How To Clean Vinyl Tile

If you have vinyl tile on your flooring, you need to be extra hard working to put enough effort to clean it regularly. This type of tiles tends to look dirty quite easily. Sure, there are many commercial cleaning products that you can buy in the market, but you also need to know how to clean your vinyl tile to effectively use these cleaning products. There is no hurt in trying several cleaning products and just go with what work best for you. Here are the basic things you need to do to clean vinyl tiles.

First off, use a vacuum cleaner to get rid of dust and dirt on your floor tiles. Make sure that you clean the grouts too.

Wash your vinyl floor tiles with water. If that does not leave your floors sparkly clean, you can mix a tablespoon of dish washing liquid unto a quart of water. Use this cleaning solution and with a rag or mop, wipe your tiles.

Next mix a tablespoon of ammonia product with water and use this solution to wash your vinyl floors. Leave it for a couple of minutes to allow the solution to loosen up the dirt on the tiles.

Make sure to rinse off the ammonia and water solution because it can leave unsightly residue.

If you are not satisfied with the result, your last resort is to use self cleaning cleanser that you can buy at your local DIY or home improvement store. Apply the cleaning product using a fresh, damp cloth. Unlike other home product, self cleaning cleansers do not leave any wax build up or residue.

Clean Your Furnance for Winter

Winter is right around the bend and you have to be well prepared for anything especially the icy temperature. The primary thing that you're going to have to stress about is making sure that the furnace is prepared properly so it can heat your home. Warming your residence is necessary especially when the temperatures falls beneath freezing. A flawed heating unit can result in a fire or other problems heating your household. Here are a several tips that you might to take into consideration so that you recognize your heater is ready to go. You won't have to worry about any concerns before winner begins.

How to Clean a Stainless Stovetop

If you want an elegant and classy kitchen, you ought to have a stainless stovetop. But being such a beauty, it can be dirty and messy when used regularly. To clean your stainless stovetop, there are a lot of cleaning products that you can buy in the market. Buying a commercial cleansing product basically depends on the stain you want to get rid of. As an alternative, there are household products that you can use to clean your stainless stovetop, which are cost effective and safer to use. 

Remove finger marks and smears on your stovetop. Get a paper towel and dab a few drops of olive oil. Do not use soap and water on stainless steel as it can leave watermarks. 

Remove heat marks. Use a wet paper towel and sprinkle some club soda. Clean the stove in a circular motion. The heat marks are actually from hot pans leaving mark and stains behind. 

Keep your stainless stove top shiny. Make a vinegar and water solution with equal parts of each. This will also get rid of deposits, dirt and stains. You can also make use of a kitchen spray cleaner for stubborn stain. 

Get rid of crusted and burnt on food. Use a non-metallic abrasive pad to scrub your stovetop. You can also use mild abrasive cleaner. Be careful in scrubbing and make sure you choose a gentle abrasive pad and cleaner to prevent your stainless stovetop from damage.

How To Clean A Shower Head

Why clean your shower head? Aside from being unsightly, a dirty shower can possibly lessen water pressure on your shower due the buildup of deposits it accumulates. This is why it is very important to clean your shower. Here’s a quick procedure on how:

To clean your shower efficiently, remove the showerhead. You can see that the shower needs cleaning if you observe white deposits in there. The deposits combined with hard water are more difficult to remove. 

Rinse the showerhead. You can soak it with water and rinse it. If you cannot remove the showerhead, then use a small chair to reach and clean your showerhead. 

Pour vinegar on a bowl and place the showerhead in it. You may also place the showerhead in a bowl and then pour vinegar. 

Allow the showerhead to sit on the vinegar for about an hour. 

Scrub to clean your showerhead using a small brush or a toothbrush. 

Rinse of the showerhead with water and you’re done!

If vinegar does not work on your showerhead when cleaning, you can make use of a disinfectant or a commercial cleaning solution. While you are at it, you can also make your shower head gleaming clean by cleaning the water stains on it with a fresh clean cloth dipped in a detergent water solution. Don’t forget to brush the seals and gaskets too.

If you can't remove the showerhead, fill a plastic bag with vinegar and fasten it over the head so it's submerged in vinegar.

