Paint needs a good clean surface to adhere to and oil based products such as crayons will not let the paint adhere as well as you would like. If you do not get the crayon marks off your walls before painting then it won't be long before the paint in that spot begins to peel and crack. This could actually make your walls look worse than they did before painting.

Here are a few ideas on how to get crayon marks or other oil based marks off your walls. Use a little elbow grease and some WD-40. This is the best way to get off the crayon or oil based marks off your walls. Just make sure to wipe away the WD-40 after your offending marks are gone. If you do not have any WD-40 then you can also use baby wipes and even dryer sheets. All these will take off the marks and give you a nice clean wall for your new paint to adhere to.

So, what about markers or pens or pencils? If they are not oil based then you can do the same thing you did for the crayons. You will still need to do your best to get these products off your walls too so that the paint has a nice clean surface to adhere too. Before painting over any of these wall markings you need to try to remove them as much as possible.

If you are dealing with regular pencils you will only need to get an eraser to take off the writing. Colored pencils are oil based and so you can try the WD-40 method but that method does not always work. You may need to spray the spots with WD-40 and let sit for awhile, add some dish detergent and scrub in with an old toothbrush. Wipe off with a damp sponge and your pencil stains should be gone. If they are not the area is most likely clean enough to paint over.

Now what if you are dealing with permanent marker? Should you paint over those wall markings? No, because once again you need the surface to be painted as clean as possible in order to adhere and give you a good coat of paint. To get off marker from your walls you should grab some white paper towels, rubbing alcohol and non-oily hairspray. Spray either the alcohol or the hairspray on the marker and then dab with the paper towel. You should begin to see the marker prints on the paper towel and not on the wall. Clean with a damp sponge when you have the marker removed.

You may not be able to get all the stains off but try to get as much off as possible. A clean surface is the best way to paint any wall. Do your best to get off any crayons or other markings off your walls to get a good fresh coat of paint.