Removing smoke stain on wall

miss_cupcake_2

Help! I’m really hoping someone can give me some advice… I’m desperate!

Last night I had a candle burning next to a white (painted) wall & I’ve just discovered it’s left a horrible black smoke stain on the wall 😩 Can anyone suggest a product or method for cleaning it effectively??

The black mark is really obvious and unsightly & I’m worried I won’t be able to remove it. My flat is a rented property so repainting the area isn’t an option but I really, really can’t afford to lose a big chunk of my deposit 😔

Ebe_Scrooge

If it's just soot/smoke from a candle, then just wiping it with some warm soapy (i.e. washing-up liquid) water should do the trick.  Don't overwet it, and don't go scrubbing too hard - it's should come off pretty easily with just a fairly gentle rub.

CAUTION!!!  The danger is that you'll remove the paint as well.  Depends what sort of paint it is, and, to some extent,  how old it is.  Try doing a test patch first on a small bit of wall that's hidden (e.g. right near the floor behind some furniture or something).

Absolute worst case scenario - you may end up having to repaint it if you can't get the mark off without the paint coming away as well.  If it's white, you should be able to just go over the affected patch, as long as you get the right sort of paint (matt, eggshell, satin, whatever).  If you try that and it's not an exact match, you may have to do the whole wall - no big deal really, and better than losing your deposit.

FreeBear

Ebe_Scrooge said: Absolute worst case scenario - you may end up having to repaint it if you can't get the mark off without the paint coming away as well.  If it's white, you should be able to just go over the affected patch,

If painting becomes the only option, it would be worthwhile putting a coat of Zinsser Stain Blocker primer first. The trouble with white is there is so many different shades, it can be next to impossible to get an exact match. Even if you do get the same shade, the old paint on the wall, will have changed colour slightly due to sunlight & environmental conditions.

miss_cupcake_2

Ebe_Scrooge said:

If it's just soot/smoke from a candle, then just wiping it with some warm soapy (i.e. washing-up liquid) water should do the trick.  Don't overwet it, and don't go scrubbing too hard - it's should come off pretty easily with just a fairly gentle rub.

CAUTION!!!  The danger is that you'll remove the paint as well.  Depends what sort of paint it is, and, to some extent,  how old it is.  Try doing a test patch first on a small bit of wall that's hidden (e.g. right near the floor behind some furniture or something).

Absolute worst case scenario - you may end up having to repaint it if you can't get the mark off without the paint coming away as well.  If it's white, you should be able to just go over the affected patch, as long as you get the right sort of paint (matt, eggshell, satin, whatever).  If you try that and it's not an exact match, you may have to do the whole wall - no big deal really, and better than losing your deposit.

Thanks for this! Actually a few things I read online said that I should absolutely NOT apply any kind of moisture to wipe the stain 😕 Apparently it will only smudge/smear the black mark and make it worse leaving no option but to repaint. I really
want to avoid painting because it’s in an awkward place & I’d have to do the entire wall/room to match.