and they look nasty. Normally, I’d just use some soapy water and dig right in, but my landlords used cheap, lousy, thin flat white paint. I’m afraid that my washing will ruin the surface. I read online that flat paint shouldn’t be washed, but that if you had to, you could use a mop and an amonia solution. Does this seem reasonable to you guys? I’m sort of terrified to do anything with it, but I need to get my money back!
Thanks, as always!
Whitewashed in Walla Walla
Ivy says:
Oh, man, I’ve been there with the horrid walls and the landlord’s crappy paint. The very first thing I would do to perhaps save doing any work at all, is call the landlord. Many apartment complexes automatically repaint with each new tenant and they may not care how dirty your walls are. Unless, you have serious marker stains, like Sharpies. In that case, offer to Kilz over the walls when you leave. It will save you a lot of money.
If you still need to wash your walls, I’ve been there. The thing that worked the best for me was vinegar on a damp rag. Make sure it’s not too wet, that will mess up the paint. And don’t scrub really hard, just a light wash is the best you can do.
Hope this helps!
Tags: 9 Comments
I would ask the landlord if she/’s going to do a repaint between tenants. If so, maybe he will let you do the painting yourself instead of them hiring someone.
good luck
just don’t do like my tenants did. They spot painted every where that should have been washed. The used textured white paint which isn’t even the same white as the walls, nor does the texture match what was there. For the record, the existing paint was washable. A wet sponge would have gotten it clean enough (I lived here before for 7 years with 2 children, so I know!)
Now there are random spots of weird feeling wrong white paint all over the place, including over some of the light switches. We can’t seem to clean it off the switches and plates, so those need replacing. Nor do I know how to deal with the texture issue when I repaint.
the house i moved into had a light texture of sand in the paint — which hurt every time my hand would brush up against the wall — so when i re-painted i sanded the walls first got rid of the ‘texture’ very easily and quicker then i thought it would – but like i said it was just a light sand texture.
I would try a small spot on the wall and see how bad it looks –maybe if they have always used the same cheap paint taking off parts of your layer of paint might simply expose the same layer of a previous tenant that looks better?
what about those ‘white’ cleaning sponges from mr clean? they have the cleaning solution in them, but they are mostly for spot cleaning.
good luck
my new house is full of those walls, and its definitely a challenge; especially with kids around. i’ve had good results with the “eraser” sponges from the dollar store. it takes quite a few for large rooms, but i cut them up into quarters to make them stretch as far as i could
Those Mr Clean sponges are great at removing stains…and the paint under them. I don’t think I’d even try them in this situation.
I’d just wash it with some mild soap. The reason that landlords use cheap flat paint is because they KNOW they’ll have to repaint after pretty much every tenant, so they get the cheapest stuff they can. They don’t care what it looks like while you live there, just when the next tenant moves in. If they don’t give back your deposit because of their cheap paint, then they never had any intention of giving it back.
Sixteen years ago I swore I would never use flat paint. It was on the day that my infant son power-pooped right on the wall as I was changing his diaper. That stain was still there when we moved out – no matter what I tried, it was still quite visible. I rearranged the furniture so it wouldn’t be seen. We still got our deposit back, power poop and all
I love the advise, vinegar and a damp rag. Pretty good, I honestly have never heard of this before, but it sure does make a lot of sense…I already tried it and it works great! Thanks!
I found that Mr. Clean magic erasers are fantastic with this. When you first clean them it looks like they are gonna leave what looks like a water mark, but once it dries completely You don’t notice it. When using them on your walls just be gentle, I didn’t notice it taking any paint off, but i was so nervous I kinda went easy and it still removed the dirt!
Thanks so much for the advice! I’ll let you know how it goes. *keeps fingers crossed* You guys are brilliant and wonderful, by the way!