I’m moving to another place. Right the next day I submitted the notice to the leasing office my kids, being under great impression of “Blue’s Clues” TV program, started playing clues. Soon they invented that the best clues can be made with marker on walls. I spent about 1 hour trying different substances on the walls, but the wall-marker combination was much stronger then Soap, Magic Eraser, OxiClean, rubbing alcohol and other pretty powerful substances. Only in a few weeks I recalled what I was studying on chemistry at school and solved the problem in seconds.
When I was in school (and that was in the USSR) it was common practice that teachers were leaving marks and notes in a special notebook called “dnevnik”, so parents were able to evaluate the progress of their child any time they want. So almost every child in the former Soviet Union knew how to take the teacher’s notes off the “dnevnik” – with Chlorine in the form of hydrochloric acid.
So I used “Lysol Mildew Remover with Bleach” (the smell indicated that it is an excellent source of Chlorine). Actually spraying it on the walls is probably not the best idea, so I sprayed into a plastic glass first and then applied it to the dirty wall using a napkin. The stain disappeared in about 10 seconds after applying Lysol.
CAUTION:
1. This method worked for me, it is not guaranteed that it will work for you. There are different types of paint, so Chlorine can actually damage your wall more then marker. First try it on a small piece of wall in some hidden place. Do this on your own risk, I’m not responsible for possible damage.
2. Be careful with all products that contain chlorides – they effectevily remove not only stains, but skin as well (after prolonged contact). Use rubber gloves when working with that stuff.
BTW, Lysol worked great on Mildew as well. I tried several other product and none of them was as powerful as “Lysol Mildew Remover with Bleach”.
A few more advices on working with walls:
– I tried several methods of attaching stuff to the walls and the best one appeared to be 3M Command Adhesive Strips. The leave no stains and typically do not damage the walls
– Double-sided Scotch is probably the worst thing you can apply to your walls. Regular scotch tape and stickers are something you will spend plenty of time to remove stains from. Magic Eraser is probably the best for that job, but sometimes it will take fine sandpaper.
– Pinholes/nailholes can be easily hidden with a small amount of toothpaste
