Enzyme Digesters:
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USE ENZYMES around the toilet and flooring to keep your bathroom smelling fresh by digesting soil, spills, bodily oils, and bacteria. You'll also find enzymes in drain openers and in carpet, upholstery, and laundry products. Enzymes are safe for septic systems and can also be used in garbage disposal drains. Enzymes are temperature sensitive, so don't use them with hot water. Disinfectants will also render them ineffective. Once you open an enzyme digester, it has a short shelf life.
ENZYME DIGESTERS COME as a powder that you activate with warm water, triggering their eating frenzy or organic matter. If you've ever cleaned spilled milk from a carpet,only to have the odor return days later, you need to use an enzyme product. Most cleaners mask the odor but don't remove the organic source.
WHEN TREATING A CARPET STAIN with an enyzme cleaner, first soak up as much of the stain as possible with old bath towels. (Use a wet vac if there's a lot of volume.) Apply the enzyme according to the package directions. Pour it over the stain and make sure the enzyme penerates to the padding. If it doesn't you're washing your time-- the stain and color will remain. Keep the carpet wet the entire time the enzyme is "eating" the cause of the odor. It's a good idea to cover the area with plastic and place weights on the edges until the recommended time is up. Then rinse with 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar per 1 gallon of water. Rinse a second time with plain water.
ENZYME DIGESTERS MAKE A GREAT LAUNDRY PRESOAK that eats away at organic stains before you run garments through the wash. Use warm water in the soak, according to the package directions (the exception being blood, which requires cold water). Careful Enzymes will eat away at animal fibers, including silk and wool.
TO PURCHASE ENZYME PRODUCTS pet stores are your best bet. You can select proteolytic enzymes for protein stains such as meat juice, egg, and milk, or amylolytic enzymes for starch and carbohydrates generally do not leave stains, you're probably better off buying proteolytic enzymes.
Floor Care Products
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Floor cleaners, polishes and finishes are not interchangeable. Floor cleaners, as the term implies, remove dirt. Floor polishes remove scratches because they're slightly abrasive. And, yes floor finishes finish the job--they seal and protect the cleaned surface. While some people call the finishing stage "waxing," real wax isn't used anymore on the most popular kinds of modern flooring. Various polymers have replaced it.
WHAT DOES YOUR FLOORS MANUFACTURER RECOMMEND? Each manufacturer has recommendations for cleaning and protecting its products, so try to check the manufacturer's directions and follow them. As a general rule, you want to remove all dirt from your floor before you apply the appropriate protective finish. Otherwise, you'll end up with a shiny, dirty floor. If you don't have the cleaning instructions from your floor's manufacturer, here is a general rundown of the products you'll need. Be sure to read any product's label to make sure it's OK for the floor you're working on.
FOR VINYL FLOORS, start by cleaning with a mild detergent or all-purpose cleaner such as Spic and Span. After rinsing, apply a water-based floor polish and finish, such as Future, according to the package directions. You can find one-step clean-and-polish products, but you probably won't be as happy with the results. This same approach works for asphalt and rubber flooring. Solvent-based paste wax will also shine vinyl flooring (it requires buffing) but shouldn't be used on asphalt or rubber.
FOR WOOD FLOORS, a commercial products such as Minwax Hardwood Floor Cleaner will do nicely on a modern polyurethane finish. Floors with an old-time lacquer, varnish, or shellac finish need the protection of wax. Some waxes, such as Lite 'n' Natural and Dark 'n'Rich, clean and wax floors of a particular hardwood color.
FOR CERAMIC TILE FLOORS, a general household cleaner such as Mr. Clean will do a good job. Specialized tile-cleaning products also are available. Avoid abrasive cleaners. Grout is easier to clean when it is has been treated with a silicone sealer.
FLOOR CARE PRODUCTS CAN BE BROUGHT at supermarkets, home improvement stores, discount retailers, hardware stores, or janitorial supply stores.
Furniture Waxes and Polishes
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When you apply a wax of polyester to your wood furniture, you're not beautifying the wood itself ---you're beautifying the finish on the wood. Use either polish or wax--not both. If you not polish on wax, it will just puddle, Polishes don't offer as much protection as wax--they're meant to be a quick way to put sparkle in a dull-looking finish.
FURNITURE WAXES--be they paste or liquid--are made from combinations of synthetic and natural waxes. The synthetic element is paraffin, distilled from petroleum and other sources. The natural elements include beeswax and carnauba, a vegetable extract. Avoid waxes that contain toluene, a solvent that carries un unwelcome paint-thinner smell.
THE WAY WAX WORKS is to provide a barrier against moisture seeping into the wood of your furniture. This barrier also speeds your cleaning because you'll be able to remove marks and dust more easily. Before you wax, check the manufacturer's instructions. Generally, gloss or semigloss furniture can be waxed. If your furniture has a satin or flat finish, wax may give it a random, messy-looking sheen.
