Chandeliers
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Any homeowner who's spent thousands of dollars on an elegant chandelier needs to know about keeping crystals clear. You can buy the finest crystal in the world, but if it gets dirty, it's indistinguishable from cheap crystal.
A chandelier should be cleaned whenever it looks dusty, milky, or cloudy.
There are several methods to restore a chandelier's dazzle, depending on how dingy it has become. But if you
maintain it regularly--say, a couple of times a year--you probably won't have to remove all the crystals and wash them by hand.
If a chandelier is not too dirty, set up a stepladder in one or two spots where you can easily reach the chandelier without stretching and use one of these two methods to clean the crystals:
The simplest way is to lightly dampen a chamois cloth with a little water and wipe each crystal while it's still attached to the chandelier frame. To clean the chandelier frame itself, just wipe it thoroughly with a dry cloth.
The two-glove method is also popular. Buy a pair of white cotton gloves, available is most home improvement stores and dampen one glove with glass cleaner, such as Windex. spray the cleaner on the glove--never directly onto the chandelier, since a spray cleaner will eventually work its way into any tiny nicks or scratches in the frame finish, which can cause corrosion and ruin the frame. Massage each crystal with the damp love, then wipe it immediately with the dry glove.
If a chandelier is really dirty, you'll have to take down the crystals and wash them by hand--no dishwasher shortcuts. Start by climbing your stepladder and removing the bulbs and setting them aside. Then carefully remove the crystals. Run warm water in a dishpan or sink until it's about a quarter full. Add 1 capful of white vinegar and 1 drop of dishwashing liquid. The combination will remove any grease or residue on the glass but will minimize the suds created, which are hard to rinse off.
Place a folded towel in the bottom of the sink. Wipe each crystal with your hands, then individually rinse each one under running water and dry with a soft cloth. If you don't dry them you'll have water spots.
Finally, wipe the light bulbs with a damp sponge, dry them with a cloth, return them to their sockets-and enjoy the light show.
expert advice
A Humpty Dumpty /Dilemma >
Before you start removing industry chandelier crystals for hand-washing, make absolutely sure you know how to put the chandelier back together again.
/Either clean a small section at a time or track down the trimming diagram that came with the chandelier, suggests Eilleen Schonbek Beer, creative director of Schonbek Worldwide Lighting in Plattsburgh, New York, a family owned chandelier company. If the diagram is long lost, take a photo of the intact chandelier or do a drawing before disassembling.
Chewing Gum
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When chewed-up chewing gun winds up in your carpet, clothes, or hair, you've got a sticky situation that will only get worse. Gum hardens over time, making it increasingly difficult to remove. But prompt action and a few time-honored gum control techniques will get you unstuck.
Using ice cubes to freeze gum and make it easier to remove is a simple and popular trick for removing gum from carpets, upholstery, and washable clothing. Begin by scraping off as much of the gum as possible with a dull nonserrated knife. Then put one or two ice cubes in a self-sealing sandwich bag and rub the bag over the spot until the gum freezes. Using the knife, scrape away more gum. Repeat as needed to remove all the gum.
To remove gum from a carpet, heat combined with a little chemical action is effective--but be sure to test this method first in an inconspicuous area to make sure the material is colorfast. Start by heating the gum with a blow-dryer for a minute or two. With a plastic sandwich bag on your hand, lift off as much of the heated gum as possible. If the gum starts to harden, heat it again and lift off more gum until as much as possible is gone.
Then massage 1/2 teaspoon of deep-heating rub evenly into the spot. Use an extra-strength deep-heating rub, such as Ultra Strength Bengay. Turn the blow-dryer on high and heat the area for 30 seconds. Then use another plastic bag to lift off the remaining residue. Finally, add 1 teaspoon of mild detergent to 1 cup of water and blot the spot with paper towels or a cloth rag to lift any stain. Stubborn stains can also be treated with spot remover or dry-cleaning solvent.
To remove gum from clothing, follow the procedure described above for carpets, except apply the deep-heating rub to the opposite side of the cloth. After 30 seconds of blow-drying, the gum should peel off. Then wash the garment as usual, whether by hand or in a washing machine.
You can also try this variant of the ice-cube treatment: Seal the garment in a plastic bag and place it in the freezer. After it's frozen, just scrape the spot with a dull knife to remove the gum, and launder as usual.
To get gum out of hair, try this: Work peanut butter or oil into the gummy spot for a minute to soften the gum. Gently pull out the gum with a paper towel, then shampoo and rinse the area.
simple SOLUTIONS
Chew on This >
Removing chewing gum from sidewalks and streets is a huge and costly burden for cities throughout the world. For removing gum on a massive scale, chemical solvents are the premier cleaning method.
