Marks on matt painted Walls. Help please!!!! General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[JG1999]

Please could somebody give me some advice! We decorated our hall and stairways a year ago and now the walls are covered in dark scuff marks! The walls were not in fantastic condition, so we had them lined and chose to paint the lining paper, as the area is very large and would have been a fortune to wallpaper! At the time we were recomended to use matt paint as it would not show up the uneven walls! We painted them a light yellow and now you can see every little mark on them! My partner does not want to re-paint the walls using silk paint as we have carpet down and would not be able to lift it to re-decorate! I have to wipe them off but it seems to make the matter worse! We have been told to mix water with pva and paint that over the walls, but I am unsure about doing this! Does anybody have any ideas please or know if there is anything I can buy to sort out the marks and prevent the walls getting marked in the future!
Many thanks

[theshedman]

Hi JG1999, I can't see what using water and PVA will do. It certainly wont help you get rid of the marks. You should be able to wash down the walls if you used a vinyl matt emulsion. If the paint is coming off when you are washing it you may find it's the make of emulsion. Some makes are terrible especially the cheaper ones. If that is happening then the only way around it is to paint them again using a good make of emulsion like Dulux. If your walls are not in great condition then matt is the best finish as it will not show the bumps and uneveness as much as the silk would. Just make sure it is a vinyl matt and you should be able to wash it ok. As for the marks you could try a little bit of cif on a cloth. It does work on mine without taking off the paint. Good luck.