by Carey, James
Part VI
The Part of Tens
In this part . . .
If you think that David Letterman has the market cornered when it comes to top-ten lists, you’re in for one big surprise. Old sayings have a great deal of basis in fact. For example: “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” It’s true, the most inexpensive home improvements involve cleaning. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” So we offer alternatives to store-bought products that you can concoct yourself for “dimes on the dollar.” “The early bird gets the worm.” With our simple, easy-to-understand tips on skills that can save you big bucks, you won’t have to worry about ending up with a “bag of worms.”
Chapter 20
Ten Cleaning Solutions You Can Make at Home
In This Chapter
Making your own all-purpose cleaners and mildew removers
Mixing cleaning solutions for all types of surfaces
If you’ve ever heard us on the radio, then you know that we often delve deep into the Carey Brothers’ vault of valuable information to give listeners many of our secret family formulas for various easy-to-make, non-caustic, homegrown cleaning solutions. Well, in this chapter, we share these formulas with you in one, easy-to-reference place.
All-Purpose, Handy-Dandy Cleaner
You can use our All-Purpose, Handy-Dandy Cleaner to clean and freshen just about any surface. It works especially well for day-to-day cleaning of range tops and cooktops. Just mix up the following ingredients:
1 teaspoon borax
1/2 teaspoon washing soda
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon dishwashing liquid
2 cups hot water
Washing soda is essentially turbo-charged baking soda. The technical name is sodium carbonate. Washing soda is a highly alkaline compound that makes a great all-purpose cleaning product and is often used as an additive to laundry detergent and other cleaning products to produce superior results.
You can replace the washing soda with baking soda and use lemon juice instead of white vinegar, depending upon what you have lying around the house. Just keep in mind that washing soda and lemon juice are a bit stronger than baking soda and white vinegar.
The secret to most cleaning formulas is hot water. It helps the various ingredients blend.
DIY Cleanser Scrub
Our formula for DIY Cleanser Scrub is especially suited for cleaning up baked-on spills on glass or porcelain ranges and cooktops when you would normally pull out the cleanser. Start with the following ingredients:
3/4 cup borax
1/4 cup baking soda
Dishwashing liquid to moisten
Combine the two powders and moisten them with just enough dishwashing liquid to create a gooey paste. You can use all borax or all baking soda if you want, depending upon what you have around the house, but just keep in mind that the concoction won’t be quite as strong without the borax. For a more pleasing and lingering aroma, add 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice.
Gentle Glass Cleaner
Our Gentle Glass Cleaner works well for cleaning the glass shelving in your refrigerator, glass cooktops, and the windows in range and oven doors. You need the following ingredients:
2 tablespoons ammonia
1/4 teaspoon dishwashing liquid
1/2 cup rubbing alcohol
Hot water
Mix the ammonia, dishwashing liquid, and rubbing alcohol, and add enough hot water to make 1 quart of cleaner. If you prefer, you can avoid the smell of ammonia by using white vinegar or lemon juice. However, these optional concoctions will cause the formula to be slightly less powerful.
For super-duper window cleaning — especially in cold weather when windows are extra dirty — add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to the formula to boost your cleaning-and-sparkling horsepower.
People-Friendly Oven Cleaner
Our People-Friendly Oven Cleaner is a safe alternative to those conventional, caustic oven cleaners. You can also use it to clean barbecue grills and grungy pots and pans. Start with the following ingredients:
2 teaspoons borax or baking soda
2 tablespoons dishwashing liquid
11/4 cups ammonia
11/2 cups hot water
Mix the ingredients, apply generously to spills, and let the solution soak for 30 minutes or as long as overnight. Loosen tough spills with a nylon scrubber, and then wipe up with a damp sponge.
Super-Duper Disinfectant Cleaner
Our Super-Duper Disinfectant Cleaner works well anywhere you would use a store-bought disinfectant, such as on appliance pulls and handles, the inside face of the refrigerator where the gasket seats, the refrigerator drip pan, counters and cutting boards, and around the opening of your clothes washer. It works especially well on all surfaces of a trash compactor — inside and out.
Mix the following ingredients and then scrub:
1 tablespoon borax or baking soda
1/4 cup powdered laundry detergent
1/4 cup pine-oil-based cleaner or pine oil
3/4 cup hot water
For kitchen countertops, backsplashes, and the like (where there is a lot of area to cover), you can dilute with more hot water to get more coverage.
