Concrete
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Cement your understanding here about how to clean concrete. The essential first step? Determine what caused the grime or stain, if you can, and then act accordingly--and fast. The longer an untreated stain stays on concrete, the more likely it is to keep in to become part of the whole. Methods vary on how to clean concrete, but the fact is that cleaning up that garage floor, partio, walkways, driveway, or other concrete is an essential part of regular home maintenance.
Clean Concrete art least once a year. Before you start, be sure to protect adjacent glass, metal, wood plants, or other decorative materials with a tarpaulin or old shower curtain. Try one of the
following methods listed in order of increasing wallop. Always test the method in an obscure spot to make sure it works. Never use a metallic brush on concrete, as metallic fibers can get trapped in the
concrete, where they'll rust.
If the concrete is old and crumbly, brush it--lightly--with a soft brush. If that doesn't do the trick, try warm water and mild detergent, adding white vinegar to the water if the soil and stains persist.
Wet the concrete with warm water and let it absorb the water a bit. Then scrub with a soft, nonmetallic brush. Wash off the concrete with a garden hose fitted with a high-pressure nozzle and let it dry.
If that isn't enough, add 1/4 cup of mild dishwashing detergent to a pail of warm water and scrub again.
Failing that use a stronger detergent, mixed with water and 1/4 cup ammonia, applied with a stiff nylon brush.
For obstinate grime, mix trisodium phosphate (TSP), which you can buy at hardware stores, in a pail with warm water, according to the package instructions for heavy cleaning jobs. Scrub with a rigid nylon brush, then rinse with a garden hose and let air-dry.
Another approach: Rent a pressure-washing machine to squirt off dirt that's not ground into the concrete. Set the pressure at 3,000 pounds per square inch and use a flat-fan nozzle.
To remove serious stains, such as tire marks, grease, oil and other stubborn materials, you're going to have to get aggressive. For fresh grease stains, first sprinkle dry cement, kitty litter, or sand on the spot, letting it sit an hour to absorb the gunky mess. Then sweep it up with a broom and dustpan. For more irksome grease spots, use a commercial degreaser, following label instructions.
Contact Lenses
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Deciding which solutions to use for your contact lenses can be dizzying. The vision care aisle at drugstores and supermarkets is chockablock with products. To make sense of it all, first understand that there are two basic kinds of contacts today. Soft lenses are by far the more prevalent of the two, commanding about 85 percent of the market, with gas-permeable (GP) lenses being most of the remainder, (GP lenses are not to be confused with the old hard lenses, which currently account for less than 1 percent of total U.S. contact lens sales.)
Here are a few basic guidelines of sound contact lens care that you should follow regardless of whether you wear soft or gas-permeable lenses:
Coolers
Cork
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Cement your understanding here about how to clean concrete. The essential first step? Determine what caused the grime or stain, if you can, and then act accordingly--and fast. The longer an untreated stain stays on concrete, the more likely it is to keep in to become part of the whole. Methods vary on how to clean concrete, but the fact is that cleaning up that garage floor, partio, walkways, driveway, or other concrete is an essential part of regular home maintenance.
Clean Concrete art least once a year. Before you start, be sure to protect adjacent glass, metal, wood plants, or other decorative materials with a tarpaulin or old shower curtain. Try one of the
following methods listed in order of increasing wallop. Always test the method in an obscure spot to make sure it works. Never use a metallic brush on concrete, as metallic fibers can get trapped in the
concrete, where they'll rust.
If the concrete is old and crumbly, brush it--lightly--with a soft brush. If that doesn't do the trick, try warm water and mild detergent, adding white vinegar to the water if the soil and stains persist.
Wet the concrete with warm water and let it absorb the water a bit. Then scrub with a soft, nonmetallic brush. Wash off the concrete with a garden hose fitted with a high-pressure nozzle and let it dry.
If that isn't enough, add 1/4 cup of mild dishwashing detergent to a pail of warm water and scrub again.
Failing that use a stronger detergent, mixed with water and 1/4 cup ammonia, applied with a stiff nylon brush.
For obstinate grime, mix trisodium phosphate (TSP), which you can buy at hardware stores, in a pail with warm water, according to the package instructions for heavy cleaning jobs. Scrub with a rigid nylon brush, then rinse with a garden hose and let air-dry.
Another approach: Rent a pressure-washing machine to squirt off dirt that's not ground into the concrete. Set the pressure at 3,000 pounds per square inch and use a flat-fan nozzle.
To remove serious stains, such as tire marks, grease, oil and other stubborn materials, you're going to have to get aggressive. For fresh grease stains, first sprinkle dry cement, kitty litter, or sand on the spot, letting it sit an hour to absorb the gunky mess. Then sweep it up with a broom and dustpan. For more irksome grease spots, use a commercial degreaser, following label instructions.
