Sometimes minor carpet burns can be scraped out with a sharp knife by picking at it and raising the fibers at the same time.If you have to cut out a piece of the carpet, follow any patterns so that the cut line will hide the joint. If you have to cut into a uniform carpet, try to follow any "gra...
One of our viewers had left masking tape on the aluminum siding around a window far too long and it didn't want to come off without scraping, like you can see in the photo. Any oil, even vegetable oil, will serve to soften the old glue and allow removal, but the most efficient remover we fou...
Acoustical tile ceilings tend to get dirty, and are very difficult to clean. Some people just paint them, but that plugs up the acoustical holes. In this TV segment we walked through the cleaning of a very dirty ceiling in a community centre with a company called Enviro Clean from Cornwall, Ont...
Gerry, one of the Home Improvement Guys on CFUN radio in Vancouver joined me in working on a solution for Ramona's slimy green BC deck which you can see in the photo.Here is the Home Improvement Guys' BC mix for removing outdoor slime:FALL CLEANING FORMULA (also known as Spring Cleaning Formula...
Oil stains are almost impossible to get out of concrete. Substances that tend to sit on the top surface of the concrete are much easier to get off. We did some testing with various stain and graffiti removal products. Nothing worked perfectly.Since this show I have been looking for somethin...
This is actually a mechanical problem, not a staining problem. Microscopic particles of white pigment have flowed down the wall with the rain and lodged into the pores of the brick. Acid will not change their colour nor dislodge them. They have to be removed mechanically. Brushes tend to not ...
Robert from Riverview, N.B. writes:The problem relates to what appears to be mould or mildew on one exterior end of my house, showing up in what appears to be small black spots peeking through the white paint. I have been told that improper ventilation can contribute to such a situation if, i...
Blue dye is put into some de-icers to let you know where you have applied it. Will it stain the paving bricks? The answer is -- maybe.As long as the dye stays on the surface, the sunlight will quickly break it down and it will lose its blue colour. If you have quality paving stones (which are d...
One viewer recommended using hard soap on a mirror to keep it from fogging up in the bathroom. So we tested it against no treatment, and against polishing it with shaving cream, a recommendation from a viewer last year. The hard soap looked pretty good although a bit streaked. The ?no treatment?...
Getting soot off fireplace bricks is not an easy job, especially if it has cooked in over a long period of time. We tested: vinegar & water ; baking soda & water ; bubbly soda water ; and muriatic acid.The Vinegar did all right, the baking soda better, and the regular bubbly soda water ...
