As a homeowner, it’s essential for every room in your home to have the right look and feel. If your interior paint has started to show signs of age or the color no longer matches your stylistic preferences, it can bring down the whole mood of a room. Looking for the best painting companies in your area and choosing one to help you revitalize your walls is one of the best steps you can take to ensure your home looks its best. Of course, after completing an interior painting project, it’s important to make sure the results last for years to come. If you’re getting ready to have professional painters work on one or more rooms in your home, you should go into this project with a solid grasp of the steps you need to take to care for your walls after the painting work is done. Here’s a basic overview of what you need to know when it comes to keeping your newly painted walls in great shape.
Choosing the Right Paint
One of the most important steps in preserving your walls comes before your interior painting project even begins. Choosing the right paint goes a long way when it comes to ensuring long-lasting results. While investing in high-quality paint may cost you more upfront, you most likely won’t need to repaint the room anytime in the near future, which will help you save money in the long run.
In order to make the best decision when choosing paint, you need to consider the specific area being painted and how much time you and your family spend there on a daily basis. According to Forbes, when painting high-traffic areas, you want to choose a paint that can withstand more intense cleaning. Matte, eggshell, and satin finishes can look great in low-traffic spaces like bedrooms, but gloss and semi-gloss finishes offer durability that makes them ideal for areas like kitchens. Keep in mind that different paint types will require you to use different cleaning products on your walls. Painting companies can help you choose the best paint for your needs based on your desired aesthetic and preferred cleaning methods.
The Best Cleaning Products for Different Paint Types
You don’t want to invest in an interior painting project only to end up damaging your walls when you go to clean them. It’s essential to use the right cleaning products for a room’s specific paint type. Painting companies can offer advice on the best products to use to clean your walls, but here are some general guidelines to keep in mind.
If the room you’re cleaning has paint with a matte, eggshell, or satin finish, you should avoid using harsh chemicals or degreasers at all costs. This type of paint can easily become burnished or damaged if you don’t treat it delicately, so you should only use the gentlest cleaning products on the market. You should also refrain from scrubbing too hard when you clean these areas, and make sure you wring out your sponge until it’s only slightly damp.
While gloss and semi-gloss finishes are more durable, they still need to be handled with care. When cleaning walls with these types of paint, it’s best to start out with a mild cleaning solution, like warm water mixed with dish soap, and gradually move on to stronger products if you aren’t seeing the results you want.
Regular Cleaning
One of the most important steps you can take to keep your walls looking great for years to come is to take the time to clean them regularly. Even if you don’t notice dirt and dust building up on your walls, the gradual accumulation of debris can add up over time, so you shouldn’t wait until you see noticeable damage to start cleaning. At a minimum, you should wipe your walls down once a month, but making this a biweekly routine is ideal.
You don’t need to use any special products for your regular cleaning. Mild, soapy water is enough to do the trick. As you clean your walls, make sure you use a soft, gentle sponge and scrub lightly using circular motions. Start at the bottom, and work your way up. It may not seem like you’re doing a lot, but this simple action goes a long way toward keeping your home looking beautiful.
Spot Cleaning
No matter how clean you try to keep your home, accidents are inevitable, and your walls will occasionally become stained or scuffed. This is especially true if you have children or pets in your household. If a blemish appears on a wall, there’s no need to panic. You can likely get rid of it using everyday household items.
In many cases, all you need to remove a stain or scuff mark is a mixture of baking soda and water. Simply rub the solution on the problem area, apply gentle pressure with a sponge, and wipe the wall dry. For more stubborn stains, such as grease stains, try using water mixed with a dish soap that’s advertised as being tough on grease
If everyday cleaning products aren’t doing the trick, don’t hesitate to reach out to the painters who worked on your home. They can advise you on the best products to use to properly clean your walls. Alternatively, if it makes more sense to paint over the damaged area, they can help you touch it up.
Touch-Ups
If parts of your paint have started to wear away, you’ll need to touch it up. This may seem like a simple endeavor, but without a skilled hand, it’s easy to produce sloppy results that make it obvious which parts of your walls have recently been repainted. This type of work is best left to the professionals who initially painted your home.
After your interior painting project is complete, ask your painters if you can save the remaining paint that they used. This way, you can ensure a perfect color match for any touch-up work. Then, whenever the need arises for you to repaint a small area, you can call them and schedule a touch-up service.
Preventing Damage
While cleaning your walls is essential for keeping them in good shape, the best way to ensure they look their best for as long as possible is to prevent damage before it occurs. While it’s impossible to avoid touching your walls entirely, you can still practice some basic precautions.
When hanging framed photos or artwork, make sure you roll up a small piece of painter’s tape and attach it to the back of the frame. This will help ensure the picture stays in place rather than shifting and scuffing your walls. You should also take extra care whenever you move furniture. Have someone else in the room who can act as a spotter so you don’t hit the walls with damaging items like tables or chairs. These simple steps can help prevent serious problems for your walls.
Caring for newly painted walls may seem intimidating at first, but it’s actually quite simple. As long as you clean your walls regularly and call in professionals for extra help when needed, you should have little difficulty keeping your walls looking fresh and new for years. If you’re ready to get started on an interior painting project and are searching for painting companies that can help you, look no further than VS Pro Painting. Our team will deliver the high-quality results you need while providing friendly and professional service. Contact us today to schedule your free estimate. We look forward to assisting you with this exciting home upgrade!
