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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2010 14:03:09 GMT -5
I was doing some touch-up work in my bathroom, and after cleaning around the commode I stood up and knocked a picture off the wall...surprise, surprise, there was a THICK coating of dust behind it! Then looking closely at the walls, I could see each one was HANGING with dust....when I wiped a rag over them it came away totally black (I have dark blue walls so this dirt was not readily apparent). What the heck? I find it hard to believe normal people are running around dusting their walls on a regular basis, but perhaps I'm wrong. Do you guys dust your walls? How often should one be doing this?  |
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Post by clutterfree on Jun 28, 2010 14:40:21 GMT -5
I have cleanie relatives who wash down their walls at least once or twice a year. Of course, the walls are paneling. Also, they smoke and that makes a huge difference in how dirty walls will get.
I have never, ever washed a wall but I've always had painted plaster or wallboard walls. I decobweb the corners and spots when I see them (though not always immediately), and that's about it.
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Post by Script on Jun 28, 2010 15:03:48 GMT -5
ok, confession time: we lived here for nearly 25 years before repainting anything. I have never washed a living room/bedroom/ bathroom wall in my life.
BUT I do swipe food spots on the kitchen walls when I can. I don't really like flat paints; and prefer a slight sheen, and these supposedly wash better anyway.
HOWEVER: I have dusted picture frames [behind] and ceiling fixtures [inside] and window ledges [above]. And there can be huge trails of dust there. NOW that the house is a lot cleaner. I don't do this a lot, but maybe once a year? I think I swiped a bit of the dining room panelling [valuable stuff, I was told once] and DH will put a rag on a broom and dust this too. My house is tidy now, and more restored, but I am not a very good cleaner, to be absolutely honest. I am better, and I am neater, but our home is far from perfect.........
Dust and dirt [not clutter or hoarding] depend on many factors: smoking, use of fireplace, types of furnaces, cooking habits, pets [dander, fur], etc. Our city has a no pesticide policy, and we have noticed so many more spider webs inside! We have a hugely dusty house [no screens, old wood, constant reno work on street]. I can't keep up dusting the furniture! I occasionally use the vacuum nozzle with brush on baseboards.
I have heard of neurotic super-cleanies who wash INSIDE the kitchen cabinets weekly! This is over the top in my book..........
edited to add: back in the 1960's, my aunt had a hugely strong cleaning woman. 'Catherine' supposedly VACUUMED the walls regularly [hoover type upright vacuum]. This was considered a feat of STRENGTH, but not necessarily common sense cleaning.
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hope
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Joined: May 2010
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Post by hope on Jun 28, 2010 15:57:35 GMT -5
Gee, if it weren't for all the junk I have to walk around, I'd wonder if I really belong here... I *do* wash walls regular, (at least once a year), wipe down high-traffic wall areas (around light switches, eg) and I run a broom/dust mop around the tops to clear cob-webs. I have never considered myself a "cleanie" in any way shape or form, let along "normal",  . I just have a tendancy to hang on to things... Have trouble letting go. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2010 16:03:30 GMT -5
OMG, about.com (housekeeping section) says we should be dusting walls AND CEILINGS 2-3X per year! Holy mother! See here: housekeeping.about.com/od/surfaceswalls/qt/vac_wallceiling.htmWhile I might consider washing the bathroom walls once every couple of years, I will never, ever be washing them 2-3 times a year....maybe this is "demand resistance", but good heavens, there seems to be so many other things to work on that would make more of a visual difference. Thank you script and clutterfree for answering. |
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Post by puppybox on Jun 28, 2010 16:27:30 GMT -5
i'd say my mother is normal and she cleans the walls periodically, when they seem dusty. maybe 1ce every year or 2? my father smokes in 1 room of the house only but it does leak out a bit. I don't smoke but live in urban area and my walls seem to need dusting every 6 months or so, of course i don't do it.
she would wash the walls before painting, she used to say that walls need painting every 7 years, but in retirement i think she's given up painting completely.
