Wall maintenance tips for your home

Avoid cleaning your walls with harsh cleansers instead whitewash your walls!

Home maintenance is one of the major responsibilities taken to maintain the integrity of your home. This process includes maintaining the parts of a home from walls to roofing, window upgrades, furnace upgrade, exterior painting and electrical amperage capacity. To have a well-furnished apartment in India with active functioning, home maintenance is really important. Maintaining your home is the key factor if you are planning to sell your home.

There are arrays of walls which are erected in many places. Walls can be made up of brick, wood, glass, cement or concrete block, reinforced or plain concrete, formed or flat steel panels, aluminium or asbestos cement panels, and plastic panel. There are walls which are load bearing and support floors, other walls and roofs. Otherwise walls are also constructed in a way which are non-load bearing and attached to structural steel, concrete or brick columns supporting the upper walls, floors and roof. Here are a few tips on how one can maintain their walls;

Repainting your wall:

This is one of the easiest steps to give your wall a fresh look. If your walls are quite old and worn out you can always change the look of your wall by repainting the wall with the same colour or changing the shades. Most interior decorative ideas are based on changing the look of your wall by painting, pasting wall papers, blending of different colours, using wall textures and creating various designs on the wall.

Whitewashing your walls:

This is one of the key factors which can make your walls look fresh. Whitewashing is not painting your walls but covering your walls with plaster of Paris. This technique is quite economical and hygienic and gives your walls a new look. The mixture used for whitewashing the walls is lime and water and there is a certain method which should be followed in order to create this mixture and apply on the wall. You can make use of a large paint brush to apply a thick coat over the walls.

Cleaning your walls:

There are certain techniques which should be followed in order to clean the wall. The cleaning of the walls depends on the type of paint used and the wall texture. Be careful while cleaning the walls and avoid rubbing too hard on the wall as you might create a stain or remove the paint texture on the wall. Make use of water and a clean sponge/paper towel to clean the wall. You can also use a mixture of water and dishwashing liquid to clean your walls with prominent stains.

Stain removing:

One of the major problems on your walls is the stains created by your children or accidently. Stains can be either of oil based things or can be waterborne. To clean them you can use a wet cloth and get rid of the waterborne stains. For oil stains like cooking grease, crayons, lipstick and others, you can make use of a mild dishwashing soap.

Wall care for dents and scratches:

There are various reasons through which your walls are scratched or dented. To avoid this keep the furniture away from your walls, put clear or light coloured rubber bumpers on the backs of your furniture. You can also install a protective chair-rail strip or consider hanging picture frames from two hooks instead of just one, so they don’t shift around as much. If your wall already has scar and dents you can do touch-ups with paint from the leftover cans or also fill in the scars with the plaster of Paris.

Vacuum your walls regularly:

To make your walls look clean and neat make use of a vacuum cleaner with a smooth brush attached to it. Avoid doing it regularly unless your walls have cobwebs or dust on them. You can also wipe your wall with a damp cloth.

Use glossy paint:

Always ensure that you make use of latex polymer paints which makes the wall surface smooth and shiny. This will help you create less water drip marks as well as allow less dirt to settle on the wall. Make use of semi-gloss and glossy paint in your home.

Clean your walls thoroughly before painting:

Most people really do not care much before painting their walls. They forget to clean their walls and paint on the dust and mounds of the walls. If your wall has light switches, cobwebs and lotion spots in the bathroom or other traffic areas, you should clean them well before painting them. This will prevent you from paint failure in those spots.

Dampness/leakage in the wall:

It is very important that you observe and repair all the water related sources to your wall. If there is a water or sewage leakage which touches your wall, there are increased chances of the wall becoming weak. This is the major cause for most of the walls to collapse. To avoid this make sure that you do not have a leaky drain pipe or sewage near your wall foundation. Also check for any moss growth and eliminate them if any by using moss cleaners.

Other tips to have a safe wall:

• You should carry out regular visual checks by looking for cracks, tilt or movement of the wall.
• Check for faulty weep holes, or drainage holes, on the wall.
• Check for a proper surface drainage around the vicinity of the wall for a proper flow of water.
• Avoid obstructing the weep holes on the wall.
• Avoid increasing the height of the wall without consultation.
• Avoid digging away earth at the base of the wall.
• Do not plant large trees near the walls and also trim down the branches of a tree if they are touching the wall.

If you’re facing any problem related to wall or would like to know more about the measures to be taken to have a safe wall you can click on the below link which provides all the services related.
http://www.commonfloor.com/services