Contact Lenses
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deciding which solutions to use for your contact lenses can be dizzying. The vision care aisle at drugstores and supermarkets is chockablock with products. To make sense of it all, first understand that there are two basic kinds of contacts today. Soft lenses are by far the more prevalent of the two, commanding about 85 percent of the market, with gas-permeable (GP) lenses being most of the remainder, (GP lenses are not to be confused with the old hard lenses, which currently account for less than 1 percent of total U.S. contact lens sales.)
Here are a few basic guidelines of sound contact lens care that you should follow regardless of whether you wear soft or gas-permeable lenses:
- Clean and disinfect your lenses once a day. Always use fresh solution to clean and store your lenses.
- Always wash and rinse your hands thoroughly before handling the lenses. Don't use perfumed soaps or scented hand cream-let alone make homemade salsa with jalapeno peppers--right before touching your contacts. Dry your hands with a clean, lint-free towel.
- close the sink drain or at least cover it with a washcloth.
- Never use tap or bottled water as a substitute for the store bought lens care system your eye expert recommends. Water can bear a microorganisms (Acanthamoeba) that can cause serious eye infections.
- Clean your accessories (lens case, cleaning/disinfecting containers, vials for enzymatic cleaners, and the like) after each use exactly as the directions advice. Typically, this involves cleaning, rinsing, and air-drying.
- Throw out your lenses once a month, or as often as is recommended, to reduce the chance of infection.
The Cleaning program for the two major types of contact lenses is basically the same: Clean, rinse, disinfect. In times past, there were the different products for this. Today, cleaning, disinfecting and rinsing solutions are usually all-in-one. Get into the habit of always handling your right lens first to avoid confusion. Here's how to proceed:
- Remove the right lens and clean it by gently rubbing the lens in the palm of your hand with a few drops of rinsing/disinfecting cleaner. (Some newer solutions have a no-rub feature, useful for people who frequently rip their lenses while cleaning them.)
- Rinse the lens to remove any leftover cleaner, cosmetics and other substances. Be sure to rinse the lens for as long as package instructions direct.
- Place the lens in your lens holder and fill it with your chosen disinfecting solution. This step kills microorganisms that may have a mind to breed on your lens.
Repeat the process with the left lens. Disinfecting time varies from product to product, but most directions urge you to soak lenses overnight.
Two other important points to keep in mind are these:
Two other important points to keep in mind are these:
- Soft lenses pick up protein deposits more readily than GP types do. If your lenses start to feel grainy or your vision becomes clouded, chances are you need to use an enzymatic cleaner daily or weekly, according to package directions.
- Some people have allergic reactions to some contact lens solutions. About 10 percent of people, for instance, are allergic to thimerosal, a preservative sometimes used in saline lens solutions. Experiment to see what works for you.
Coolers
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Ideally, you should clean your cooler after each use. The method for cleaning depends a lot on what you've had in it. Diet Cokes on ice? Easy, Just rinse it out with water.
To clean a large cooler more thoroughly, haul it into the backyard and hose it down. Pour a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid onto the wet cooler and scrub it, using a clean rag, sponge, or scrub brush. Then turn the cooler on its side, so water will drain, our, and rinse with a hose. (You also can do this in the bathtub, where the hot water would help with tougher cleaning jobs. Just wash those teensy coolers in the kitchen sink.)
To sanitize a cooler--if You've been carrying raw meat in it, for example--mix 1 teaspoon of bleach in 1 quart of water. Apply the solution to the cooler with a sponge or rag, or pour it into a spray bottle, squirt it on, and wipe. Then rinse with fresh water. Once your cooler
is clean, let it air-dry with the lid open before you store it.
To remove stubborn food stains, make a paste by mixing baking soda and water in a bowl. Dip a clean rag or sponge into the paste, rub the spot, and rinse. If that doesn't work, apply a nonabrasive household cleaner, such as Formula 409, Fantastik, or Soft SCrub, with a rag. Using an abrasive cleaner could scratch the interior of your cooler, giving dirt and bacteria a place to hide--and making your cleaning job harder.
To clean a soft-structure cooler, mix mild dishwashing liquid in water and wipe the cooler down inside and out with a clean rag or sponge. Rinse and air-dry. Don't machine-wash, and don't use bleach on this type of cooler.
Copper
Ideally, you should clean your cooler after each use. The method for cleaning depends a lot on what you've had in it. Diet Cokes on ice? Easy, Just rinse it out with water.
To clean a large cooler more thoroughly, haul it into the backyard and hose it down. Pour a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid onto the wet cooler and scrub it, using a clean rag, sponge, or scrub brush. Then turn the cooler on its side, so water will drain, our, and rinse with a hose. (You also can do this in the bathtub, where the hot water would help with tougher cleaning jobs. Just wash those teensy coolers in the kitchen sink.)
