How to Clean Soot Stains from Walls
Open the windows., Turn on fans and open vents., Wear personal protective gear., Empty the room., Protect the floor., Use a dry cleaning sponge., Wipe the wall with downward and overlapping strokes., Switch to a fresh section of sponge as...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Open the windows.
Soot can irritate your lungs and cause lung disease if you inhale too much of it, so it’s important to open the windows in the room before you start working.Open windows will provide fresh air, decreasing the amount of soot you inhale.
Open windows will also help air out the room, and allow soot particles to escape outside, rather than settling on your carpets or furniture. -
Step 2: Turn on fans and open vents.
Ventilation is also important when you're cleaning soot, because it will provide a constant supply of fresh air, and circulate fresh air throughout the room.
Turn on ceiling fans, set up a standing fan, and turn on any nearby vents or fans in places like the laundry room, bathroom, and kitchen., To protect your eyes, skin, and lungs from soot particles, you should wear a full array of personal protective equipment when you're cleaning soot from a wall.
Safety equipment you should consider includes:
Safety glasses Rubber or latex gloves Mask or respirator Long-sleeved shirt Thick apron , As you clean soot from the walls, particles will float around the room and settle on furniture, decorations, and anything else that’s in the room.
To protect your personal belongings, remove everything from the room that you can.
This will also remove clutter, making it easier to move around and clean.
Remove items like:
Furniture Carpets and rugs Paintings and pictures Plants Drapes and curtains Personal belongings , Once everything is out of the room, cover the entire floor with a plastic drop sheet, canvas, or newspaper.
The soot will float around on the air, so cover the whole floor, and not just the section near where you'll be cleaning.
Position the drop sheet so it comes up and over the baseboards too, and tape the sheet in place so it doesn’t move around.
If there are any items left in the room, such as furniture that was too large to move, cover it with a drop sheet as well., Dry cleaning sponges are specifically designed to absorb residue, which makes them perfect for cleaning soot.
Soot is easy to smear, so if you use a regular sponge, you risk pushing the soot farther into the wall and causing a permanent stain.Dry cleaning sponges are also called chemical sponges, but they don’t contain any chemicals.
Instead, they're made from vulcanized rubber.
Dry cleaning sponges are available from building stores, hardware stores, cleaning supply stores, and online. , Start at the top left edge of the soot stain.
Press the sponge firmly against the wall and wipe downward in a vertical line.
Then, go back to the top.
Move over one section, overlapping the first stroke by an inch or two (2.5 to 5 cm), and wipe again.Repeat until you get to the bottom right edge of the stain and have wiped the entire surface.
The key to cleaning soot off walls is to wipe, not scrub, because scrubbing can move the soot around and cause the stain to spread. , After each stroke, check the sponge to see how saturated it is with soot.
When the sponge becomes clogged and full of soot, flip it over and use the clean side.
Repeat with all four sides until the upper layer of the sponge is clogged with soot.
Do not rinse the sponge with water to clean it, or it will become unusable for cleaning soot. , Place the sponge on a flat surface.
Hold the sponge in place with one hand, and use a utility knife, retractable razor knife, or razor blade to slice off the dirty outer layer of the sponge.
Turn the sponge over and repeat until you’ve sliced off all the clogged sections.When the sponge is clean again, you can continue using it to remove soot. , Repeat wiping the wall with the downward, vertical, and overlapping strokes until the sponge comes away clean.
Once the sponge has absorbed all the soot it can, you can remove any remaining stain with a regular sponge and a degreasing cleaner. , Once the soot is gone from the wall, you can treat the remaining stain with a degreaser, such as denatured alcohol, sugar soap, ammonia-based cleaners, trisodium phosphate, degreasing dish detergent, or a citrus cleaner.
Mix your cleaning solution in a bucket:
To make a cleaning solution with sugar soap, mix 3 tablespoons of sugar soap with ½ gallon (1.9 L) of water.
To make a cleaning solution with TSP, mix ½ cup (4 ounces) of trisodium phosphate with ½ gallon (1.9 L) of water.
