Would you be embarrassed if your walls were lime this?

Is he a chimney sweep?

It should be swept every year!!!!

I will get the log burner checked first and then paint
thank you v worried about the smoke now, Dh says its safe

You believe your DH who is neither experienced not qualified to make that statement? Why?

Forget the painting for now - please book a proper chimney sweep (I use one recommended by our local woodburner sales place) to do a thorough safety check and clean. Ask him/her for the best carbon monoxide alarm for your size of woodburner and crucially, where you should put it. If you light the woodburner every winter, then you need to have it professionally swept it at least annually.

When that's done, you can focus on cleaning the walls (sugar soap or Flash) and after that is the right time to start repainting.

When I had a busy family life and an undomesticated DH, I used to paint one wall at a time (pull all the furniture away and block the children/pets from touching it! I could get 3 coats on per day or just one in an evening. Choose good quality scrubbable paint and you won't have to repaint it for 10 years! Good luck!

Husband says ‘Its safe’

It must be then….

You should be having yearly checks / cleans
Did you not think that black on the wall is in the air so is also going onto your lungs?

Lol! If I could show you a picture of our walls you'd be embarrassed that you find yours embarrassed!

When we moved in, we renovated the rooms that absolutely needed it - and unfortunately there was a lot more work required that we had expected, so all our spare cash was used up doing the kitchen, sorting the roof and the associated damp.

We have one living room and one bedroom and to a certain extent the kitchen where they're nicely decorated. Our hallway has peeling, water damaged wallpaper (peeling as in, it's lifted and a child has ripped a swathe off thanks son). Our bedroom literally has a hole in the ceiling and walls where a huge cabinet was removed.

Hopefully we'll be able to fix this up in about a month when I get my bonus but we need some pretty urgent electrics work done as the electrician we hired to do some of the aforementioned urgent work didn't ground any of the sockets he put in. It's a miracle we've had any electrocutions or fires tbh.

Wall at a time? If you are sticking to the same colour scheme it really doesn’t take that long.

my kids room is 3x7m and I’ve painted walls that need refreshing, pretty quickly.

I can't believe it either and that they didn't tell you when you would next need the stove serviced. Make sure you get a professional this time because I have doubts about whoever you employed last time.

What's stopping you cracking on and painting it? Could start tomorrow and be finished by lunchtime?

Op, please get a chimney sweep out to check/service your stove. It should be checked every year when your chimney is swept. And I can't believe previous sweeps haven't recommended that you get a carbon monoxide detector.
Echoing what other pp have said- I have had a woodburner for 11 years and my walls have never looked like that.

I'm embarrassed by our walls and carpets. I had planned to leave them until we no longer have cats but I'm not sure I can tolerate them looking this vile for five + more years.

Definitely need to get the wood burner checked. There clearly soot coming into the room.

I’d just get on and do the painting. Just do one wall at a time. Paint brush around the edges and a roller for the bigger area in the middle. It’s easy, especially if you’re not dramatically changing the colour.

I don’t get the issue.

If you’re so embarrassed by it, then paint it.

I don’t understand why you’re waiting for DH.

I paint all my walls myself. I’m a single parent, work FT, study and have pets.

I don’t understand why you’ve left it so long if it makes you feel so miserable.

I would have painted it this weekend.

If you won’t do it yourself just pay someone to do it!?

You're really making a fuss over nothing…

Can you wash them?

Its ok just one thing at a time get it checked by a professional for safety reasons first. Then think about the decorating I think a darker colour would be better. You will notice all the little marks more then visitors so don't be embarrassed

Yes they look pretty manky and I wouldn't be able to live with it either.

Embarrassed? No. But if you don’t like it, get it sorted. I’m irritated by the marks on my hall walls from DH’s bike, but there is actually no point in doing anything about it, as it will happen again within days.

This. ^ It looks grim, it needs painting, and the OP is making every excuse under the sun, and feigning helplessness, because she can't be bothered to pick up a can of paint and a paintbrush. It's not rocket science, it's painting. My 5 y.o. great nephew can do it.

Oh and get your woodburner looked at before you clean and paint @Toomanynachos it's clearly faulty!

Oh and ignore the poster saying it doesn't look grim. It does.

And

@LadyBracknellsHandbagg

If the walls are black what does the inside of your lungs look like? That can’t be healthy for any of you.

ANOTHER reason to get the woodburner checked. God knows what it's doing to your insides (and your childrens!) 😬

The dirt wouldn't bother me white walls always get dirty quickly that's life. Not an expert on wood burners so can't comment.

We have an open fire which we use October to end of March . We give the walls and everything in the room a really good wash down when the fire has stopped being used . Also make sure you have the chimney swept every year and if you re burning wood its dried out properly

Yes I would. But I know people with kids who have walls like this and I guess you can let them off.

Another one saying get that checked. We had ours in 12 years and not a single mark above it despite no mantle which sticks out.

If it's not coming from the log burner then is your chimney damp and coming through? But the spread upwards does look like it's the burner.

Two fireplaces in our home and neither has ever left black marks like that so something is wrong with your woodburner.

As pp's have already said, make sure you get a professional to look at it ASAP and don't use it in the meantime. You also need a carbon monoxide detector immediately . Make sure you get the woodburner checked at least once a year from now on.

The painting is an easy job once you have the woodburner sorted out. Do it at a pace that suits you, there's no need to do the whole room in one day if you're not used to painting. Once you are used to it, you'll realise it's not that difficult and you'll get your whole house done in no time