You Have to Clean Walls??

I didn't know this, but walls get really really dirty.

Our new house has the most disgusting walls I've ever seen! I think the previous owners must have smoked inside...a lot.

Fig. 1

There is also this lovely wood paneling in the hall (see fig. 1) that is so amazingly dirty that I think it must be wood-stain that never really took.

The bathroom also had this stunning wood paneling (see fig. 2) that I, of course, make my first project to paint over. I found that, even after a good wipe down, the dirt/stain bled through the Killz primer! I did two coats of heavy duty primer and the walls still look a bit dirty (see fig. 3).

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

So, before I can paint over these lovely walls, I have to CLEAN them. I've been experimenting and found that ammonia works wonders. I've also found that L.A.'s Totally Awesome Cleaner works wonders and it's $1 at Family Dollar!!

So, today I sprayed down each panel with a 1:1 solution of the LA stuff, scrubbed it with this brush thingy (see fig. 4) and wiped it clean with a sponge. It took forever, but it's clean and ready for primer... or, more like ready for putty to fill in cracks, sanding then primer!

I hope you can learn from my mistakes and my poor writing skills. Cheerio!