But before you resort to chemical warfare for the wad of gum stuck on your walkway, try some nontoxic, high-velocity water. Attach a jet nozzle to your garden hose, the kind used for power spraying, put it on its most powerful setting, and fire away at the spot. The quicker you attack the chewing gum, the more easily it will come up.
Chimneys
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where there's fire, there's smoke--and when it's in your fire place, you'll eventually have a chimney that needs a clean sweep. Sooty chimneys can lead to chimney fires, which occur when creosote, a highly combustible residue created by burning wood, ignites. The resulting flames burn many times hotter than the wood in your fireplace--hot enough to melt the mortar in the chimney--and the red-hot sparks that burst from the chimney could set your home on fire.
To prevent such disasters, have your chimney cleaned regularly by a professional chimney sweep. Cleaning chimneys is difficult, dangerous work that requires special brushes and equipment tailored to fit the precise measurements of your fire-place flue. However, you can and should clean out the ashes in your fireplace when they start piling up. Shovel the ashes into a metal container with a tight lid--never a paper bag--and store it away from any combustible materials (including a wooden deck) before final disposal.
The frequency of chimney cleaning will depend on how much you use your firepalce. At the least, an annual inspection is needed.
To inspect a chimney yourself, you need to be in good shape and not mind climbing on the roof. Using a powerful flashlight and a straight ladder to access the roof, check the chimney openings both from the hearth and from the roof. On the roof, you'll have to remove any spark arrester or weather cap before you start.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any homeowner who's spent thousands of dollars on an elegant chandelier needs to know about keeping crystals clear. You can buy the finest crystal in the world, but if it gets dirty, it's indistinguishable from cheap crystal.
A chandelier should be cleaned whenever it looks dusty, milky, or cloudy.
maintain it regularly--say, a couple of times a year--you probably won't have to remove all the crystals and wash them by hand.
If a chandelier is not too dirty, set up a stepladder in one or two spots where you can easily reach the chandelier without stretching and use one of these two methods to clean the crystals:
The simplest way is to lightly dampen a chamois cloth with a little water and wipe each crystal while it's still attached to the chandelier frame. To clean the chandelier frame itself, just wipe it thoroughly with a dry cloth.
The two-glove method is also popular. Buy a pair of white cotton gloves, available is most home improvement stores and dampen one glove with glass cleaner, such as Windex. spray the cleaner on the glove--never directly onto the chandelier, since a spray cleaner will eventually work its way into any tiny nicks or scratches in the frame finish, which can cause corrosion and ruin the frame. Massage each crystal with the damp love, then wipe it immediately with the dry glove.
If a chandelier is really dirty, you'll have to take down the crystals and wash them by hand--no dishwasher shortcuts. Start by climbing your stepladder and removing the bulbs and setting them aside. Then carefully remove the crystals. Run warm water in a dishpan or sink until it's about a quarter full. Add 1 capful of white vinegar and 1 drop of dishwashing liquid. The combination will remove any grease or residue on the glass but will minimize the suds created, which are hard to rinse off.
Place a folded towel in the bottom of the sink. Wipe each crystal with your hands, then individually rinse each one under running water and dry with a soft cloth. If you don't dry them you'll have water spots.
Finally, wipe the light bulbs with a damp sponge, dry them with a cloth, return them to their sockets-and enjoy the light show.
expert advice
A Humpty Dumpty /Dilemma >
Before you start removing industry chandelier crystals for hand-washing, make absolutely sure you know how to put the chandelier back together again.
/Either clean a small section at a time or track down the trimming diagram that came with the chandelier, suggests Eilleen Schonbek Beer, creative director of Schonbek Worldwide Lighting in Plattsburgh, New York, a family owned chandelier company. If the diagram is long lost, take a photo of the intact chandelier or do a drawing before disassembling.
Chewing Gum
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When chewed-up chewing gun winds up in your carpet, clothes, or hair, you've got a sticky situation that will only get worse. Gum hardens over time, making it increasingly difficult to remove. But prompt action and a few time-honored gum control techniques will get you unstuck.
Using ice cubes to freeze gum and make it easier to remove is a simple and popular trick for removing gum from carpets, upholstery, and washable clothing. Begin by scraping off as much of the gum as possible with a dull nonserrated knife. Then put one or two ice cubes in a self-sealing sandwich bag and rub the bag over the spot until the gum freezes. Using the knife, scrape away more gum. Repeat as needed to remove all the gum.
To remove gum from a carpet, heat combined with a little chemical action is effective--but be sure to test this method first in an inconspicuous area to make sure the material is colorfast. Start by heating the gum with a blow-dryer for a minute or two. With a plastic sandwich bag on your hand, lift off as much of the heated gum as possible. If the gum starts to harden, heat it again and lift off more gum until as much as possible is gone.
