How do I remove grease / vaseline stains from wall???

Question

My daughter took my wife's rubber socks, covered with stuff used to soften feet (that includes vaseline) and stuck them on the wall in several places. I'm afraid to use something on them for fear it will make the wall worse. How can we remove these stains?

Boy did I not realize how odd this sounds until I read it again. I beg those of you who think I'm making this up to type "Gel Socks" into ebay. These are stupid Bath and Body Works socks that you line with some stinky skin softener and wear overnight. If only my life were that interesting.

Answer 1

Magic Eraser OR Lysol Disinfecting Wipes (tough on stains but won't destroy the colouring of the wall).

Answer 2

Tri sodium phosphate is a white ,granular product that will remove all grease. It is easy to use just mix the proper amount into warm water and wipe with a rag. I always make mine a little stronger than I am supposed to. Last time I bought it it was about 5 or 6 dollars for a box you can use for a year. I use it for everything that is greasy, walls, garage floors, it will even remove old floor wax. It has a stripping type effect and can remove the shine off of paints so, be careful. You can find it in home improvement stores usually in the painting preparation area. By the way, it has never damaged any surface I have used it on. Good Luck.

Answer 3

The most important thing to remember when treating grease stains is to treat them right away, as it will make it easier to treat the stain and it's more likely that you will be able to remove the stain entirely.

I'm a seriously talented laundress (vintage clothing dealer/restorer), so my experience is mainly with fabrics, but I'd think the basics to be the same, as walls are porous.

Try this:

Blot the new stain gently with a paper towel to remove as much of the oil or grease from the wall as you can (maybe too late now that the wall has been left awhile?). Don’t rub the wall, as it will make the grease set even more.

Apply talcum or baby powder to the stain and let it sit for a few minutes. The powder will help draw the oil or grease out and then you can lightly brush the powder off.

Now treat the stain. Obviously there are many opinions about what works best on grease/oil stains. As I'm sure has been suggested, dishwashing liquid is one product to try. It removes grease from your dishes and often works well for clothing. Apply undiluted dishwashing liquid to the stain and let it sit for a few minutes. Rinse well with very hot water.

If dishwashing liquid doesn't do the trick, rubbing alcohol can help break the grease down.
Moisten the stained area with the alcohol and then blot gently with a paper towel.

The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is a popular product as well, that lots of people swear by (I saw it mentioned here a couple of times ;).

I would commit to using whatever "cleaner" you choose a number of times (don't panic, as it may take a while). Just remember to pretreat the stains by blotting and applying powder.

I'd try cleaning the stains, before you decide to prime and repaint. You might get lucky and save yourself a lot of trouble.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Remove Vaseline

Answer 5

Here are some tips I found on a website. I think it might work!

Tip #1: Try using K2R spot remover. I am a property manager and have used it on wallpaper and it removed 90% of the grease marks. They are barely noticeable now.

Tip #2: Dollar General sells a cleaner called Mean Green I have used it to get grease off of everything. Paint, clothes (as there is a mechanic in the House) woodwork, floors, etc. I haven't had it remove paint yet. This is the best cleaner I have ever found. And it is cheap $2.50 for a good sized bottle!

Tip #3: When I was removing the wallpaper border in my kitchen, I used a solution of 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water. A friend recommended I use warm water for better results and I was amazed to find it removed the grease as well as the paper!

Answer 6

Your're not nuts, you just have a kid- mine wrote their names up and down the stairs wall with chapstick and lipgloss- it's what they do :)

Here's what worked for me, and so well I can't see the difference:

1. Mr. Clean Magic erasers worked in some spots all alone- just add water. These can actually go through your paint if it's a thinner coat, but for the most part, just a casual scrubbing in the location of the mess can clean it really, really well. One note- if you have a glossy paint it may make it a bit more matte in that area, but not unless it's uber-glossy.

2. An old toothbrush with nail polish remover can dissolve the oily residue, but you don't want to leave it on very long at a time- use on a small area in little circles, then wipe off with a damp sponge. Let dry and go back if you need to do more work. This can be combined with the erasers to really get it back to normal.

Just don't do anything drastic until you've tried more than one thing- I was afraid to try anything for some time, so it sat for 2 months while I researched it because everyone was so pessimistic and supplying horrifying advice. The paint was 5 years old, so I thought the color would be different, it would be set in, etc.
It wasn't. It worked beautifully, and you can give it a couple of efforts without fear of damaging the area.

Best of luck!!

Answer 7

You can't. You can only minimize the effect the grease will have on future painting/wallpapering. OR, you can replace the wallboard. To minimize or negate the effect the grease will have on future paint/adhesives, try this: Open the windows, turn off all appliances, and I mean ALL the appliances, including pilot lights, as the fumes of the product you will use are very flammable. Spray the area liberally with automobile brake cleaner, which removes/evaporates all grease/oils. Evacuate the house (the stuff stinks and is bad). Come back in two hours and start your life over again. BTW that same product will remove the worst grease, even car oil stains from your fabrics/clothing; Just use it outside.

Answer 8

Well I know what I would use if I were at work and found that stain on an RV. I would use a product called Solve-It. It smells like gasoline, but it does wonders for anything oil or grease related, and I've never seen it harm paint of any kind, including car paint. Unfortunately, you can't find this product in stores. Therefore, I would try to use a little bit of dawn on a washcloth soaked in hot water and wipe the stain off. If that doesn't work, I would try to use a little dishwasher detergent on a hot rag (make sure it doesn't have bleach in it) and wipe it off- dishwasher detergent is an extremely powerful degreaser.

Answer 9

As silly as this may sound, the best thing to do is to take paper towels and an iron. Place several of the paper towels and place them over the places with the grease and such. Then take the iron and with it turned on and hot, iron over the paper towels. The heat from the iron will melt the grease and Vaseline and the paper towels will absorb it. It may take several times for each spot but that will remove most, if not all of the grease and then you can scrub it with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

I only know this because I am raising 2 toddler grandchildren and you would not believe what I have had to get off of my walls.

P.S. I believe you when you say your daughter did this. I know kids and they will keep you hopping.

Good Luck.

Answer 10

If you cannot removed the stain by the methods others have listed you are going to have to do it a special way.

While "Kilz" may work on covering the stain, the problem is the stain contains petroleum, while Kilz is latex based.
The oils from the petroleum tend to bleed through latex.

If Kilz does not block the stain you will have to get the Oil Based version of Kilz that comes in an easy to use spray can.

In the years of painting I have done, there is not a stain that has bled through this type of Kilz.

Answer 11

If your walls are white, use chalk on the stains. Just cover each stain with a layer of chalk (regular blackboard chalk) and allow it to stay there for a few hours. The chalk will absord the oils.

Make a weak solution of cool water, and Dawn dishwashing liquid and wash the chalk off the stains. The oil marks should be gone once the wall dries.

This will also work for carpeting and those pesky collar stains.