If Walls Could…Breathe?

Yes, I’m having a Celine Dion flashback right now…a little “If Walls Could Talk” blast from the past.  I must say it would be very interesting to hear what our walls would say if they were pontificating on years gone by; I would love to know what secrets they hold.  But when we bought our house, we were more focused on helping our walls to simply breathe again!  It turns out that the previous owner of our home was a heavy smoker.  When we toured the house for the first time, we were shocked by the outlines of brown tar on the walls where pictures had once hung.  Clearly, the walls needed some serious TLC.

The day after our little bungalow was signed over to us, we tromped back over to the house ready to get down and dirty.  Literally.  Before digging in though, we did a little research to find out how to take care of smoke smell and tar stains.  The trick?  TSP, otherwise known as trisodium phosphate.  This little ditty can be bought at your local hardware store, and it’s basically a harsh chemical that removes tough stains—like those left from smoking.  If you ever plan to use TSP, be sure to wear plastic gloves and a face mask—the face mask also helps to diminish the nasty smell that accompanies the task.

After three weeks of constant wall washing (and even some re-washing), we were finally able to coat the walls and ceilings with Kilz primer—another amazing invention.  Kilz does what it says—it kills bad odors and creates a fresh slate to paint on.  Thanks to Home Depot, we were able to load up on the five gallon buckets, which was more cost-effective in the long run.  And for the chemical conscious painters out there, we recently heard about KILZ Clean Start primer, which is a zero VOC high performance, interior/exterior primer, sealer, and stain blocker.

So there you have it—how we brought life back into our walls with some major elbow grease and some really great science.  And best of all?  Now they’re painted and smoke-smell free!  Breathe on walls!