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Post by bigtimetroubles on Jun 28, 2010 16:39:42 GMT -5
I have cobwebs....
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Post by DJ on Jun 28, 2010 17:45:40 GMT -5
i decobweb usually once a month, wrap a towel around a broom and sweep it around ceiling/corners/lightfixtures. i wipe down kitchen walls as spots occur.. wash walls in kitchen and bathroom seasonally... wash down livingroom/bedroom walls about once a year... most of my family either does the same or repaints regularly... there are a few who don't bother to and then complain violently that it isn't done  house cleaning on bath sides of my family is more of a woman's domain but it's more women organize it and then tell the men to do the heavy work so "women do the painting" and somehow magically get the credit for it. but they decide on paint colour, the shopping list for materials, maybe do the buying, then enlist male family members to do the work. last time i was going to help grandmother paint the walls because she'd been waiting months for it to be done and when i started to arrange it my male family members were up in arms and the whole place was repainted within about two weeks.... people look at me funny because i repaint frequently but it doesn't seem that unusual in my family. i think it's a hold over from a generation or two ago it was typical to white wash every spring. the newer wooden barns weren't white washed but they were emptied and gutted, repaired & cleaned at the end of winter before hard work started. and then cleaned out again in the fall after harvest/butchering. the house got the same treatment. things slid through growing/rearing season and then the fall cleaning. everything got sooty and messy with winter/candle burning/fires and so many people over... so while me painting yearly my family even teases me about. it's still just not that totally odd to repaint regularly. |
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Post by mrsmess on Jun 28, 2010 18:48:57 GMT -5
Gee, if it weren't for all the junk I have to walk around, I'd wonder if I really belong here...  |
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Post by Morningstar on Jun 28, 2010 19:00:31 GMT -5
I periodically run the vacuum with the brush attachment over ceilings and walls to remove insects, dust and spiderwebs. I spot-wash walls on an "as-needed" basis (a.k.a: upcoming rental inspection). I'm planning to do a thorough clean (wash ceiling, ceiling battens and walls; wash curtains and nets; clean inside and out of furniture, appliances, built-in cabinets and shelves; get carpet cleaned professionally) in spring (or sooner if I have to move).
MS
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Post by def6 on Jun 28, 2010 19:14:42 GMT -5
Hey Hurricane! I just cleaned and dejunked my eldest child's room. The ceiling ,the fan the walls and the blinds were caked with dust . I just took a broom and swept the ceiling first then everything else. It looked like the dust bowl in there. Then I took a magic eraser and got the little stains off of the walls. To answer your question ,I don't wash walls. I just get the dust and spots that I see. If I did wash walls, I think that has to do with spring cleaning but I am not sure.
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Post by eagle on Jun 28, 2010 21:37:11 GMT -5
I learned from my mom, who was a good housekeeper, to clean walls, sweep away cobwebs, dust ledges, baseboards, windowsills and all kinds of sundry stuff. So yes, they do, or at least some of them do. When my sons were very small, before I lost touch with cleaning, we washed walls together & it was actually fun.
My mom also used to paint the walls every couple of years and pre-cleaning the walls was a part of that process. I still wash walls before painting, although I know some people don't.
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Post by notsomessyshell on Jun 28, 2010 21:45:31 GMT -5
Since we moved here I have been wiping them down once a month. White walls. Youngest son dirty hand prints. Bathroom walls get done once a week when I clean them.
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Post by moggyfan on Jun 28, 2010 22:05:25 GMT -5
I clean off marks & clean around switchplates, and maybe once in a great while, swipe corners with a feather duster to get rid of cobwebs. But "dust" the walls? Nononononononono :-)
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Post by success19 on Jun 29, 2010 0:24:50 GMT -5
I grew up when we washed the walls at least once a year and removed everything and cleaned and put it back. I used to clean alot when dd was home. Now I could care less.
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