To sanitize a cooler--if You've been carrying raw meat in it, for example--mix 1 teaspoon of bleach in 1 quart of water. Apply the solution to the cooler with a sponge or rag, or pour it into a spray bottle, squirt it on, and wipe. Then rinse with fresh water. Once your cooler
 |
| dirty particles |
To remove stubborn food stains, make a paste by mixing baking soda and water in a bowl. Dip a clean rag or sponge into the paste, rub the spot, and rinse. If that doesn't work, apply a nonabrasive household cleaner, such as Formula 409, Fantastik, or Soft SCrub, with a rag. Using an abrasive cleaner could scratch the interior of your cooler, giving dirt and bacteria a place to hide--and making your cleaning job harder.
To clean a soft-structure cooler, mix mild dishwashing liquid in water and wipe the cooler down inside and out with a clean rag or sponge. Rinse and air-dry. Don't machine-wash, and don't use bleach on this type of cooler.
Copper
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Copper is a metal and, while it's harder than silver, it's still softer than either brass or bronze. For cleaning purposes, it comes in two flavors--lacquered and unlacquered copper, found mostly on cookware, tarnishes easily but will brighten with elbow grease and the right techniques. Rarely will you see lacquered copper cookware or utensils. If you do, you should remove the finish before using them for eating or cooking.
To clean a decorative copper item with a lacquered finish, you only need to dust the piece with a dust cloth on vacuum as part of your regular cleaning process. If it's dirty, you might want to wipe it with a damp cloth. Lacquering on decorative pieces works OK until cracks appear in the finish. Then the piece must be stripped of its coating with acetone or lacquer thinner, applied full strength with a cloth. Or boil the item in 2 gallons of water with 1 cup of washing soda. (Arm & Hammer Super Washing soda is one popular brand.) The lacquer should peel right off. Wash with dishwashing detergent, rinse with running water, and dry with a soft cloth.
If you want the piece lacquered again, have a professional metal finisher do it.
expert advice
Take a powder >
When the 50-odd copper pots and pans at the award-winning Dilworthtown Inn in Westchester, pennsylvania, need shifting, the scullery staff reaches for Bar Keepers Friend, a cleaning powder available at Supermarkets, hardware stores, and mass merchandisers.
But Jim Barnes, co-owner of the historic restaurant and no slouch in the kitchen himself, swears that the duller the bottom of your copper pot, the better it is at transferring heat to the foods inside.
To clean copper cookware, you should first be aware of the don'ts. Never use any scratchy cleaning tool on copper. You run the risk of leaving marks. And bleach will seriously discolor copper if it stands for a few hours or more. Don't use oven cleaners or glass cleaners like Windex, either--they'll make quick work of your copper because they will corrode it.
If copper cookware is really in bad shape, remove corrsion before you polish. Several cool methods exist to do this.
Sprinkle the piece with salt and a little white vinegar.
Cut a lemon in half, dip it in salt, and rub.
As long as the piece can stand the heat, boil it in a large kettle filled with water, 1 cup of white vinegar, and 1/2 cup of salt. Whatever method you use to clean your cookware, rinse with fresh water, dry well with a dish towel, and buff with a soft cloth. If you want more shine, apply a commercial copper cleaner according to label directions.
Here are two more tips to help you clean copper:
Copper is a metal and, while it's harder than silver, it's still softer than either brass or bronze. For cleaning purposes, it comes in two flavors--lacquered and unlacquered copper, found mostly on cookware, tarnishes easily but will brighten with elbow grease and the right techniques. Rarely will you see lacquered copper cookware or utensils. If you do, you should remove the finish before using them for eating or cooking.
To clean a decorative copper item with a lacquered finish, you only need to dust the piece with a dust cloth on vacuum as part of your regular cleaning process. If it's dirty, you might want to wipe it with a damp cloth. Lacquering on decorative pieces works OK until cracks appear in the finish. Then the piece must be stripped of its coating with acetone or lacquer thinner, applied full strength with a cloth. Or boil the item in 2 gallons of water with 1 cup of washing soda. (Arm & Hammer Super Washing soda is one popular brand.) The lacquer should peel right off. Wash with dishwashing detergent, rinse with running water, and dry with a soft cloth.
If you want the piece lacquered again, have a professional metal finisher do it.
expert advice
Take a powder >
When the 50-odd copper pots and pans at the award-winning Dilworthtown Inn in Westchester, pennsylvania, need shifting, the scullery staff reaches for Bar Keepers Friend, a cleaning powder available at Supermarkets, hardware stores, and mass merchandisers.
