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If you have a situation at your home or business in which you are tasked with getting the blood off a wall, you may be somewhat at a loss as to how to proceed. Finding yourself in that position is not a rarity. You simply are not alone when it comes to wondering what you should do to get the blood off a wall.
The threshold factor that you need to consider when you must get the blood off a wall is to identify what the wall consists of. In other words, you really need to identify the type of wall covering that somehow has been splattered with blood.
The most common types of wall coverings utilized in residential and commercial properties are:
- Paint
- Wallpaper (in different derivations)
- Tile
While there are other types of wall coverings found in homes and businesses, these are by far the most predominate kinds.
Painted Walls
The surest way to have success in getting the blood off a wall is to act quickly. In many cases, you will be aware of the presence of blood on a wall in your home in short speed. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. However, significant delays in being able to embark on riding a wall of blood generally are quite uncommon.
A painted wall is less porous that is one comprised of natural and untreated wood. Untreated wood is considerably more porous and can make blood cleanup, particular if it has time to settle, quite challenging.
Another preliminary consideration to bear in mind is any directives you may have received associated with the type of paint used on the wall in question. If the manufacturer of the paint provided any specific directions on how to clean an item with that paint, you need to pay heed to those directives. (These directions are designed primarily to assist you in doing something that might damage the paint during any type of cleaning process.”
There are chemicals and cleaners on the market that are intended to remove the blood and similar types of stains from painted surfaces. You must take a manufacturer’s claim that a product is “safe on any surface” with a grain of salt. In other words, before embarking on using a particular product to clean up blood, test it out on a small and more obscure area on the wall to make sure it causes no damage.
You can also make your own cleaner to remove blood from a wall. Begin by mixing liquid soap with water. You will want to test this, like you would do with a premade product, to ensure the mixture doesn’t harm your wall in any way.
Using a cloth, dip it into the cleaning solution. Make sure you ring out the cloth before washing the wall to eliminate blood tinged drops from falling to, and staining, the floor. You don’t want to address one problem only to create another. Repeat this process until the wall appears to be stain free. Keep in mind that you will not be able to ascertain conclusively that you fully eliminate the blood until it dries.
If the stain is not completely eradicated by washing in this manner, you will want to get what is known as a melamine foam eraser. These products are sold under brand names like Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and Scotch Brite Easy Erasing Pad.
In many cases, these two processes will eliminate a blood stain, particularly if you went to work shortly after the blood ended up on a wall. In some instances, a stain persists. When that happens, you will want to obtain what is known as a stain block primer. You may need to apply a couple of coats to fully cover the blood stain. When this is accomplished, you can repaint the part of the wall stained by blood.
Wallpapered Walls
Wallpapered walls can be challenging to remove blood, depending on their composition. Wallpaper made from cloth, or wallpaper that is embossed, is porous and cannot be “washed” as was the case with paint. In such a situation, a steam cleaner needs to be called into action to effectively eliminate paint from a cloth wallpaper.
Vinyl is the most common material in wallpaper today. It is also the easiest type of wallpaper from which to clean blood. With vinyl wallpaper, you can follow the steps enumerated to deal with a painted wall that has been sullied by blood.
Tiled Walls
The easiest type of wall to clean up blood is a tiled one. By design, tile is not porous.
A tiled wall can be cleaned in the same manner utilized for a painted one. The prospect of tile becoming stained by blood to the point of treatment beyond washing is rare. Indeed, it is not likely at all if the cleanup process commences in a timely manner.
Protect Yourself
In the same manner, you protect the surface of a wall during blood cleanup, you also need to protect yourself. Blood and other bodily fluids can contain dangerous pathogens, also known as biohazards. When cleaning blood from walls, you need to utilize personal protective equipment that includes:
- Gloves
- Goggles
- Head covering
- Mask
- Smock or apron
