Skip to main content

How To Clean & Maintain Wall Plaster

How to clean and maintain wall plaster

Caring for your plaster walls is smart. By patching holes, fixing cracks, replacing crumbled plaster, painting, and keeping the surface clean, you avoid extensive plaster repairs and the surface stays beautiful for many years to come.

While there are different types of plaster available today, this basic guide on how to clean and maintain plaster is focused on gypsum, lime, or cement plaster. Here’s how to take care of your plaster to avoid repairs.

Safest Way To Hang Things On Plaster Walls

Be sure to carefully map the location of where you want to hang a picture or decoration before you actually make a hole in the plaster. You don’t want to keep making holes if it’s not really in the right spot.

Avoid hammering a nail directly into your plaster walls or driving a screw into it directly because the material can chip or crack. Adhesive hooks can pull the plaster off in big chunks, so it’s best to avoid these.

To create a hole, use a drill with a drill bit slightly smaller than the nail or screw you plan to use. Now you can hammer a nail in or use a screw with no damage to the plaster.

The Best Way To Clean Plaster Surfaces

Plaster is a porous material, so you don’t want to get it too damp or you will soon be calling a plaster repair specialists. This can pose a problem when the plaster could have lasted for decades. To clean your plaster without damaging it:

  • Soak a soft cloth in warm water and then thoroughly squeeze it out
  • Put a small bead of mild soap on your cloth and work it up into a few small patches of suds
  • Using circular motions and working from top to bottom, rub the plaster wall with the soapy cloth
  • Thoroughly rinse the cloth in warm water and ring dry again
  • Wipe the soapy residue off the plaster just as you did before
  • Get one or more other dry soft cloths to thoroughly dry the wall
Decorative Plaster Background

If you are looking for a professional plastering in New York and New Jersey then please call 917-415-6215 or complete our online request form.