How to Get Soot or Black Marks Off Walls or a Ceiling

Black marks, stains or soot deposits on walls or a ceiling are common issues. But what to do, if you want to get rid of them without specialized products like a magic eraser or cleaning detergents? I have found out a great way to clean walls and ceiling after a grease fire. As a young couple, my husband and I have left a pan with oil on the stove for too long, which resulted in a grease fire. Automatically, not realizing what will come next, we have tried to put out the fire using water. Of course, the fire did not cease but exploded, going up to the ceiling!

After extinguishing the fire, we have started to count the losses. Besides smoke, grease all over the floor, kitchen cabinets, etc., and a terrified dog (that was a little bit afraid of the kitchen for some time), there was one problem that looked really bad. The once white painted ceiling had black marks from the soot residue. Oh, did I mention that we were in my parent’s house? Thank God it turned out that there is an easy solution to get soot off the ceiling – an ERASER, yes, a simple pencil eraser. It did wonders. We have removed soot so well that nobody has noticed a thing! Since then, I have used this technique not only for soot residue but also, e.g., scuff marks from shoes, bicycles, a vacuum cleaner, and so on.

When using this technique, remember to be gentle. The debris is removed by friction, so there is a possibility to remove a little bit of paint too. If you have painted walls, try rubbing just a small piece of wall to check the result. But if you will be gentle and try to rub off just the dirt, it could help you as well as it did in our situation.