Super Wood Cleaner
To give fine wood cabinets (or furniture) a super cleaning, mix up our Super Wood Cleaner. Start with the following ingredients:
3 tablespoons turpentine
3 tablespoons boiled linseed oil
1 quart boiling water
This formula is not made for painted surfaces.
To create the cleaner, heat a quart of water in a saucepan and, as soon as it boils, pour the water into any old container. Then add the turpentine and the linseed oil to the water and stir vigorously. Immediately immerse a clean white cloth in the mixture and tightly wring it out. (Be sure you’re wearing gloves when you do this!) Clean small areas at a time (no more than about 2 square feet), and use a clean, dry, terry-cloth towel to immediately dry the freshly cleaned area.
This mixture is moderately flammable, so no smoking or open flames while you’re working. For the same reason, don’t try to reheat the mixture — mix up a new batch when it gets cold. Dispose of the leftover liquid by letting it evaporate outside; don’t pour it down the drain. Even the rags can be flammable — let them completely air-dry outside before disposing of them in the trash. Don’t keep the rags inside — they’re subject to spontaneous combustion!
Soda-Pop Concrete Stain Remover
Use our Soda-Pop Concrete Stain Remover on all concrete where the surface looks like an Indy 500 pit stop. You need the following ingredients:
A small bag of cat litter
A few cans of cola beverage (diet or regular)
1 cup liquid chlorine bleach
1 cup powdered laundry detergent
1 gallon hot water
Completely cover the grease or oil stain with a thin layer of the cat litter and grind it in with your shoes. When the mess is completely absorbed, sweep up and discard the cat litter. Cover the stain that’s left with the cola beverage and use a bristle brush to work the liquid into the affected area for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the cola stops fizzing. Don’t let the area dry out — use fresh water to rinse away the cola. A gray stain will be left. Add the detergent and bleach to the hot water, and scrub away the gray stain.
Although this solution is mild, be sure to wear gloves and eye protection when you work with it.
Easy All-Surface Mildew Remover
Our Easy All-Surface Mildew Remover works great on painted or other washable surfaces and costs about one-fifth the price of its store-bought equivalent. Start with the following ingredients:
1/3 cup powdered, ammonia-free laundry detergent
1 quart liquid chlorine bleach
3 quarts warm water
Make sure the detergent you use is ammonia free. Mixing bleach with a solution containing ammonia can release a dangerous gas that’s harmful to your lungs.
Pour the water
in a bucket. Add the bleach to the water, and then add the detergent. While wearing rubber gloves, stir the concoction until the detergent fully blends into the solution. Pour some of the mildew remover into a spray bottle. Spray the remover onto any area where mildew exists and allow it to sit for five to ten minutes, but don’t let it dry. You’ll know that the solution is working when the black mildew stains turn white. Rinse all the surfaces very well with hot water and towel-dry.
When you’re working with this mildew remover, wear gloves and eye protection and make sure you have plenty of ventilation.
Special Drain Freshener and Cleaner
Our foamy Special Drain Freshener and Cleaner is great for bathroom and kitchen drains. Although it isn’t meant to free badly clogged drains, it can freshen them and prevent clogging. Use this formula once a month for best results. Here’s what you need:
1 cup baking soda
1 cup table salt
1 cup white vinegar
2 quarts boiling water
First, pour the baking soda into the drain, followed by the salt, and then the vinegar. The mixture will begin to foam. After a few minutes, pour the water into the drain. Let it stand overnight before using the faucet again.
Be sure to add the ingredients in the recommended order. Adding the vinegar first followed by the salt and baking soda can actually create a clog.
Universal Roof-Cleaning Formula
Use our Universal Roof-Cleaning Formula when your roof gets dirty. The concoction also gets rid of mildew or moss on your roof. You need these ingredients:
1 cup liquid chlorine bleach
1 cup powdered laundry detergent
1 gallon hot water
Add the bleach to the water and then add the detergent. Mix the ingredients until the soap granules dissolve. Pour the mixture into a garden sprayer. Apply the liquid onto the affected area, and keep it wet for at least 15 minutes. Use a broom to scrub the surface. Rinse with a garden hose.
A pressure washer works best. Just be careful not to damage the roof with the force of the spray. Hold the spray tip back about 12 to 18 inches from the roof.
