Cleaning crayon, marker, and pencils off walls
For toddlers and small children, often times the walls of your home become a huge canvas for them and their crayons, markers, and pencils.
Inevitably, most parents will deal with discovering crayon or marker on their walls and will end up having to scrub the walls and try to get the crayon and other markings off. The following are some tips for cleaning crayon, marker, and pencils off your walls.
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Before you begin trying to clean the marks off of the wall, you will first need to find out what type of paint is on. Certain paints can't withstand harsh cleaners or bleaches, and you'll end up wiping the paint right off the wall.
Most walls use latex or alkyd paint. Latex is water-based and is easy to wash. Alkyd is the other most common type of pain and is durable and washable. Your walls will typically be of the satin or semi-gloss finish. These are easy to clean with any type of all-purpose cleaner or with regular soap and water and a sponge or soft cloth. Many types of wallpaper are also washable as well.
When cleaning, avoid using paper towels with printing on them. The dye from the cheaper brands will rub off onto the walls.
Cleaning crayon off walls
When cleaning crayon off of walls, first use a plastic spatula to rub off the wax build-up of the crayons. From there, you can get crayon off of your walls in a number of ways. Some recommendations include:
- Lighter fluid. Spray or wipe lighter fluid on the affected area, then gently brush out the crayon with a toothbrush or damp rag.
- WD40. Many people recommend this for removing crayon from the walls. Simply spray some on a paper towel, and wipe off the crayon. The marks should dissolve quickly. Then wipe away the area with a clean cloth or paper towel.
- Commercial spot remover. Goo Gone and other commercial spot cleaners can also be used to clean crayon spots off of the walls.
- Cleaning markers off walls
- This is a little trickier. If you find that markers have been used on your walls, try the following:
- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Many people will swear by this product. It does fairly well with removing marker, but in some cases it will take the paint off of your walls as well. Test a small, unnoticeable area first to see.
- Goo Gone. Also works well, but may take off some of the paint as well.
Cleaning pencils off walls
Pencils are probably the easiest things to clean off of your walls.
- Don't try and use a regular pink eraser to erase the marks. More often than not, this will only end up smudging the walls even more. Instead, use a clean, white art gum eraser.
- You can also use dish soap and water or a mixture of ½ cup vinegar, 1 cup clear ammonia, ¼ cup baking soda, and 1 gallon of warm water
If the marks on your wall won't seem to go away, you can always repaint over the area. In some cases, especially with permanent marker, this is what you will need to do. And it's also a good idea to only purchase washable markers and crayons - it will make the clean-up process a lot easier!