To clean copper cookware, you should first be aware of the don'ts. Never use any scratchy cleaning tool on copper. You run the risk of leaving marks. And bleach will seriously discolor copper if it stands for a few hours or more. Don't use oven cleaners or glass cleaners like Windex, either--they'll make quick work of your copper because they will corrode it.
If copper cookware is really in bad shape, remove corrsion before you polish. Several cool methods exist to do this.
Sprinkle the piece with salt and a little white vinegar.
Cut a lemon in half, dip it in salt, and rub.
As long as the piece can stand the heat, boil it in a large kettle filled with water, 1 cup of white vinegar, and 1/2 cup of salt. Whatever method you use to clean your cookware, rinse with fresh water, dry well with a dish towel, and buff with a soft cloth. If you want more shine, apply a commercial copper cleaner according to label directions.
Here are two more tips to help you clean copper:
- Crevices--where the handle joins the pot, for instance--can be tough to clean. These spots are also magnets for paste polish buildup. Use a cotton swab or horsehair brush and rubbing alcohol to banish the gunk.
- Swab small copper items with ketchup applied to a cotton cosmetic pad or cotton swab. You'll be surprised by how quickly they gleam.
Cork
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When it comes to cleaning a cork floor, walk softly: Be sparing with whatever liquid you use. Most cork floors are sealed with polyurethane to prevent them from lapping up spills and other stains. Still, you don't want water or other liquids to penetrate the seams. Otherwise, the glue and floor itself could lift off the sub-flooring. Should this happen, you might pop a cork, because you would probably have to reglue the entire floor--an expensive proposition.
To clean a cork floor, sweep up loose dirt with a broom and dustpan first. Then apply a quick-drying, alcohol-based no-wax floor cleaner (such as Bruce) with a damp mop. Dab a bit of cleaner on any sticky, persistent spots and then blot with a soft rag. Never use acids like white vinegar on your cork floor, whether it's sealed or not.
Heavily trafficked areas--the foyer, walkway, and kitchen, for instance--should be coated with polyurethane every two to three years. Be sure a floor expert performs this risk. Floors must first be scrubbed with a special
pad to rough up old sealant.
To clean cork walls, which usually aren't sealed, rub them with a putty-style wallpaper cleaner or a dry foam-rubber sponge, available at hardware and paint stores. Any spots may be carefully hand-sanded with superfine (0000) sandpaper to remove them. But hear this: Cork on walls is usually only 1/8 inch thick, so be careful not to turn your cork into unsightly patchwork.
To clean a cork or cork-backed item, such as a coaster, a trivet,or a mat, wet it with cold water and scrub with a pumice stone or pad. Rinse with water and air-dry in a cool, dryplace.
Simple SOLUTIONS
Bread (and Tape) to the Rescue >
Ducks love stale bread and you can make salad croutons with it, too. But there's yet another use: Tear off a hunk of that dried-out staff of life and scrub gently on stained cork. It cleans the cork without damaging it. An alternative: Try patting the grungy spot with tape.
When it comes to cleaning a cork floor, walk softly: Be sparing with whatever liquid you use. Most cork floors are sealed with polyurethane to prevent them from lapping up spills and other stains. Still, you don't want water or other liquids to penetrate the seams. Otherwise, the glue and floor itself could lift off the sub-flooring. Should this happen, you might pop a cork, because you would probably have to reglue the entire floor--an expensive proposition.
To clean a cork floor, sweep up loose dirt with a broom and dustpan first. Then apply a quick-drying, alcohol-based no-wax floor cleaner (such as Bruce) with a damp mop. Dab a bit of cleaner on any sticky, persistent spots and then blot with a soft rag. Never use acids like white vinegar on your cork floor, whether it's sealed or not.
Heavily trafficked areas--the foyer, walkway, and kitchen, for instance--should be coated with polyurethane every two to three years. Be sure a floor expert performs this risk. Floors must first be scrubbed with a special
pad to rough up old sealant.
To clean cork walls, which usually aren't sealed, rub them with a putty-style wallpaper cleaner or a dry foam-rubber sponge, available at hardware and paint stores. Any spots may be carefully hand-sanded with superfine (0000) sandpaper to remove them. But hear this: Cork on walls is usually only 1/8 inch thick, so be careful not to turn your cork into unsightly patchwork.
To clean a cork or cork-backed item, such as a coaster, a trivet,or a mat, wet it with cold water and scrub with a pumice stone or pad. Rinse with water and air-dry in a cool, dryplace.
Simple SOLUTIONS
Bread (and Tape) to the Rescue >
Ducks love stale bread and you can make salad croutons with it, too. But there's yet another use: Tear off a hunk of that dried-out staff of life and scrub gently on stained cork. It cleans the cork without damaging it. An alternative: Try patting the grungy spot with tape.
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