How to Clean Grout

It may not be the most glamorous job, but scrubbing grout leaves your tile looking brand new. Watch how to properly clean grout.

How To Kill Mold With Vinegar

Mold can be unsightly and can also pose a health hazard. Using harsh chemicals to get rid of mold could be dangerous for you and your family. Follow these easy steps and find out how to kill mold naturally and organically using vinegar.


How To Kill Mold With Vinegar

Source: www.videojug.com

Spring Cleaning Tips for Wooden Yard Structures

Warmer days and shorter nights mean it is time to get out garden tools and hoses, tidy up the yard and prepare your home’s wooden outdoor structures for spring and summer use.

Caring for decks, gazebos and pergolas, often made of Western red cedar, should be a regular part of the spring cleaning checklist. Routine maintenance, like cleaning surfaces of dirt and other debris and protecting wood from mold and mildew, can be done easily in a weekend.

“Many people choose Western red cedar because of the natural durability and beauty of the wood,” says Paul Mackie, western area manager, Western Red Cedar Lumber Association, or “Mr. Cedar” as he is known in the industry. “Preparing your outdoor living structure for a busy spring and summer is an important step to help maintain that beauty.”

Western red cedar contains natural preservatives that make the wood very durable and basic maintenance relatively simple. A broom, a garden sprayer, a little bleach and a hose are all you need.

Cleaning the Deck

Start with the deck. Inspect it for buildups of dirt that may have accumulated during the winter. Begin by sweeping the deck to remove debris, taking special care to clean between the planks and boards of horizontal surfaces. This will help spring rainfall drain from horizontal surfaces and allow air to flow between the boards. Reducing standing water and increasing airflow will limit the amount of moisture that can collect and stay on the surface of the plank.

Get Rid of Mold and Mildew

Killing mold and mildew that may have grown during fall or early spring is another important piece of deck maintenance, particularly for materials that have rough textures such as composite decks. Mackie recommends a simple solution of three parts water and one part oxygenated bleach be applied with a garden sprayer. Rinsing the treated areas with clean water once the solution is applied should eliminate mold and mildew.

Skip Pressure Washing

Do not pressure-wash wood, says Mackie, because “you can make it look like your grandfather’s corduroy pants.” Pressure-washing also can disrupt Western red cedar’s natural moisture resistance by forcibly pushing water into the wood. If you just cannot resist using your pressure-washer, keep it below 800 pounds per square inch.

Elevate Planters

Many outdoor living spaces are decorated with planter pots and boxes, but setting and leaving planters directly on wooden surfaces can stain.

The Web site realcedar.org recommends people elevate planters from deck surfaces so moisture can more easily evaporate from wood planks. Adequate airflow keeps the area drier and allows Western red cedar’s natural preservatives to protect the wood.

Care for Gazebos and Siding

Check gazebos and pergolas, as well as any wooden siding on the house itself, for dirt, mold and mildew. Clean away any dirt, and treat the siding or structures with the oxygenated bleach solution if needed.

Water, dirt, pollen and mold tend to collect and sit on horizontal surfaces. Left alone, they become a harmful cocktail that can speed up the deterioration of otherwise healthy wood.

Preparing an outdoor structure for spring and summer use is simple and well worth the minimal time invested. Following these easy steps is a sure formula to protect your wooden structures and maintain their natural beauty for years to come.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

How to Clean a Granite Countertop

With the proper care, your granite or marble countertop will stay new-looking for years. Stone is one of the easiest surfaces to maintain. And granite, being 7 on the Mohs hardness scale of 1 to 10, is virtually unscratchable. (A stainless steel knife blade is a 6 on the scale.)

How to Remove Candle Wax

Candles make great decorations and provide good mood lighting, but cleaning up dried wax drippings is never fun. Check out these simple tips for removing candle wax and it'll be history in no time.

Cleaning Your Cabinets

Don goes over a technique that you can use to properly clean your wood cabinets.

Removing Water Stains from Wood

Almost everyone has had to clean up a water ring on a wooden coffee table. Learn the best way to remove water stains from wood.

How To Clean An Oven So It Gleams

VideoJug: How To Clean An Oven So It Gleams
Is your oven a mess? Jacqueline Hansson from Amy Cleaners shows us how to clean an oven so that it gleams with pride.

How To Get Rid Of Mildew In Your Bathroom

VideoJug: How To Get Rid Of Mildew In Your Bathroom
Don't let mildew grow in the corners of your bathroom. See our top tips on getting rid of this mold.

Easy Home Remedies for Water-stained Glass

If someone were to ask you what the hardest room in the house to clean is, you’d likely say the bathroom. Sure a little bleach and cleanser will keep the mirror and countertops looking nice, and toilet cleaner works well in the bowl, but what about your glass shower doors?

You’ve likely noticed they are not as clear as they once were anymore. It’s a problem that’s more common than you may think.

