Your home may have a ghost that spooks potential buyers, and we’re not talking about haunting. Ghosting on walls is dark streaks, circular spots, “ghost marks,” and other patterns that appear on your walls and ceiling over time. Ghosting on walls may be noticed during several different stages of the homeownership process, from a new buyer’s home inspection to long-time home ownership to a new buyer's home inspection process.
When you see these dirty marks on your paint or wallpaper, you might assume they’re early signs of mold and rush to call a remediation specialist. The good news is the problem of ghosting is much simpler to solve.
So what’s causing this unsightly problem, and what can you do about it? The Nestfully team explores what causes ghosting on walls and how to cover up the marks to leave your walls and ceiling looking like new.
What Causes Ghosting on Walls?
The process of ghosting can seem mysterious. Yet it’s simpler than you might expect once you break it down: It boils down to drafts, dust, and temperature differences in your home’s walls.
The key is understanding the construction of your home’s interior and exterior walls. Voids left open in the wall’s frame are full of insulation to keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Then, a sheet of drywall covers everything on the inside wall (facing into your home) and boards and siding on the exterior.
The framing pieces have no insulation, so they tend to get cold in the winter due to the thermal bridging effect. When thermal bridging occurs, heat is drawn out of the frame, leaving cold spots on the walls and ceilings. Ghosting happens when warmth and humidity in your home are drawn to those cold spots. If there is soot or dust indoors due to candle use, fireplaces, or cooking, that soot drifts along air currents and ends up stuck to the wall’s surface — on the cold spots.
It may appear like the framing of your wall or ceiling is wet and molding, but that’s fairly uncommon. Mold tends to grow in clusters near water sources, not along areas of walls that lack insulation.
While ghosting usually occurs in the winter due to the combination of closed windows, heating efforts, and cold exterior temperatures, it can happen during any season. Humidity further accelerates the effect, especially in homes with poor insulation and inadequate ventilation.
How To Fix Ghosting on Walls
It’s a good idea to rule out the potential of mold or mildew growth with a simple at-home test. If the test reveals the presence of mold in the air, you may need remediation somewhere in the home. It could be the marks you’re seeing or hidden mold in conjunction with your visible ghosting issues. If you’ve ruled out mold, you can fix ghosting by cleaning the marks and painting over them if necessary, then adjusting your habits to prevent a recurrence.
Cleaning Methods
You might already have everything you need to remove dark stains from your wall:
- Soap and water: Use a large soft sponge, a mild detergent like dish soap, and warm water to gently scrub the marks away.
- Specialty cleaner: For stubborn stains that don’t come off with soap, try a specialty soot or smoke cleaner.
Whichever method of cleaning you try, avoid abrasive scrubbing products and tools like steel wool. These can damage not only the paint but also the drywall’s surface below.
Painting Over Ghosting
If you’ve tried scrubbing the ghosting stains without much luck — and you’ve confirmed the issue is not mold — you can start fresh with a coat of paint over the stains.
Start with clean, dry walls, and apply a layer of stain-blocking primer, specifically one designed for soot or smoke damage.
While you may be tempted to break out the original can of paint you used for the room, consider upgrading to a washable or wipe-clean paint with a semi-gloss finish. This makes it easy to wipe away ghosting marks in the future, especially if you enjoy using your fireplace or candles regularly.
Preventing Future Ghosting
Once you’ve gotten rid of ghosting on your walls, how can you stop the stains from coming back? With a few home improvements, like upgrading insulation and ventilation and improving indoor air quality by reducing sources of soot indoors, you can keep your walls and ceiling clean.
Improving Ventilation
- Use exhaust fans in your kitchen and bathrooms, removing moisture, oils, and other aerosols that contribute to the ghosting problem.
- Have your HVAC system inspected for dust build-up in the ducts, and clean them if necessary.
- Keep indoor humidity levels below 55% with dehumidifiers and improved ventilation in wet areas.
- Change your HVAC filters regularly to remove trapped dust rather than circulate it through your home.
Upgrading Insulation
- Invest in an infrared camera inspection to spot areas where thermal bridging is occurring due to insufficient insulation or damage.
- Address those cold spots with more insulation to stop attracting warm and humid air to them.
- Seal gaps and cracks throughout your home to reduce drafts that draw soot and dust to certain areas.
Reducing Indoor Pollutants
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Keep the air in your home cleaner in your home by minimizing fireplace and candle use.
- Watch out for dust and pollen blowing in through open windows during the spring and summer, which can stir up again in the winter when drafts encourage ghosting on the walls.
- Use an air purifier that fits the size of each room to minimize dust and soot.
- Vacuum your floors and wipe surfaces regularly to reduce dust throughout the home.
- Set up an outdoor cooking area for smoky, oily, and high-moisture culinary techniques.
When To Call a Professional
If you clean up the stains but they persist or return, you may have a bigger problem. Musty odors or spreading marks that don’t follow the pattern of the wall’s framing could indicate mold rather than ghosting. Even when the problem is only dust or soot, extensive ghosting could point to serious structural issues or insulation problems you need to address.
In these cases, hire a professional for an assessment so you can plot the right course of action to restore your home’s beauty and cleanliness. Mold remediation is a professional’s job, and extensive ghosting issues may still require a contractor to fix.
Don’t let ghosting make your home look dirty beyond its years. Breathe some life back into it with a few changes to clean ghosting stains and improve your home’s ventilation, indoor air quality, and humidity control. Check out more helpful home improvement tips on the Nestfully blog!
