Good questions, since we are usually trying to take stains out of grout.First you should be aware that you can purchase coloured grout. The renovation stores will have three or four base tones to choose from, not too exciting. Go to a speciality tile store and you will discover a wide variety o...
Ania removed a pedestal sink that had been kept stable with a cedar shim and now she wants to know how to get rid of the stain the cedar has left on her linoleum floor.The bad news is that, if it is really linoleum and not vinyl, linoleum is more porous than vinyl and stains can go deeper. The u...
While testing a number of carpet stain cleaning products on grape juice stains, everything had trouble with an old dried stain, soda water did pretty well on a fresh stain but the surprise technique was to totally cover the stain with table salt and let it dry. Vacuum off the dry salt. Then clea...
We have used a lot of concrete cleaners on this show, even recently compared water based to solvent based cleaners and found them rather equivalent.Here is a new one that is rather amazing. It is called Oil Lift. The difference with this one is that it is totally ecologically friendly, no harsh...
Have you ever purchased a piece of nice wood like a piece of trim, or a wooden cupboard door knob, or some unfinished furniture and have the price sticker sitting right on the finished face? Just peel it off and you can see all the glue that stays on the wood. Then you use solvents, and often t...
Andy wants to know what is the difference between green and brown pressure treated wood, and why is the brown stuff only available in Western Canada?The only difference is a brown stain added to imitate Cedar, a marketing necessity in the West where Cedar is inexpensive and popular for deck build...
Chloe in Kincardine, Ontario uses a double open-ended wrench to carry heavy pails so that the handle wire doesn't cut into his hand.A slit garden hose can help as well.
One viewer caught our cameras in the renovation store and asked how to remove stains from laminate counter tops.The reality is that it is very difficult to stain laminate counter tops although high temperatures can easily scorch it. We tried for a week and couldn't get any colour from coffee to b...
Kim from Mississauga, Ontario has strange spots and streaks all over her ceramic floor, and they seem to be getting worse the more she cleans them.We consulted with a ceramic tile manufacturer to see what might be happening and I was rather surprised to learn that many ordinary cleaners can actua...
I get a lot of questions about choosing and applying a finish to a hardwood floor.First understand that there is no one right answer -- there are a lot of products that each has certain advantages over the others and you need to select the properties that are the most important to you. There are...