Shower doors get cloudy when soap scum and dissolved minerals from the water supply cling to microscopic crevices in the surface of untreated glass. So what can you do about it? Some hard water stains will yield to scrubbing with white vinegar and a non-scratch pad. Before trying this solution, protect your hands with latex gloves and be prepared to use some elbow grease. The vinegar odor can be quite strong so you might want to test your reaction to breathing the fumes before using vinegar in an enclosed area.

If you find that vinegar is ineffective, then you may be dealing with stains that have actually bonded to the surface of the glass. Some people report success with using a paint-scraper or razor blade to remove bonded stains. Should you choose to try this method, be extremely careful not to scratch or etch the glass. Using a blade also carries the risk of injury and infection. Another possible solution would be to resort to using harsh chemicals like Lime-away or CLR.

Vinegar and scrapers didn’t work for Vicki Lewis of Cottonwood, Calif., and she didn’t want to use harsh chemicals. When it got to the point where it would have been easier but too expensive to replace the shower glass than to clean it, she finally concluded that the only way to obtain a safe and simple product that would easily remove hard water stains was to develop one herself.

Lewis consulted professional cleaners and chemists and found the explanation for why the stains were so difficult to remove. “To successfully remove the stain you must break the molecular binding between the mineral and the microscopic crevices in the glass,” says Lewis. “My initial research centered on how the minerals bonded to the pits in the glass and how to break the bonds. Even more research showed how to prevent the minerals from binding to the glass in the first place.”

Twelve years after she started her testing, Lewis introduced Bring-It-ON Cleaner for removing hard water stains on both interior and exterior glass surfaces, without caustic chemicals, harsh odors, or hard scrubbing. Environmentally-safe Bring-It-ON is a combination of powerful detergents, mild jewelers-grade abrasive and oxygen bleach, which has the added bonus of helping to eliminate most odor causing bacteria in the bathroom and kitchen. In testing, tough organic stains like coffee, berries, mold and mildew yielded to the formula, as did stains caused by alkali, rust, oil and grease.

Regardless of whether you use a home remedy or a commercial product to remove your hard water spots and stains, apply the solution to a damp sponge or non-abrasive pad and rub gently in a circular motion until the stain is gone, then rinse. Most products are safe for use on porcelain, ceramic tile, stainless steel, fiberglass and Formica, but you should always test it on an inconspicuous surface before use.

Once the glass is clean, you can prevent stains from coming back by treating the surface with a sealant. Lemon or orange oil will provide a temporary coating and a pleasant aroma. For a longer-term seal you can use an automotive or furniture paste wax, or try out Lewis’ homegrown solution -- Pro-Tect Shield, a product designed to provide a long-lasting seal which prevents the minerals in hard water from attaching to glass and other surfaces in the first place.

Whichever solution you choose, spray it onto your glass or tile surface and buff it off with a soft terry-cloth towel. This coating fills the microscopic pits in the surface to which minerals cling and prevents the stains from setting in. This process requires just a few minutes of time. Repeat frequently to ensure that the coating remains intact. To extend the effectiveness of the sealant, squeegee the glass after each use. Installing a water softener to reduce mineral content in the water will also help.

Water spot problems are not limited to shower doors. These solutions should work for water and mineral stains on bathroom and kitchen ceramic tile, Formica, Corian, porcelain and fiberglass. Outside the home, they should also be effective on windows, automotive glass, pool tile and outside furniture. Do not use on automobile paint, marble, Plexiglas or soft plastic.

Bring-It-ON Cleaner and Pro-tect Shield are available for purchase at www.BringItOnCleaner.com, or you can call in an order toll-free to (800) 867-2643.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

How to Clean and Care for Outdoor Furniture

When spring rains rinse and refresh the outdoors, decks, patios and everything on them get a bath, too. But, once it’s dry you see the remaining film that stays: dirt, bird droppings, sticky tree sap and buds, and whatever other debris that gets carried in the wind to land on your patio. These outdoor elements and others cause your furniture to stain, discolor and wear out much faster.

Keeping patio furniture looking like new for a long period of time is not difficult. Proper cleaning and maintenance will extend the life of your furniture. Here are some tips to caring for your outdoor patio furniture:

* Wash it with a good cleaner at the beginning of the season and then once a week squirt it off with a hose. Both dirt and chlorine will deteriorate patio furniture.

* When cleaning vinyl patio furniture, never use a harsh brush or bleach. The brush may create pores in the vinyl, damaging it and causing it to lose its shape. Plus, the bleach will deteriorate the vinyl.

* Check to make sure that none of the bolts holding the furniture together are rusty. Replace them if they are, and tighten them thoroughly.

* If the paint on aluminum furniture is in poor condition, rub it gently with a piece of fine steel wool or sandpaper to smooth it out. Next, take some standard car-wash polish to buff the furniture back to its original luster.