To make a cleaning solution with degreasing dish detergent, mix 2 tablespoons of liquid detergent with ½ gallon (1.9 L) of water. , Soak a sponge in the solution and wring out the excess.
Wipe the wall with the damp sponge to remove soot residue.
As the sponge gets dirty, rinse it in the cleaning solution and wring it out again before continuing.Because the majority of the soot is gone and you're just cleaning the residue, you don’t have to use a special technique to clean the wall. , When you’ve finished cleaning the wall with a degreaser, dump the cleaning solution, rinse the bucket, and fill it with plain water.
Rinse out your sponge or grab a fresh one, dampen the sponge, and wipe away excess cleaner and soot with the wet sponge. , When the wall is clean, use a towel or rag to dry the surface.
Depending on the size of the soot stain you had to remove, you may need more than one towel.
When you’ve removed as much water as you can, let the wall air dry for several hours. , Once the wall is clean, you can remove the protective cover you had over the floor.
Peel the tape from the wall or baseboards at a 45-degree angle.
Starting at the edges, fold the drop sheet over on itself toward the center to avoid throwing soot everywhere.
Discard newspapers and plastic drop sheets to avoid spreading soot around.
If you used a canvas drop sheet, take it outside and bang it out to remove excess soot before laundering it. , In case any soot did manage to settle on the contents of the room, vacuum the floors, carpets, baseboards, and furniture that was left in the room when you were cleaning the wall.
Use the long nozzle attachment to vacuum.
When you vacuum, avoid pressing the vacuum directly against the surface you're cleaning, as this can push soot particles deeper into the surface.
Instead, hold the nozzle about an inch (2.5 cm) from the surface as you vacuum.When the walls and floors are clean, you can return carpets, rugs, furniture, decorations, and personal items to their original places in the room. -
Step 3: Wear personal protective gear.
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Step 4: Empty the room.
-
Step 5: Protect the floor.
-
Step 6: Use a dry cleaning sponge.
-
Step 7: Wipe the wall with downward and overlapping strokes.
-
Step 8: Switch to a fresh section of sponge as necessary.
-
Step 9: Cut off the layers of sponge that are clogged with soot.
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Step 10: Continue until the wall is clean.
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Step 11: Make a degreasing cleaning solution.
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Step 12: Clean the wall with a degreasing cleaner.
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Step 13: Rinse the area with water.
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Step 14: Dry the wall.
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Step 15: Remove the cover from the floor.
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Step 16: Vacuum everything thoroughly.
Detailed Guide
Soot can irritate your lungs and cause lung disease if you inhale too much of it, so it’s important to open the windows in the room before you start working.Open windows will provide fresh air, decreasing the amount of soot you inhale.
Open windows will also help air out the room, and allow soot particles to escape outside, rather than settling on your carpets or furniture.
Ventilation is also important when you're cleaning soot, because it will provide a constant supply of fresh air, and circulate fresh air throughout the room.
Turn on ceiling fans, set up a standing fan, and turn on any nearby vents or fans in places like the laundry room, bathroom, and kitchen., To protect your eyes, skin, and lungs from soot particles, you should wear a full array of personal protective equipment when you're cleaning soot from a wall.
Safety equipment you should consider includes:
Safety glasses Rubber or latex gloves Mask or respirator Long-sleeved shirt Thick apron , As you clean soot from the walls, particles will float around the room and settle on furniture, decorations, and anything else that’s in the room.
To protect your personal belongings, remove everything from the room that you can.
This will also remove clutter, making it easier to move around and clean.
Remove items like:
Furniture Carpets and rugs Paintings and pictures Plants Drapes and curtains Personal belongings , Once everything is out of the room, cover the entire floor with a plastic drop sheet, canvas, or newspaper.
The soot will float around on the air, so cover the whole floor, and not just the section near where you'll be cleaning.
Position the drop sheet so it comes up and over the baseboards too, and tape the sheet in place so it doesn’t move around.
If there are any items left in the room, such as furniture that was too large to move, cover it with a drop sheet as well., Dry cleaning sponges are specifically designed to absorb residue, which makes them perfect for cleaning soot.
