How to Get Soot Off the Wall

Fires, heaters, and even candles can leave an oily, black residue known as soot on your walls. If left untreated, soot will permanently stain the wall and fill the area with an unpleasant aroma. Soot also can transfer to just about any item that rubs against the wall. The greasy characteristic of soot makes removal difficult. Most cleaners do little to remove soot from walls. Fortunately, you can remove soot using a heavy-duty cleaner.

Things You'll Need

• Fans
• Rubber gloves
• Dropcloth
• 2 plastic buckets
• Trisodium phosphate
• Sponge
• Cloth

Instructions

1. Open doors and windows, and run fans in the room to help circulate air and ventilate the area.

2. Put on a pair of rubber gloves. Protect flooring below the wall by laying a dropcloth or plastic tarp over it.

3. Fill a plastic bucket with 1 gallon of cold water, and add 1 tbsp. of trisodium phosphate. Fill a second plastic bucket with 1 gallon of plain water. Set both buckets near your work area.

4. Saturate a sponge in the trisodium phosphate solution. Starting at the bottom, scrub the wall with the sponge, working your way up. Starting at the bottom of the wall will prevent drip marks.

5. Rinse the dirty sponge in the water-filled bucket.

6. Continue scrubbing the wall with the sponge, rinsing it when soiled, until you have removed the soot from the wall.

7. As you work, wipe the mixture off the wall with a clean cloth dampened in water. Let the wall air-dry.

Tips & Warnings

• Trisodium phosphate -- also called TSP -- is a heavy-duty cleaner that kills fungus while cutting through grease and grime. It is available at home improvement stores.

References

• University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service: Handling Smoke Damage After a Fire -- Getting Soot and Smoke Out; 1998
• University of Missouri Extension; After the Fire is Out: Cleaning Household Textiles and Clothing; Betty Feather; October 1993