(See non-toxic cleaners in the last paragraph, and Do Rust Cleaners Work?)
RUST ON RUGS
There has always been one basic chemical available for getting rust off about anything and that was Oxalic Acid. That was the active ingredient in the old petroleum jelly that we used to clean the rust off o...
Nicki used to be a waitress and was always getting ink stains on her uniforms. She found that it came right out with nail polish remover.
Now the problem with this suggestion is that since Nicki quit being a waitress, they began to produce a variety of nail polish removers, some specifically wit...
I am sure that I have done a TV show on this product, but for the life of me I cannot find it and people keep asking. There is a special category of re-finishing product, often called 'furniture re-finisher' (not furniture or paint stripper) but variations are made by several different manufactur...
When air flows through the edges of carpets, the carpet acts as a filter and collects whatever is in the air. Hence we often find dirt streaks around heating outlets where some of the air sneaks under the grill and through the rug.
Often, streaks are found near baseboards where household air flo...
Most driveway cleaners are powerful solvents that dilute the oil, even dissolve the asphalt, and create more pollution. Research in British Colombia has shown that more oil gets into the ocean from streets, driveways and parking lots than from oil tanker spills.
So in an effort to clean the ocea...
Albert Bacci of the Noble House Coatings company in Toronto came to the TV studio to share his experience in applying outdoor stains.
First rule, if there is mill glaze (that washer board look caused by the planing blades in the lumber mill) on the boards, you must sand them off or no stain will...
I just received (October 2014) an alert from Healthy Building News about additives in many building products that are supposed to kill microbes and make the house healthier. These things are called “Antimicrobials”. A couple of the best known trade names are Microban and BioFresh.
Little disi...
Copper, left to the elements, even indoors, will eventually tarnish. It will turn a bit black, perhaps streaked and then although it may take as long as 15 years, it eventually turns that beautiful green that we see on church roofs. If you are trying to keep a copper mailbox or decoration in good...
Petra from Mississauga Ontario has small pocket holes in her brick mortar that is only a few years old. These are not the weep holes that she knows should be there, but just little holes probably caused by air pockets during construction. How to fill them?
The easiest way to deal with very small...