* Touch up wrought-iron furniture immediately if bare metal is exposed to prevent rusting. A rust-resistant primer on the spots will help the rust from spreading under the paint.

* Wicker furniture will stay looking its best if it is kept in the shade, as the sun tends to dry it out. If the wicker finish is damaged, bring it back to life by using a permanent marking pen that matches the color to blend away the exposed areas. To give a piece a whole new look, spray paint each piece with outdoor spray paint.

* Don't forget to clean your glass patio table. Remove the glass top carefully, over the grass (so it doesn’t shatter if you drop it).

* Put furniture away for the winter by covering it with plastic, and storing in a dry basement or garage. If it must be kept outside, cover it with a tarp.

So when you’re ready for the first cleaning of the year, you need something gentle and strong to bring your outdoor investments back to looking like new.

CLR Outdoor Furniture Cleaner safely and effectively cleans furniture, umbrellas, cushions, children’s play equipment, awnings, barbecue grills -- all made to withstand the elements, but still need a little help. Outdoor Furniture Cleaner contains UV protectants to protect furniture from fading and discoloration. This special formula is non-abrasive and safe to use on resin, plastic rattan, wicker, wood wrought iron, vinyl, PVC and canvas. It is biodegradable and will not harm flowers and grass.

For more household tips, to see what other CLR products can do for you or to locate a CLR retailer, log on to www.jelmar.com, or call (800) 323-5497.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

How to Easily Clean Your Deck

Spring is right around the corner and behind it summer fun. It’s the time to clean up after the long winter and prepare the yard for enjoyment. Most people don’t build a beautiful deck so they can spend time cleaning it, but proper deck care is essential to maintain its appearance and the life of the wood.

To treat your wood deck with a stain or finish, it’s important to clean it first. To get this done the quickest and easiest way possible, you need to have the right tools. Look for quality deck cleaning solutions at your local hardware store or home center. And while you will find power washers on display with the solutions, these are not as easy to use or as convenient as you might think.

Power sprayers typically are only used for heavy duty surface removal -- like taking paint off. The spray is powerful and can even damage the surface you’re cleaning if you’re inexperienced. For most deck dirt that accumulates over the course of winter, a stiff scrub brush and proper cleaning solution will do the job nicely.

Mr. LongArm's TeleWash flow-through extension pole and cleaning brush is an excellent tool to help you complete many outdoor tasks, including deck cleaning. The TeleWash makes finishing a tough job fast and easy and is a much less expensive solution than its heavy-duty counterpart.

The lightweight, aluminum flow-through extension pole is easy to use and extends three to six feet in length. The TeleWash's stiff, short scrub brush is perfect for deck cleaning and surface preparation. Durable, chemical resistant materials work well with most common cleaning agents. Other brush styles are available to clean everything from fine auto finishes to windows, concrete and more.

Preparation

• Remove patio furniture and all other items from the deck.
• Lightly cover potted or other plants near the deck to protect them.
• Be sure to use a commercial deck cleaner specially formulated not to harm vegetation.
• Make sure you have all the tools, including the TeleWash (flow-through extension pole and cleaning brush), dust pan, trash bag, garden hose, bucket and commercial deck cleaner.

Cleaning

• Pick up large debris and sweep the small stuff into a trash bag.
• Attach the garden hose to the TeleWash and turn on the water. Adjust the flow using the flow control/shut-off valve on the TeleWash and sweep over the surface of the deck to rinse it clean. Use the most powerful flow of water on heavily soiled spots and scrub the area with the TeleWash brush to remove as much dirt as possible. Begin at one end of the deck and continue until you have rinsed it completely.
• Use the bucket to prepare your deck cleaning solution; follow the directions on the container.
• With the water off, dip the TeleWash brush into the bucket and scrub the entire surface of the deck using up all the solution.
• Be sure to check your cleaning solution directions for appropriate application time. Turn the water on and sweep over the deck with the TeleWash to remove the cleaning solution.
• Allow the deck to dry completely before staining or applying a wood finish. This may take as long as two or three days depending upon weather conditions.

Get this project done in the spring after temperatures have warmed and before spring rains. Washing and caring for your deck once a year will keep your wood looking beautiful for years to come.

Mr. LongArm, Inc. of Greenwood, Mo. has manufactured extension poles, painting tools, window washing equipment and hardware products since 1958. The first to offer telescoping extension poles, they continue to lead the industry in their development.

For a list of locations that carry the Mr. LongArm TeleWash and brushes, or for more information visit www.mrlongarm.com or call (800) 821-3508.



Courtesy of ARAcontent

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Cleaning a brick patio can make a big difference in the look of your backyard. This AsktheBuilder.com video shows you how to use oxygenated bleach to make quick work of brick cleaninging projects and other patio cleaning jobs.

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