Black marks or mold? {pics}!!?

Question

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My sister moved out and these marks were found on the walls..

She smoked and burned A LOT of candles all the time!

& How should I removed them?

Its running because I first used a wash cloth w/ water to try and remove it.. it just moved it around and leaked down. ;/

Answer 1

I would repaint all the walls.  First use a layer of primer.  Then use a layer or two of a paint called Killz.  Then use a layer of a regular white paint.  Preferably a semi gloss so that if you do get more marks on the wall you can wipe them up.  

Answer 2

That looks like soot either from the candles ( whoa! it must've looked like an all night novena in there! ) or possibly the heating system but I doubt it's coming from the baseboard heat.   At any rate, some TSP ( tri sodium phosphate ) in a bucket of water, a sturdy sponge and some  household gloves to protect your hands are what you will need.

The directions for mixing TSP are on the box.  You can buy it at the hardware store in the paint section ( it's used to clean walls before you paint ).  Wipe the walls from the bottom up to avoid streaks.  You might want a second bucket of clear water for rinsing the sponge.  

Answer 3

Today is your lucky lucky day.

1st of all, it does look like soot, not black mold.

My friend with 5 kids told me about a certain product for my wall soot due to my wood stove.  

Go to WALMART and get this cheapy (I tried it. It works):

Mr. Clean MAGIC ERASER (Original).  They are in a box about the size of 5" x 5" and has Mr. Clean's pic on it It is essentially a sponge of sorts but not like a regular sponge.  They come 2 in a pack.  However when I went to the store to buy it I saw that it now comes in Extra Power, 50% stronger for Heavy Duty Cleaning.  Not knowing which to purchase, I got one pkg of each since they were so cheap.  I tried the original and it worked.  You should probably get the Extra Power sponges since the soot is so thick.  It's only a couple dollars or less for the pkg of 2.

Rinse one of the sponges in cool water, squeeze it out gently and wipe over the soot.  You will have to keep rinsing the sponge in between wipes of the wall, but just keep repeating and you'll be done with that wall in no time with no mess.  Works great around wall light switches too.