Wall and ceiling cleaning is not hart but most people will never do this necessary task.

You may want to think about what the effect of cleaning just one spot will be. A highly visible smudge that needs to be scrubbed may leave a wonderfully clean mark on an otherwise dingy wall.

You may decide that it is easier to just live with a few scuffs and smudges than to attempt to remove them, especially since you can not disguise the cleaned spot by unless you wash the entire wall.

But the idea of washing the whole wall in order to dispose of a small smudge doesn’t have to be that daunting. In fact, there is a whole article devoted to recipes for cleaning solutions for walls and ceilings here on this site that may make it easier for you, both to remove a small smudge without having to do the entire wall, and for cleaning the whole room.

If you do decide to wash an entire wall or ceiling, the following steps will make the job easier.

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1. Move all of the furniture away from the wall and cover it and the floor with drop cloths.
2. Remove pictures, curtains and drapes.
3. You can also tape plastic wrap over metal fixtures such as chandeliers or wall sconces to protect them from being damaged by chemicals in the cleaning solution.
4. Thoroughly vacuum the walls, ceiling, baseboard, door and window trim while paying special attention to corners and also to the grooves in fancy woodwork.

Safety First

Make sure to wear rubber gloves for protection from the detergents and other chemicals used in cleaning walls and ceilings. Also, never stand on the top 2 rungs of a step ladder, no matter how tempting it may be as you can topple the ladder. Be sure to follow weight limits for your step ladder, including the weight of the water in any buckets that you put on the shelf, and the weight of any wooden board and clamps used to extend the surface of the shelf. Be sure to keep the items on the shelf close to the stepladder itself for stability.

From the article on cleaning solution recipes, choose and mix the appropriate cleaning solution for your particular type of covering on your wall or ceiling, since what it is painted or wallpapered with will dictate the method used to clean it.

Note: When a wallpapered room has a painted ceiling, you should wash the ceiling first. Near the edges of the ceiling, it it is best to work with a barely damp sponge in order to avoid lifting or staining the edges of the wallpaper. Then wipe down the walls.

Ok, now you are ready to begin.

Set up a stepladder that is tall enough for you to reach the ceiling without having to extend your arm too much. Place two buckets of water on the ladder shelf. One will contain your cleaning solution and the other will have the rinse water. If necessary, you can clamp a 1″ x 8″ board onto the shelf to extend the shelf enough to support the buckets, but be sure that the buckets are close to the stepladder itself so that you can reach them comfortably. Put a sponge in each bucket.

Wring out the cleaning sponge until it no longer drips and gently scrub the ceiling with circular strokes. Cover as wide an area as you can safely and comfortably reach without extending your body too far beyond the ladder, or it could topple. Then wipe off the cleaner with the rinsing sponge with is also wrung out until it no longer drips. After the ceiling has been done, move the ladder to an adjacent area. Continue in this manner until you have scrubbed the entire ceiling. Change the cleaning solution and the rinse water as needed, since both the water in both buckets will get dirty. For ordinary soil, this is usually after you have covered about 100 square feet.

You can now get off the ladder while you clean the lower portion of the walls.

To clean the walls, begin by washing and rinsing the particularly dirty areas such as over heat registers; near light switches; and around the spaces occupied by picture frames that have been removed.

Start in a corner directly above the baseboard by washing 3-foot wide strip up the wall, all the way to the ceiling. Again, wringing out the cleaning sponge until it no longer drips, but for the walls, you should be working in overlapping vertical or horizontal strokes.

Immediately rinse the strip, working now from ceiling to floor in order to wipe away streaks and drip marks before they have a chance to dry. Continue in this fashion, cleaning adjacent strips until you have circled the entire room. When the walls of the room are finished, you can clean the wooden baseboard and framing around doors and windows.

When finished, your room should look freshly painted or papered and without all that paint and wallpaper paste mess to clean up.

About the Author
Mark Dunne is a successful freelance writer providing advice on your a number of topics like
Concrete Articles and Drywall Plaster if you have time drop by his site for some tips and information. www.diystuff.com

by: Mark Dunne

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