Ways to Deal With Scuffed Wall Marks

Walls have a habit of getting scuffed, particularly in busy communal areas, such as reception areas in business premises, or the entrance and stairs to an apartment block.

As cleaners in Birmingham, we see this time and time again, and it can be annoyingly obvious. Even after it’s all been decorated and looks new and fresh, within a week, someone drags something along the wall to leave a scuff mark, and it ruins the whole appearance.

Here are a few ideas to help either limit this happening and to deal with it and then clean up afterwards or have a full builders clean effectively:

1. See if You Can Gently Wipe Them Off

Obvious, but helpful. Ideally, this would be with a dry cloth or duster; however, they tend to be more ingrained in the wall, so maybe a damp cloth is needed.

You need to do this carefully to make sure you don’t damage the wall surface, whether it’s a piece of wallpaper or paint below being wiped off.

2. Look at a Better Wall Surface to Help Clear in Future

So ideally, a good, solid surface that can be easily cleaned in the future, but still looks great. For painted walls, maybe look at a different type of paint, so ideally a silk- or acrylic-based emulsion paint, being better than matt-based paint, as it provides a light sheen on the paint which will help protect it when you wipe.

3. Touch up Damage Where You Can, But Be Aware of the Limitations of This

So have a spare piece of wallpaper around, or tiles, or original-colour paint, so you can always touch these up. Be aware, though, that these new pieces of decoration can stand out from the rest because of being new and actually make things look worse.

So maybe you need to do the whole section of wall, leave it, make a feature of the new bit, or place a picture on the wall over the area. It’s worth at this stage consulting with a decorator as well as general cleaner.

4. Find the Culprit to Stop Happening Again

Sometimes it’s just a random thing that everyone can do, but other times it’s a similar person or use case that keeps causing this. Maybe it’s a young person who keeps leaving their bike leaned up against the wall, or a young mother with a pram.

Or builders who keep bringing their tools in. Try to find out what causes it, and then chat with them to come up with helpful ways to prevent it from happening again. It can often help to ask other users and occupiers, who tend to know day to day what the cause is.

Or even send a general note or place a notice on the wall asking people to watch out for it and let you know if it happens again.