How can I remove Dr. Pepper stains from an unpainted plaster wall/ceiling?

May 4, 2009 7:44 AM

How can I remove Dr. Pepper stains from an unpainted plaster wall/ceiling?

One sunny day MrsToad came home from work, and as she was just walking into the kitchen, she dropped an unopened can of Dr. Pepper. The can took the exact impact required to spray forth soda in a million directions. She quickly tossed the can into the garage where it sprayed until it was dead.

The result is we now have brown soda stains on our unpainted plaster kitchen ceiling and unpainted plaster garage wall. We've tried a bit of cleaner and scrubbing but obviously don't want to be too aggressive in fear of damaging the plaster. The plaster is semi-rough, textured with sand, if that makes any difference.

We're hoping to not have to paint. If we try to paint this one spot, we'll likely end up having to paint an expansive area just to get everything to match.

So, good people, any ideas of anything we can spray on it to make the stain come up?

Googling tends to lead me to results of cleaning painted plaster walls. I did see the previous AskMetafilter post, but I'm afraid of doing too much scrubbing with a Magic Eraser.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

posted by MrToad to home & garden (5 comments total)

but I'm afraid of doing too much scrubbing with a Magic Eraser.

Is there any hidden area you could test with the Magic Eraser, to see the effects it has on the wall?
posted by inigo2 at 8:03 AM on May 4

Seems like the porousness of plaster would make it hard to remove the dried soda altogether, but could you try just fading the color by judiciously dabbing plain bleach on the stains? (disclaimer: probably worth spot-testing this first, in case of chemical interactions)
posted by Bardolph at 8:59 AM on May 4

As inigo says, test some safe areas first, like behind furniture.

Hydrogen Peroxide? Vinegar? Bleach?
posted by rokusan at 9:36 AM on May 4

I'd haul out the OxyStat (peroxide based laundry thing) and see if that helped.
posted by ladypants at 10:16 AM on May 4

Well since you're taking hypotheticals: I've found that rubbing alcohol is great for a) cleaning unidentifiable junk off of library DVDs, b) removing ink from clothes, c) removing ink from hard glossy book covers, and d) removing tomato-lentil soup from a shirt. So maybe give that a go.

I'd test it in a small spot first ... bonus is that, unlike anything else, you won't have to clean it off: it'll evaporate (sometimes taking the stain with it).
posted by johnofjack at 1:24 PM on May 4