Washing your walls and trim will remove grime, cobwebs, dust and stains that can prevent your paint from adhering. Use a mixture of lukewarm water and mild soap, gently rubbing in a circular motion. Rinse your walls using a slightly damp cellulose sponge.
Warm, soapy water is usually your best bet. Fill up a bucket and use a sponge to gently rub the wall, starting from the base and working your way up. This should get rid of the bulk of dust and grime on the surface, and you'll end up with a much smoother wall for paint application.
Make a paste using baking soda and warm water. Then use a sponge to apply the paste to the walls and scrub the grease away. Baking soda is a gentle abrasive that works wonders on grease! (It's also great for stained mugs.)
As noted above, most paint manufacturers recommend that you clean walls with at least mild detergent and water before painting. Although modern paints are so good that they bond well to almost any surface, it will adhere best to surfaces that are perfectly clean and smooth.
Absolutely! Vinegar is a more health-conscious alternative to commercial cleaners, and it's really easy to use. In rooms where there's little traffic and no humidity or cooking grease, you could probably get away with wiping walls down using plain water.
Clean the surface using ordinary household detergent or mineral spirits. Remove loose paint or rust with a wire brush, sandpaper or steel wool. Sand glossy surfaces with fine grain sandpaper and wipe with a tack cloth.
Liquid Dish Soap
Liquid dish soap is another alternative to sugar soap before painting. It works like soap flakes, but it is easier to dissolve in warm water.
Instead of TSP, I like to clean my walls with a simple solution of warm water and Dawn soap (or any dish soap). Dawn is available anywhere and many homes already have it on hand, making it easier than TSP. It breaks down grease and leaves your walls incredibly clean.
A Gentle Cleanser
Because it's such a mild cleaner, dish soap is an ideal first line of attack for dirty walls. A mixture of 1 ounce of your favorite dish detergent per gallon of warm water removes general dirt from most surfaces as well as smudges from walls with a gloss or semi-gloss finish.
Mix water and dish soap
Now that the dust is wiped away, it's time to wash walls. Fill one bucket with a gallon of warm water and mix clear liquid hand or dish soap and water in the other. Soak a cloth in the solution, and wring it out well.
Mix one part white vinegar with one part hot water. Use a spray bottle to apply the solution to the grease. Allow it to set for several minutes and then wipe with a clean rag. Work in small areas and repeat as many times as necessary to get the wall clean.
For people who don't want to go to the bother of using sugar soap I always say just use warm water rather than a household detergent.
Sugar soap has a sweet name and what you do with it is just as sweet: brightening up your walls! Sugar soap is a type of chemical cleaner usually used to wash walls before painting them, but also to refresh dingy-looking paint.
Apart from warm water, a sugar soap helps in removing all that grease and dirt so the new coat of paint looks fresh. Cleaning with sugar soaps helps the new paint to stick to the walls without hampering the adhesion.
Isopropyl alcohol is NOT recommended for freshly painted finishes. You should never use isopropyl alcohol at full strength or it could permanently cause damage to your vehicle's paint. Isopropyl alcohol, when diluted accordingly, can also be used to prep surfaces for paint, glass or wheel coatings.
It doesn't need to be done straight away. Let the sugar soap sit for a minute, then wipe down with a clean cloth/sponge, leave for a couple hours. Then safe to apply your fresh coat of paint. 1 hour is fine.
Clean the walls
It's essential that surfaces are cleaned before painting even if they don't look dirty. Any residue on the wall can stop the new paint from properly sticking. Sugar soap will effectively remove any grease and grime—just ensure the sugar soap is washed off the surface prior to painting.
Here are a few multi-purpose wall cleaning options to choose from, including a budget-friendly DIY recipe: Diluted sugar soap in a spray bottle (1/2 sugar soap and 1/2 water) The Pink Stuff Multi-Purpose Cleaner. DIY Natural Wall Cleaner Recipe: 1L water and 1/4 cup vinegar or 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar.
Fill an empty spray bottle with equal parts water and white vinegar. Add 10-20 drops of essential oil (some are more potent than others). Replace lid and gently swirl to mix. Spray your DIY homemade sugar soap for walls as needed and wipe clean.
Washing your walls and trim will remove grime, cobwebs, dust and stains that can prevent your paint from adhering. Use a mixture of lukewarm water and mild soap, gently rubbing in a circular motion. Rinse your walls using a slightly damp cellulose sponge.
Basic Oven Cleaning with Baking Soda
Baking soda neutralizes acids and breaks down the grease, allowing you to wipe it up without a lot of elbow grease. It's also a mild abrasive, so it works well at removing dried, stuck-on foods.
Diluted with water to about 5 percent acidity, distilled white vinegar is hailed as a natural, nontoxic cleaning marvel, killing some household bacteria, dissolving hard-water deposits, and cutting through grime at a fraction of the cost of brand-name cleaning products.
Mix three or four drops of dish detergent in half-filled bucket of water. (Or you can go “old school” and do the cleaning with vinegar: Use two or three tablespoons of distilled white vinegar to a gallon of water. Using vinegar to clean a painted room can be surprisingly effective.)
Regular Cleaning
If you need even more firepower, create a solution containing 1 cup ammonia, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup baking soda and one gallon of warm water. Add the solution to a spray bottle, spray the solution onto the wall, and lightly scrub with your sponge.