5 tips to clean walls

If you need an incentive to clean your walls, think about how much time you'll save in not having to paint for a few more years. Here are five things to remember in cleaning your walls. 

• In most rooms, the easiest way to get rid of the dust, dirt and cobwebs that shorten the life of your paint is to run a microfibre dust cloth on a long-handled sweeper over your walls every couple of months.
• You don't need to take down pictures or move furniture. Areas that are covered don't get very dirty — and they don't show anyway.
• Don't forget the ceiling; despite gravity, some airborne dust collects there. It shouldn't take you more than 10 or 15 minutes to do an entire room.
• Vacuuming with a soft brush works too, and so does Grandma's solution: a clean, white cloth wrapped around the head of a broom.

• Remove the residues of cooking and steamy showers by washing the painted areas of kitchen and bathroom walls at least once every year.
• Do other rooms, too, if they are regularly used by children or a smoker or have a fireplace or wood-burning stove.
• Start from the bottom. Rub gently with a natural sponge and a soap and water solution (like the ones described in the next tip). Wash and rinse a small area, then move up and do an area that partially overlaps what you've already cleaned.
• Dry the wall with an old towel. Don't forget to wash woodwork as well.

• Homemade soap mixtures do a great job cleaning painted walls. Both of these mixtures are inexpensive, simple to make and at least as good as commercially available cleaners.
• Mix 250 millilitres (one cup) of borax and 30 millilitres (two tablespoons) of dishwashing liquid in four litres (16 cups) of warm water. You'll find borax in the cleaning products aisle at the supermarket.
• Mix 250 millilitres (one cup) of ammonia and five millilitres (one teaspoon) of dishwashing liquid in four litres (16 cups) of water.

• It's safe to wash glossy and semigloss paint, which are commonly used in kitchens and baths and on woodwork.
• Most modern flat and satin paints are also washable, but always test them in an inconspicuous spot. If paint chalks off on your sponge, don't wash that paint.
• Never wash with trisodium phosphate (TSP) except when you are about to repaint; it dulls the finish.

• Even if you don't need to wash an entire room, the areas around switches and thermostats may need an occasional washing. Dust and dirt also tend to accumulate on walls behind TV's or other electronics and above radiators or heating grates.
• If dusting doesn't get rid of the dirt, wash the area.