Title: The Best Way to Get Smoke Stains Off Painted Sheetrock Walls | Home Guides | SF Gate
Headings: The Best Way to Get Smoke Stains Off Painted Sheetrock Walls
The Best Way to Get Smoke Stains Off Painted Sheetrock Walls
Before You Wash
Clean With a Strong Detergent
Get the Best Mortgage Rate for You
Odor Control
When Painting Becomes Necessary

Content: The Best Way to Get Smoke Stains Off Painted Sheetrock Walls | Home Guides | SF Gate
The Best Way to Get Smoke Stains Off Painted Sheetrock Walls
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Home Cleaning
By Chris Deziel
The first thing to remember when you set out to clean smoke-damaged painted Sheetrock -- a brand name for drywall -- is that there is a chance you won't be successful. Smoke is a combination of soot and oily tars that can act like a coat of paint. If your cleaning efforts aren't enough to remove the stains, they will at least prepare the wall for the paint it will take to hide them. Before You Wash
If you have extensive smoke damage on your painted drywall, you must remove loose, sooty material before you try to wash way the stain. If you wet the loose material down with water and rub it, you'll likely simply smear it on the wall. The Los Angeles County Health Department recommends wiping off the soot with a dry chemical sponge, which you can buy at a hardware store. Be sure to ventilate the area and wear a dust mask to ensure you don't inhale the soot as you're cleaning it. Clean With a Strong Detergent
The next step in the cleaning process is to wash the walls with a strongly alkaline detergent, and trisodium phosphate is one of the strongest detergents available. Make a solution consisting of a gallon of warm water and a tablespoon of TSP; then put on some rubber gloves and goggles: