The short answer: once an Oxidation Effects wall is neutralised and sealed, it needs almost nothing — a soft dry cloth for dust, no acids or abrasives, and the seal left alone. The one thing worth understanding is why: this finish is reactive metal that was deliberately allowed to corrode before being stopped, so the entire care routine exists to protect the seal that is keeping it stopped, not to clean the surface itself.
Understand what you’re actually caring for
Oxidation Effects isn’t a printed pattern of rust or verdigris — it’s real iron, copper or bronze particles that were chemically triggered to genuinely corrode, watched as the reaction developed, then neutralised and sealed at the moment the tone looked right. Our technology page is direct about this: it’s a reactive, living finish while it’s being made, and it must be neutralised and sealed once it reaches the look you want, or it keeps moving. That sealing step is what turns an active chemical reaction into a stable wall finish, and it’s also the reason the care rules exist: everything below protects that seal, because the reaction underneath it hasn’t gone away — it’s just been stopped.
Routine care: dust, don’t scrub
A soft dry cloth or feather duster is the entire weekly routine for most installations, the same as you’d use on any textured wall art. For fingerprints or light marks, a barely damp microfibre cloth, wiped and dried immediately, lifts them without disturbing the seal. Because the reaction is worked deliberately into a variable, low-relief texture — rust that pools in the low points and thins over the ridges — dust can sit a little more visibly in that relief than on a flat wall, but it lifts the same way: gently, dry first, damp only if needed.
What to keep away from it
- Acidic or abrasive cleaners — vinegar, limescale removers, scouring creams. These are formulated to etch or scratch, and a sealed oxidised surface is exactly the kind of thing they’re built to attack.
- Steel wool, scouring pads or stiff brushes. Scrubbing at a textured, reacted surface risks cutting straight through the seal and into the metal underneath.
- Standing water or repeated wet contact. This is a feature-wall finish, not a wet-zone material — our technology page is plain that moisture is a poor fit for this system, which is exactly why the seal matters so much indoors.
- Solvent-based cleaners or metal polish. These are made for bare, unsealed metal; used on a sealed finish they can dull or lift the top coat instead of shining it.
The one honest caveat: a worn seal can start reacting again
This is the fact that makes Oxidation Effects care different from a purely decorative wall coating. As we explain in does a liquid metal wall finish keep rusting, the seal on a reactive finish can eventually wear thin in a genuinely hard-working spot — a bar front knocked and wiped daily is the classic example — and if it does, the metal underneath can start reacting again where it’s exposed. That isn’t the finish failing; it’s the seal reaching the end of its service life, the same story as a worn topcoat on any coated floor. It’s fixed the same way too: a professional re-seal of the affected area, not a full rebuild, and not something to try to fix with a home metal polish, which is more likely to spread the exposed reaction than stop it.
The honest comparison
If the wall sits somewhere it will genuinely be knocked or scrubbed often — a busy corridor, a kitchen pass — that’s worth flagging before specification, not after. A sealed metallic plaster or a metallic epoxy tolerates rougher daily handling than a reactive oxidised finish; see metallic plaster vs metallic paint for that trade-off, or talk to us directly about where Oxidation Effects genuinely fits versus a tougher alternative.
Noticed a dull patch or a spot that looks like it’s started reacting again? Send a photo on WhatsApp, or call +971 4 587 7086. We apply and repair Oxidation Effects finishes across the UAE, 8+ years in, RBS responsible for every job, and we’ll tell you honestly whether it needs a re-seal or nothing at all.
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