Cleaning Before Painting Walls
One of the most commonly skipped steps in Ontario home painting projects — whether DIY or contractor-led — is cleaning the walls before painting. The consequence of skipping this step is a measurably worse paint job: poor adhesion, visible dirt and grease telegraphed through the paint layer, and premature failure at high-use surfaces.
Why Walls Need Cleaning Before Painting
Interior walls accumulate a surprisingly effective barrier to paint adhesion over time: cooking grease in the kitchen (which rises and migrates far beyond the immediate cooking area), fingerprints and skin oils around light switches and door frames, dust and cobwebs on upper walls and ceiling edges, nicotine and smoke residue in homes where anyone has smoked, and general household airborne grime. Paint applied over any of these surfaces will not adhere properly to the underlying wall — it adheres to the contamination layer, which can peel, chip, or bubble independently of the wall.
What to Clean
- Kitchen walls: TSP (trisodium phosphate) or a degreasing cleaner applied with a sponge, then rinsed well — the standard treatment before painting kitchen surfaces
- High-traffic areas (hallways, around doors): Wash with mild dish soap solution to remove skin oils
- All walls: Wipe down with a damp microfiber cloth or sugar soap solution to remove dust. Let dry fully before painting — 24 hours minimum
- Scuff marks: Remove with a magic eraser before washing — paint over a clean wall, not a stained one
The Professionals' Approach
Professional Ontario painters typically include wall washing as a standard step of any full repaint. If you're hiring a painter and wall washing isn't in the scope of work, either add it or do it yourself before they arrive — it directly affects the quality of the finished product.