Removing pencil marks from painted walls?

[BrerGnat]

What's the best way? My precious angel :thedolls: drew HUGE spiral patterns all over the wall in the upstairs hallway. It's a cream colored wall, and when I tried to erase it, seems like it rubbed off some of the paint. What can I do? This is a rental house, so we want to fix any damage our kids do as soon as it happens. The owners left a can of paint for "touch ups". Is this the only option?

[Capt_redshirt]

you could try products like goo gone or opps wipes. they can clean just about anything and wont damage the paint unless you scrub too hard.

[brownie]

Mr. Clean Magic Erasers should do the trick. Test it on a small area first, though.

[DizneyRox]

Magic Erasers are truly magic!

They are fairly abrasive though, but will work. Just use light pressure and stop as soon as it's gone.

A good quality paint should hold up fine. The problem is a lot of times people use low quality flat paints (they are cheap) and cleanups become problematic.

I recommend Sherwin Williams paints. Benjamin Moore is a good choice as well, but personally I think SW goes on easier.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Magic Erasers will definitely work, but may also dull the paint. Our boys had really roughed up the walls in the hall where their bedrooms are. Nothing major, it just looked dirty. We used the Magic Erasers and a few days later I could tell where we had used them.

Not sure if this will work, but I've found windex can handle lots of stuff, and may not mess up the paint like the eraser will.

We rented for 6 months (military situation) when our boys were 2 and 4, and I remember, oh so well, all the quick fixes we did as they did stuff like draw on the wall. Good luck.

[buzznwoodysmom]

A good quality paint should hold up fine. The problem is a lot of times people use low quality flat paints (they are cheap) and cleanups become problematic.

I recommend Sherwin Williams paints. Benjamin Moore is a good choice as well, but personally I think SW goes on easier.

The magic erasers damaged our Benjamin Moore painted walls. Even using lightly we found that everywhere we had used the eraser the paint was "dull" compared to where we hadn't used it. We ended up repainting the whole hall.

[Jeri]

I agree with the Magic Erasers. I also found they will remove Sharpie markers from walls too.
We have Benjamin Moore paint on our walls and never had an issue with it dulling the paint.

[brivers222]

if none of that works and you have to go the repainting route... i recommend using a Primer like Killz before hand... it does a bang up job of not letting the old marks come through. Was very effective painting over smoke stained markes my ex-MIL left in my house.:mad:

[Basket Mommy]

When using Magic Erasers, the results really depend on what kind of paint is on the wall. Flat paint is the worst for using Magic Erasers. It takes off the paint slightly and really leaves a residue that's easily seen. I hate flat paint, but that's what we have in our house. I love Magic Erasers, but usually I end up dabbing on a little touch up paint in the areas where I used them just because it leaves a greyish residue when I'm done. I would think a higher gloss paint would be able to better handle the Magic Erasers.

Windex and Magic Erasers would be my first choice, but if there is paint, it probably wouldn't hurt to touch up the area when you're done cleaning it.

[buzznwoodysmom]

When using Magic Erasers, the results really depend on what kind of paint is on the wall. Flat paint is the worst for using Magic Erasers. It takes off the paint slightly and really leaves a residue that's easily seen. I hate flat paint, but that's what we have in our house. I love Magic Erasers, but usually I end up dabbing on a little touch up paint in the areas where I used them just because it leaves a greyish residue when I'm done. I would think a higher gloss paint would be able to better handle the Magic Erasers.

Windex and Magic Erasers would be my first choice, but if there is paint, it probably wouldn't hurt to touch up the area when you're done cleaning it.

Yes, the wall I messed up with the Magic Eraser was painted with flat paint. I hate it too, but its what was in the house when we bought it. When we repainted I used and egg shell finish from Benjamin Moore and now its so much easier to wipe down and clean if I need to. I don't even need the magic eraser on this finish, it cleans really well. The flat paint was Benjamin Moore as well, but so difficult to clean.