Take your time, when cleaning wallpaper and always first test your cleaning in an inconspicuous place!
If you have modern wallpaper, consult the manufacturer as to the best cleaning techniques. However, if you do not know the exact type of wallpaper that you have you can use the following method for cleaning. To clean large areas of wallpaper, get two buckets. Fill one bucket with warm water with a few drops of dish detergent. Fill the second bucket with cool, clean water. Clean the walls with a sponge barely damp with the detergent water. Use minimal pressure and quickly wipe off the surface with a sponge dampened with the cool water to remove any excess detergent. Quickly dry the area with a dry cloth by blotting the entire area. Work small areas to minimize the amount of moisture and to guarantee that you get each area dry before moving on. Always test this procedure on a small inconspicuous area of your wallpaper to make sure that it doesn't cause any damage.
To remove scuff marks from your wallpaper, here are a few good tips:
- Pink pencil erasers used with a very light touch can do a great job, just start with a small sample area.
- Kneaded erasers also can be very effective and offer less chance for damaging the paper.
- Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are very effective, just be gentle. You can take the finish off very quickly with too much scrubbing!
- I had heard rumors that wadded up white bread also works. I was very hesitant, but I did try it. It does work, a little bit. It is not nearly as effective as the other methods on tough marks, but it does remove the light ones. Just make sure to clean up all of the little bits that are going to fall off, you don't need to attract ants after all!
