No one wants to clean the house, and many are willing to cut a few corners. Walls and baseboards may not seem like cleaning necessities, but they accumulate dirt and grime like the floors and furniture.
You’d never consider not vacuuming or dusting, but cleaning the walls and baseboards…well, you can get to that next week. It’s too bad that day never comes.
You also must know how to clean walls and baseboards correctly. Harsh chemicals from cleaning products ruin paint on walls. What happens if you find mold on your walls and baseboards? We’ll show you how to handle the grimiest of situations.
How to Clean Walls
When people used wood-burning furnaces, walls dirtied easily, and people washed them regularly. In the era of forced air heating, walls don’t get as dirty. They’ll go years without washing, but we suggest about once a year during spring cleaning.
You don’t need to wash all your walls. You need to focus on high traffic areas and look for dirt, footprints and other signs of dirt and grime.
Use soap and water for wall washing because harsher chemicals can lead to peeling, fading, etc. They can also be abrasive on your throat and lead to health problems.
Paint can fade with soap and water, so keep a small can of paint at the ready for touch-ups. This is how to clean painted walls.
It’s important to dust walls, especially in the corners at the ceiling level where spiders build their webs.
How to Clean Baseboards
Baseboards run along the bottom of your walls and keep them from being scuffed and dirtied by feet. It also protects it from impacts and there is an aesthetic value as well. Since their main purpose is to take abuse so the walls don’t have to, they can get dirty.
Begin by dusting the baseboards and removing as much dirt as possible. It’s fine to use a duster or a vacuum for this.
Once again, soap and water are the best chemicals for this duty. Many baseboards are painted wood and the chemicals can take off the paint. If the baseboards are stained, then use a cleaning product specially formulated for stained wood.
Wash the baseboards with the sponge. The corners can be difficult to clean completely, so use a cotton swab to reach those hard to reach spaces.
Dealing with Mold
If you live in a humid climate or have had water leaks, then mold may develop on walls and baseboards. You’ll want to know how to clean mold off walls because it can cause serious health problems as well as being aesthetically ugly.
Mold is alive. It’s a fungus and can’t just be washed off with soap and water. You’ll want a mix of one-part bleach to three parts water. Use a brush to scrub the moldy area. This will ruin the paint in that area, but you’ll need to repaint it anyway.
Once you’re finished, rinse the area and dry it off. You can purchase special mold resistant paint and that should keep it from happening again.
Cleaning Walls and Baseboards Doesn’t Have to be a Pain
You may not want to clean walls and baseboards, but they can help make a room look great. You’ll become an expert on how to clean walls and be the envy of all your friends.
We understand if you’re not keen on housecleaning. Who has the time? Let us take over and we’ll clean your home for you. Contact us today and schedule an appointment.