Then massage 1/2 teaspoon of deep-heating rub evenly into the spot. Use an extra-strength deep-heating rub, such as Ultra Strength Bengay. Turn the blow-dryer on high and heat the area for 30 seconds. Then use another plastic bag to lift off the remaining residue. Finally, add 1 teaspoon of mild detergent to 1 cup of water and blot the spot with paper towels or a cloth rag to lift any stain. Stubborn stains can also be treated with spot remover or dry-cleaning solvent.
To remove gum from clothing, follow the procedure described above for carpets, except apply the deep-heating rub to the opposite side of the cloth. After 30 seconds of blow-drying, the gum should peel off. Then wash the garment as usual, whether by hand or in a washing machine.
You can also try this variant of the ice-cube treatment: Seal the garment in a plastic bag and place it in the freezer. After it's frozen, just scrape the spot with a dull knife to remove the gum, and launder as usual.
To get gum out of hair, try this: Work peanut butter or oil into the gummy spot for a minute to soften the gum. Gently pull out the gum with a paper towel, then shampoo and rinse the area.
simple SOLUTIONS
Chew on This >
Removing chewing gum from sidewalks and streets is a huge and costly burden for cities throughout the world. For removing gum on a massive scale, chemical solvents are the premier cleaning method.
But before you resort to chemical warfare for the wad of gum stuck on your walkway, try some nontoxic, high-velocity water. Attach a jet nozzle to your garden hose, the kind used for power spraying, put it on its most powerful setting, and fire away at the spot. The quicker you attack the chewing gum, the more easily it will come up.
Chimneys
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
where there's fire, there's smoke--and when it's in your fire place, you'll eventually have a chimney that needs a clean sweep. Sooty chimneys can lead to chimney fires, which occur when creosote, a highly combustible residue created by burning wood, ignites. The resulting flames burn many times hotter than the wood in your fireplace--hot enough to melt the mortar in the chimney--and the red-hot sparks that burst from the chimney could set your home on fire.
To prevent such disasters, have your chimney cleaned regularly by a professional chimney sweep. Cleaning chimneys is difficult, dangerous work that requires special brushes and equipment tailored to fit the precise measurements of your fire-place flue. However, you can and should clean out the ashes in your fireplace when they start piling up. Shovel the ashes into a metal container with a tight lid--never a paper bag--and store it away from any combustible materials (including a wooden deck) before final disposal.
The frequency of chimney cleaning will depend on how much you use your firepalce. At the least, an annual inspection is needed.
To inspect a chimney yourself, you need to be in good shape and not mind climbing on the roof. Using a powerful flashlight and a straight ladder to access the roof, check the chimney openings both from the hearth and from the roof. On the roof, you'll have to remove any spark arrester or weather cap before you start.
- Look for obvious obstructions like bird nests. This is important even if all you have is a gas-log fireplace. While gas burns more cleanly than wood, a gas fireplace must be inspected for proper venting to keep odorless, poisonous carbon monoxide out of your home.
- Check the extent of creosote buildup. The creosote will be black or brown and could vary from a dripping tarlike substance to a shiny hardened mass. The highest concentration of creosote usually occurs in the top one-third of the chimney.
- Look for indications that you've had a chimney fire. Chimney fires, which roar hot until the energy source is spent or extinguished, sometimes occur without anyone's realizing it. Such fires can weaken the mortar, crack the tile lining of the chimney, or cause the lining to collapse. Any of those factors mean that heat from subsequent fires could reach and ignite combustible parts of the house, such as the wooden framing. Signs of a chimney fire include puffy creosote flakes or chunks on the roof, and cracks in the exterior masonry.
- Inspect the outside of your chimney to make sure there are no cracks that could allow water to seep in. Changes in temperature will cause water that leaks in to freeze and thaw, which can cause mortar to crumble.
To find a reputable chimney sweep in your area, check the Chimney Safety Institute of America's website (www.csia.org) for state-by-state listings. The institute certifies chimney sweeps and tests them on their knowledge of chimney and venting systems. Then call your local Better Business Bureau to make sure the sweep is in good standing, and find out whether the company carries business liability insurance in the event of accidents.
To cut down on cresote buildup, burn wood that's been dried for six months to a year. Freshly cut wood has a higher moisture content than seasoned wood, which results in a smokier fire. Hardwoods such as oak, maple, elm, and ash burn more slowly and with a steadier flame than softwoods such as spruce and pine, which cause faster creosote buildup.
See also Fireplaces and Fireplace Screens and Tools
To cut down on cresote buildup, burn wood that's been dried for six months to a year. Freshly cut wood has a higher moisture content than seasoned wood, which results in a smokier fire. Hardwoods such as oak, maple, elm, and ash burn more slowly and with a steadier flame than softwoods such as spruce and pine, which cause faster creosote buildup.
See also Fireplaces and Fireplace Screens and Tools
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