Chapter 21
Ten Maintenance Skills You Need
In This Chapter
Mastering basic home-maintenance skills
Improving and prolonging your home’s proper operation
Increasing efficiency and avoiding problems
Caulking lubricating, testing, painting, and more are common maintenance tasks that you’ll eventually perform as a homeowner. In this chapter, we list ten universal maintenance tasks and share a few basics that we hope will help you accomplish each task as quickly and as easily as possible without sacrificing safety.
Caulking
Caulk is the stuff you pump into a gap to make it airtight or watertight. Sounds easy enough — and it is once you get the hang of it. To caulk, all you have to do is make sure that the area to be caulked is clean and dry. Open the caulk, squeeze a bead into the gap or crack, wipe off the excess, and smooth the seam with a plastic putty knife or a credit card — we use our fingers. You can clean off the excess with water or the solvent recommended for the caulk being used.
There are a million different types and colors of caulk, and knowing which to choose is important. Here are the three most common types in order of our personal preference:
Polyurethane: This is our favorite all-purpose sealant and adhesive. It’s flexible, paintable, and super long lasting.
Silicone: This is an excellent all-purpose sealant and adhesive. It’s flexible and super long lasting. Some silicone caulks are paintable.
Latex: Latex caulk is a good all-purpose sealant and adhesive for little projects where water protection isn’t an issue. You can paint it, but it’s brittle and shrinks and cracks easily.
Regardless of which type of caulking you select, make sure that the surface you’re applying it to is clean and dry — even if the caulk label claims it can be applied to wet surfaces.
Knowing How (And What) to Lubricate
A little lubrication can go a long way toward helping parts move more easily. Lubrication reduces stress on motors and equipment, which reduces operating cost and extends life. Here are common lubricants and what they can be used to lubricate:
Spray grease: Good for things like the rollers, gears, or the chain on your garage door. Simply point and spray.
Machine oil: Good for bearings, like you’d find in older furnaces. To apply machine oil, find the lubrication port, open it, and add a few drops.
Silicone lubricant: This type of lubricant is good for sliding doors, sliding windows, and sliding screens, because it doesn’t gum up. To apply silicone lubricant, clean the track and then point and spray.
Graphite: Use graphite to lubricate door hardware and locks (can you spell “I don’t want a broken key?”). To use graphite lubricant, place the tip of the container against the key hole and squeeze.
Anything in your home that contains a moving part is a candidate for scheduled lubrication. If you aren’t sure, contact the seller or manufacturer and find out. The equipment you save will be your own!
Recognizing and Testing for Problems
You know that a smoke detector or carbon-monoxide detector with worn-out batteries provides absolutely no protection in the event of a fire. But did you also know that a water heater can explode if the pressure and temperature relief valve is stuck closed and that the explosion has the force of a stick of dynamite?
Fire extinguishers can leak and lose their charge rendering them useless in an emergency. When was the last time you took a peek at your fire extinguishers. Do you even remember where they are?
Twice a year, locate your fire extinguishers and read the pressure gauge. Once a year, pull the pin and give each extinguisher a quick test blast. Every three years, replace your extinguishers.
You can check these and other household devices easily and safely. Smoke detectors, water-heater pressure and temperature-relief valves, carbon-monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers are examples of devices you’ll find in our home-maintenance plan in Chapter 3. Many household devices are designed to be tested, so if something has a Test button, use it!
Not checking and testing a safety device places you and your family in grave danger.
Choosing the Right Tool for the Job
Nothing is more difficult than attempting a home-repair project without the proper tools. Can you spell “busted knuckles”? Not only is it important to have the right tool for the job, but that tool must be in good condition as well. A dull chisel, for example, can do more damage than good. A dull saw or the wrong saw for the job can break your back. (Did you know that there is a wrench made especially for reaching up behind the kitchen sink? Yep, it’s called a sink wrench.)
So when you’re tackling a job yourself, make sure you have the proper tools. Start by researching the project. Throughout this book, we tell you which tool you’ll need for the job at hand. When you know which tools are needed, you can research what each does. A handy neighbor or a knowledgeable hardware-store clerk also can be helpful.
What if you don’t have or can’t get the proper tool? Well, some projects are best left to contractors, especially when investing in the proper tool(s) costs more than a professional repair.
Be cautious of bargain tools. A tool that breaks in your hand can hurt.
Testing an Electrical Circuit
It goes without saying that an electrical death is shocking. With an electrical circuit, it’s important to ensure that your ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) are operating properly. To check, simply press the Test button to be sure that the circuit is safe. (See the earlier section “Recognizing and Testing for Problems” for info on other devices you can test.)