We talked on the phone with Al from Victoria, British Columbia who has streaks staining his wooden siding. He cleans them off, but they keep coming back.I think I can safely say that most stains come from too much moisture getting behind the siding and either pushing through the wood and ext...
If you have ever tried to clean the insulating foam in a can off of your hands or your tools, or urethane adhesives, or oil paint, or dried latex caulking?. you will rejoice at this nifty innovation that showed up at my door recently.Simply called "Hand and Tool Towels" by Bostick, they come in ...
Lynn from Boussevain, Manitoba has a cultured marble sink that has some dark orange like stains that just won't come out. It may be that they will never come out, but here is what to try.Grease or Oil stains -- Whiting with AcetoneFood stains -- Hydrogen Peroxide and a few drops of AmmoniaRu...
Many people do not realize that it is necessary to clean out the bucket of a central vac as soon as it is half full, not only to keep it working properly but to avoid extra stress on the motor.Watch the suction level at every outlet. If it is weak, there is a clog someplace, which must be cle...
When you have metallic window screens, the sun tends to cook some kind of screen-like pattern of pollution on the window that doesn't want to come off. The key is to use any oven cleaner, which when you think about it, is made for cleaning off cooked-on matter. Be careful, the oven cleaner will...
Do you need to remove chewing gum? It can be found in the strangest places and the removal process will depend on what it is stuck to.Let's start with gum stuck to the bottom of a chair or table, on a hard surface. If it is still soft, start with a scraper of any kind to push off most of it....
It almost sounds like an oxymoron to talk about removing stains from stainless steel, but the reality is that there are many grades of stainless steel and they are not all resistant to all stains. In fact, anything stuck to stainless steel for a long period of time will probably leave a mark...
When the valiant handyperson manages to get machine grease on the rug while fixing the clothes dryer, like I did today, the immediate solution is to dampen a clean rag with hot water, put some concentrated liquid laundry detergent directly on the rag and work it into the grease. Clean the rag and...
When you want to take resin or glue off of drill bits and saw blades you don't want to use just any solvent to do the job.
In fact one of the resin cleaners that we hear about in DIY books is to use an oven cleaner. It certainly does remove burned on resin efficiently. Unfortunately it also eats...
When it is time to replace your windows you will hear a lot of confusing and even contradictory things from contractors, salesmen and even friends. If you just look up Windows in this database you might be overwhelmed -- so here are the links to the most useful entries specifically related to pla...
