Candle Smoke Stains

Nelski

Just before I decide I have to get the paint tin out to rescue - thought I would just ask you guys.

A couple of candles I lit on my mantlepiece have left awful smoke stains on the wall and ceiling and just wondered if anyone knew a good way of removing them. Have had a go with stardrops but the wonder liquid has been beaten

Any thoughts anyone or is my weekend booked out for painting:o

saxy1

Think your weekend is mapped out for painting! I have in the past tried to wash these marks off, just made them worse!!

HariboJunkie

Yep. get the paintbrush out I'm afraid. When this happened to me any attempt to clean it just made it worse.

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, Nels! The smoke/soot will be oily (it contains unburned wax), so will leave a difficult to remove stain. Trying to remove it will probably just spread it around.

Have you tried liquid soap (washing up liquid?) on kitchen roll? That might remove the worst - you'll need to wash away as much of the greasiness as poss before you paint, anyway, or the paint won't adhere properly.

Penny. x

dianeclaire

Depends on the paint on the walls to be honest, Painting is usually the onle option but have you tried a pencil eraser on a small area, pencil lead is fairly waxy too, and this has worked for us on little stains.

I have to say though we just do not light the candles on the mantlepiece or wall sonces anymore because of this and living in rented house

Debt_Free_Chick

I've used Astonish paste on paintwork to remove soot stains from candles. In fact, I spring clean all my paintwork with Astonish, as it's non-abrasive and doesn't scratch even gloss