Help! Washing walls disaster!

[Mamarsupial]

I am a first-time DIY-er and getting into a proper mess!

I am preparing my walls and ceiling to be painted. Before I started, the walls looked clean enough (maybe ever so slightly grey in on spot of the ceiling - I think the previous owner of the house was fond of burning candles) but I decided to do things properly and wash the walls before painting.

Got my bucket of sugar soapy water, got my bucket of clean water, my stepladder and my sponge and oh my goodness- what a mess I’ve made.

Wherever I wipe has become grey and smeary. It looks dirtier than it did before and no amount of wiping is making it better. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m wiping the paint off!

I think the situation I have is walls with a thin coat of cheap paint and a film of candle soot over everything!

What shall I do? Please say I can stop washing and just paint over it!

Shall I just prime it and go ahead with a couple of coats of decent paint?

The purpose of washing it with sugar soap is not to make it look clean, but to make it so the paint will adhere better to it by removing grease which will prevent paint from adhering and also to give it a slightly better key.

So don't worry about how it looks, just finish washing it and go ahead and paint it.

Thanks… but I don’t think I am getting it clean? I am making it smeary and grey and I can’t get past that stage without washing the paint off! Can I paint over smeary grey walls?

Yes, you can. Unless they feel greasy, in which case the paint might not adhere well. The grey smeary bits don't matter.

Okay - I will try to persevere then! Thank you!

Get the candle soot off so when you paint your 2 coats of paint it adheres properly.

That happened to me, too! No worries, it painted over well. 2 coats of Edward Bulmer Fair White totally transformed my smeary, grey ceiling! I did give the ceiling a quick light sanding though to take off any flaking paint.

I can't believe you've posted this question without a photo!

It sounds like the grey is just a tone in the paint as you merrily half-wash it off the walls rather than dirt?

I did this to my own house. Candles are now banned after DH had to repaint the whole livingroom.

I thought a shadow was water coming in, touched it and was mortified because I thought it was dirt/dust. Got a wet cloth and cleaning spray and ended up with streaky grey smeared wa all and ceiling. No amount of wiping was helping clean and it had to be repainted.

Thanks all for the replies! I have just fallen, exhausted, into bed having washed the whole blooming room. It looks slightly better than earlier but I’ll post a picture tomorrow before I dive in with the paint!