How To Clean Baseboards

Baseboards are one thing that get neglected when cleaning your home. Even though baseboards aren't noticeable, it should be regularly cleaned too so your home can look spic and span from all corners. Cleaning baseboards can be tedious, so do prepare for a little elbow grease. If you are to clean your baseboards, make sure to watch out for dirt, stain, dust and other marks. 

Protect your hands with gloves when cleaning baseboards. 

Clean surface dust and dirt from your baseboard. You can do this using a vacuum cleaner and a vacuum hose. Make sure to vacuum the area where the floor meets the baseboard. 

Prepare your cleaning solution. You can buy commercial cleaners or you can create your own.

To make an organic, or homemade cleaning solution for your baseboards, mix 1 cup of white vinegar in two gallons of warm water in a bucket. Mix well. 

Using a sponge or cloth, dip your sponge or cloth in your vinegar-water solution. Wring it out. 

Wipe the baseboards thoroughly with your sponge or cloth. Try not to wet your sponge or cloth too much solution to prevent saturating the baseboard.  Wipe the solution off with a dry cloth as you go.

Allow the baseboards to naturally dry. 

If the water- vinegar solution doesn’t work on the dirt or stain in your baseboards, you can choose from hundreds of cleaning solution in the market that are more powerful to clean stain. Make sure that you keep children away from these commercial chemicals. With enough effort and time, you can have your home gleaming clean in no time.

How to Clean Painted Walls

Prepare the things you need including soft bristled brush, broom, clean cloth, mild dish detergent, sponge and towels

Get rid of dust by using a clean cloth to wipe the walls. To remove stubborn dirt and cobwebs, you can make use of a soft bristled brush. You can also make use of a broom to clean the top area of the wall all the way down. Tape the brush to an extendable light bulb changer tool to reach the tops of the walls.  

Prepare your cleaning solution by adding one teaspoon of mild liquid soap to a one gallon of warm water. 

Fill another bucket with cool water for later use. 

Line the bottom of the painted wall with rags so you will not have a messy floor once you start cleaning the wall with your water solution. 

With a sponge, apply your cleaning solution from the top down. Work in small areas or in sections. If you start at the bottom, the dirty water from cleaning the top of the wall runs down the wall leaving streaks in the clean part. 

After cleaning one section, rinse it with cool water from the second bucket then wipe clean with a fresh cloth. 

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Squeeze out excess water and continue working on section from top to bottom. 

Using a clean towel, dry the section you just cleaned. Wipe the wall in a downward motion starting from the top. After drying a section of the wall, go on with the next and repeat the procedure until you clean the entire painted wall. 

Replace towels once they get all soaked up. 

For grease and hard to remove stains, you can always buy commercial products for cleaning walls. Make sure that you do not use abrasive solutions on your wall as it can damage painted surfaces. Avoid scrubbing to protect your wall from accidental chipping. 

How to Clean Brass

Prepare your work area by laying newspapers under the brass object if it's too big to move.  Use  Take a long look at your brass and determine what makes it dirty. It can be because of dirt or simply because it’s tarnished. Tarnished brass can be cleaned with a basic soap solution. 

Wipe clean the brass surface using a few drops of cooking oil mixed with one teaspoon of liquid dishwashing soap to one quart of water. Use a wet, soft cloth or sponge to wipe it clean. 

You can stop at this step, if the brass returned to its old shine and luster. 

For stubborn dirt or tarnished brass, you need to get rid of the lacquer on brass to clean off the tarnish. To do this, you need to apply a paint/ varnish remover. Lacquer is used to coat brass to prevent it from oxidation. As it gets old it peels letting the brass underneath tarnish. 

To restore the brass’ luster, use brass polish to bring it back to its shine. Apply the polish in the direction of the brass grain using a soft, clean cloth. Get ready for some buffing till you achieve your preferred shine.

To protect your brass from oxidation, it is recommended that you re-lacquer your brass. Use a spray lacquer and coat the brass in thin coats. Apply several layers when needed.

Allow the lacquer to dry before lifting the brass or touching it.

If you want an alternative to expensive brass cleaner or polish, ketchup surprisingly works well in cleaning brass.  It is its vinegar and salt solution that does the magic.