Soot is easy to smear, so if you use a regular sponge, you risk pushing the soot farther into the wall and causing a permanent stain.Dry cleaning sponges are also called chemical sponges, but they don’t contain any chemicals.
Instead, they're made from vulcanized rubber.
Dry cleaning sponges are available from building stores, hardware stores, cleaning supply stores, and online. , Start at the top left edge of the soot stain.
Press the sponge firmly against the wall and wipe downward in a vertical line.
Then, go back to the top.
Move over one section, overlapping the first stroke by an inch or two (2.5 to 5 cm), and wipe again.Repeat until you get to the bottom right edge of the stain and have wiped the entire surface.
The key to cleaning soot off walls is to wipe, not scrub, because scrubbing can move the soot around and cause the stain to spread. , After each stroke, check the sponge to see how saturated it is with soot.
When the sponge becomes clogged and full of soot, flip it over and use the clean side.
Repeat with all four sides until the upper layer of the sponge is clogged with soot.
Do not rinse the sponge with water to clean it, or it will become unusable for cleaning soot. , Place the sponge on a flat surface.
Hold the sponge in place with one hand, and use a utility knife, retractable razor knife, or razor blade to slice off the dirty outer layer of the sponge.
Turn the sponge over and repeat until you’ve sliced off all the clogged sections.When the sponge is clean again, you can continue using it to remove soot. , Repeat wiping the wall with the downward, vertical, and overlapping strokes until the sponge comes away clean.
Once the sponge has absorbed all the soot it can, you can remove any remaining stain with a regular sponge and a degreasing cleaner. , Once the soot is gone from the wall, you can treat the remaining stain with a degreaser, such as denatured alcohol, sugar soap, ammonia-based cleaners, trisodium phosphate, degreasing dish detergent, or a citrus cleaner.
Mix your cleaning solution in a bucket:
To make a cleaning solution with sugar soap, mix 3 tablespoons of sugar soap with ½ gallon (1.9 L) of water.
To make a cleaning solution with TSP, mix ½ cup (4 ounces) of trisodium phosphate with ½ gallon (1.9 L) of water.
To make a cleaning solution with degreasing dish detergent, mix 2 tablespoons of liquid detergent with ½ gallon (1.9 L) of water. , Soak a sponge in the solution and wring out the excess.
Wipe the wall with the damp sponge to remove soot residue.
As the sponge gets dirty, rinse it in the cleaning solution and wring it out again before continuing.Because the majority of the soot is gone and you're just cleaning the residue, you don’t have to use a special technique to clean the wall. , When you’ve finished cleaning the wall with a degreaser, dump the cleaning solution, rinse the bucket, and fill it with plain water.
Rinse out your sponge or grab a fresh one, dampen the sponge, and wipe away excess cleaner and soot with the wet sponge. , When the wall is clean, use a towel or rag to dry the surface.
Depending on the size of the soot stain you had to remove, you may need more than one towel.
When you’ve removed as much water as you can, let the wall air dry for several hours. , Once the wall is clean, you can remove the protective cover you had over the floor.
Peel the tape from the wall or baseboards at a 45-degree angle.
Starting at the edges, fold the drop sheet over on itself toward the center to avoid throwing soot everywhere.
Discard newspapers and plastic drop sheets to avoid spreading soot around.
If you used a canvas drop sheet, take it outside and bang it out to remove excess soot before laundering it. , In case any soot did manage to settle on the contents of the room, vacuum the floors, carpets, baseboards, and furniture that was left in the room when you were cleaning the wall.
Use the long nozzle attachment to vacuum.
When you vacuum, avoid pressing the vacuum directly against the surface you're cleaning, as this can push soot particles deeper into the surface.
Instead, hold the nozzle about an inch (2.5 cm) from the surface as you vacuum.When the walls and floors are clean, you can return carpets, rugs, furniture, decorations, and personal items to their original places in the room.
About the Author
Zachary Martin
Zachary Martin is an experienced writer with over 12 years of expertise in education and learning. Passionate about sharing practical knowledge, Zachary creates easy-to-follow guides that help readers achieve their goals.
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