Vaporizor Left Streaks Coming down My Painted Walls...=(

I read most of the responses and disagree with many. My ex-husband and I had the same problem. We are not smokers, we used the magic eraser to have it take paint off the walls and leave the finnish weird, Fantastik, 409, Lysol, and Mr. Clean, nothing removed the difference in paint colors. We repainted and moved the vaporizer into the center of the room. It has something to do with the heat, water, and paint. We had well water and it bleached out where the drips were (hard water sometimes doeas that). We could not fix it unless we painted it or put up a border. I used cheap paint the first time, so I used a better paint the next time.

This is usually something that happens in homes where there has been a smoker. (not hating on smokers or anything - just adknowledging this unfortunate cleaning side-effect) :) It doesn't take a whole lot to start this happening to your walls. :( Walls do get dirty, but regular dirt washes off. Nicotine sticks and leaves big gross drips when it starts "melting" off the wall. All I can suggest is a good scrub with a good cleaner that will cut through the nicotine. When I was dating my first husband I washed all the walls in his apartment one day(including the ceiling), but only half for comparison - and he thought I'd started painting. (He even offered to help me finish!) Later, we had to paint his mom (a chain smoker)'s room and *ugh* I can't even express the gross buckets upon buckets of stinky nastiness that we just kept getting. After 8 hours of scrubbing, we gave up and just painted over it. Initially we had been trying to avoid the possibility that the drips would show through. It can be a clean for sure. I hope you can get it off!

unfortunatley I have no suggestions for you. This may sound extremely selfish, but I am in the same boat. If you get any responses, I'd love some suggestions too.
____@____.com

Perfect solution: Mr. Clean White Eraser. It works on just about everything. Be careful though if your walls are not white...test it first so the paint does not remove. By the way, our humidifier did the same thing but for soem reason a wet cloth got it right out.

I have always used lysol and water to clean my walls. It works great without damaging paint. SOmething no one asked you is do you have flat paint on your walls or is it an eggshell or semi gloss. If you used a flat paint then you can try all the suggestions, but you will most likely need to repaint. Flat paints do not like water. You said the paint is only 8 months old, do you have any left? You can usualy do a quick coat over that wall to see if it works. Lets be honest you can scrub the wall from top to bottom or push a paint roller with some paint over it - either way it is about the same amount of work - except the painting will work.

Same thing just happened to me as well. Paint is only 6 months old. I think maybe I am usuing too much salt therefore creating too much steam. I am afraid to try the Mr. Clean magic eraser b/c in my experience it has stripped the color paint and mad the walls look worse.

Did you actually wash the walls - like with a bucket of water with some cleaner or did you just wipe off the wet streaks with a damp rag? Try getting some cleaner or even just some vinegar & water in a bucket with a wash-rag and actually washing the wall from top to bottom. Walls get dirty - there's no real explanation for it except the basic dust and particles in the air that stick to them. Chances are, the WHOLE wall needs to be washed so that it is all clean - I think you have clean streaks! LOL! Anyways, it's worth a try!

C., 1 cup vinegar to 2 gallons water in a bucket, what is left on the walls is lime from the water. Did you use distilled or purified water? If you plan to continue using the vaporizer in the room, buy the correct water or let enough water sit for 24 hours, the chemicals disperse over night. Next Put some plants in the room, it will do them wonders and help obsorbe the extra water in the room. K.

Hi,

I have used the Magic Erasers in the past on my walls and they get rid of tough stains. My bathroom gets very moist after showers and the walls get streaked with water marks. I have found this to be the best product to clean them. Just don't push too hard or it may remove paint. You can find the Magic Erasers at any grocery store with the cleaning supplies. Good luck!

oh no! have you ever used those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers? they are miraculous! i've used them on many, many stains and they always seem to come up. try them! good luck!

The streaks could be mold growth. Have you tried a bleach solution? Make sure that the humidity isn't really high in the room, and keep the steam directed towards the center, away from the walls. My son had asthma from birth on, so I have lots of experience with resperatory symtoms. Good luck.

I was reading the responses you have gotten -
1. If you use the magic eraser (wonderful product!), do not allow the kids to touch it! It has some chemicals in it (not listed on the package) that cause horrible chemical burns on skin.
2. Steam vaporizors aren't recommended due to bacteria that can build up in them. They recommend the cool-mist vaporizors.

D.

The same thing happened to us (no smoking in our house either). I washed it and then not knowing what to do just left it because it wasn't too bad so I'm not much help to you there. I was assuming that it had done something to the paint that I wouldn't be able to remove. But I would suggest that you put the vaporizer in the middle of the room, turn it lower if you can, and maybe crack the door till you get the right balance of steam that won't wreak havoc on your walls. That's what we did in our second nursery and we haven't had any problems.

B.

I have this same problem with the low-gloss paint in our living room. I am going to try the solution I just read about in my new Green Cleaning book. Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup borax
1 Tbsp clean household ammonia
1/4 cup vinegar
1 gallon warm water

In a large bucket mix all the ingredients. Apply the solution to the wall with a clean sponge. Use a second clean sponge to rinse the wall with plain water. Here's the kicker, just like a car: To minimize streaking, start at the bottom of the wall and work your way up.

I hope this helps!

-C..

Hi Jeremy-C.,

If you can, relocate the vaporizer a little farther from the walls when in use. You can always push it back into a corner or closer to the wall during the hours when you're not using it.

White vinegar and water may work...maybe a 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar to 1 gal. of water for starters. Baking soda and water also.

White vinegar & water is also great for cleaning & shining stainless steel appliances & fixtures too!

Hope this works...painting over again sure is a lot of work!

Sincerely,

M. F

I cannot help in removing the streaks, but for preventing them. Try leaving her door open. My neighbor had this problem, and told me she always closed her daughters door. I told her to open it, and the problem went away. Too much moisture build up!