TO APPLY WAX, rub it on thinly with a clean, cotton cloth. Then let it sit for several minutes (check the label for precise timing) and buff it with another clean cloth.
WHEN YOU CHOOSE A WAX,consider your furniture's color. If you have light furniture, pick a neutral tone; for mahogany use clear or a red/brown; for oak, use a chocolate brown to a yellow. For pine furniture that doesn't have much of a finish, beeswax on its own is a good choice;
after buffing, it produces a unique soft glow.
FURNITURE POLISHES often contain mineral oil, mineral spirits (paint thinner), perfume (scents such as lemon or orange oil), and dye (to give them the color of lemon or orange). Not all polishes use mineral spirits, which thins the mineral oil to make the polish easier to use.
COMMON MINERAL OIL-BASED POLISHES, such as Old English, Orange Glo, and Scott's Liquid Gold, are sold in bottles or aerosol cans and are easy to apply. However, some experts frown on polishes, saying they collect dust and create a dirt-and-oil mix on the furniture.
POLISHES THAT ACT AS REVIVERS, such as Guardsman Furniture Polis, contain fine abrasive pumice in the polish formula and don't contain mineral oil. They clean and protect the surface and are really more like a wax.
POLISHES THAT CONTAIN SILICONE produce a nice shine but can make refinishing the furniture more difficult in the future. Look for products that say they're silicone-free (Guardsman, for instance).
WAXES AND POLISHES CAN BE BROUGHT wherever cleaning products are sold-supermarkets, discount stores, hardware stores, and home improvement stores.
Garbage Bags
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Stock splits you can handle Garbage bag splits are another story altogether. These polyethylene sacks for trash are not exactly complex equipment. Still, there are number of features to consider.
PAY ATTENTION TO THICKNESS if you want a bag that won't split under a heavy load. Thickness is measured in millimeters. Heavy-lifting bags are 2 1/2 to 3 millimeters thick. The plastic bags you haul for groceries home in, by comparsion, are about 1/2 to 1 millimeter thick.
THINK COLOR. Garbage bags advertised for kitchen use are usually white and are 1/2 millimeter or less in thickness. White bags make a statement of cleaniness and freshness. Dark-colored bags, 1 1/2 to 3 millimeters thick, are designed for outdoor or commercial use. For cost-saving reasons, trash bags used in commercial settings are generally reused (after their contents are poured into a master trash barrel) until they start to smell or stains become noticeable.
THE BAG'S TYING METHOD is also something to consider. Some bags have built-in drawstring ties. These bags cost a little more but make a neat, quick fastener. Other bags have plastic, notched wrap fasteners or twist ties like those that secure bread bags. These bags often come on a roll and are torn off along a perforated line. Still other bags have a handle cut tend to cost the least have no tie at all, you have to secure them by making a knot with the top edge of the bag.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USE ENZYMES around the toilet and flooring to keep your bathroom smelling fresh by digesting soil, spills, bodily oils, and bacteria. You'll also find enzymes in drain openers and in carpet, upholstery, and laundry products. Enzymes are safe for septic systems and can also be used in garbage disposal drains. Enzymes are temperature sensitive, so don't use them with hot water. Disinfectants will also render them ineffective. Once you open an enzyme digester, it has a short shelf life.
ENZYME DIGESTERS COME as a powder that you activate with warm water, triggering their eating frenzy or organic matter. If you've ever cleaned spilled milk from a carpet,only to have the odor return days later, you need to use an enzyme product. Most cleaners mask the odor but don't remove the organic source.
WHEN TREATING A CARPET STAIN with an enyzme cleaner, first soak up as much of the stain as possible with old bath towels. (Use a wet vac if there's a lot of volume.) Apply the enzyme according to the package directions. Pour it over the stain and make sure the enzyme penerates to the padding. If it doesn't you're washing your time-- the stain and color will remain. Keep the carpet wet the entire time the enzyme is "eating" the cause of the odor. It's a good idea to cover the area with plastic and place weights on the edges until the recommended time is up. Then rinse with 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar per 1 gallon of water. Rinse a second time with plain water.
ENZYME DIGESTERS MAKE A GREAT LAUNDRY PRESOAK that eats away at organic stains before you run garments through the wash. Use warm water in the soak, according to the package directions (the exception being blood, which requires cold water). Careful Enzymes will eat away at animal fibers, including silk and wool.
TO PURCHASE ENZYME PRODUCTS pet stores are your best bet. You can select proteolytic enzymes for protein stains such as meat juice, egg, and milk, or amylolytic enzymes for starch and carbohydrates generally do not leave stains, you're probably better off buying proteolytic enzymes.
Floor Care Products
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Floor cleaners, polishes and finishes are not interchangeable. Floor cleaners, as the term implies, remove dirt. Floor polishes remove scratches because they're slightly abrasive. And, yes floor finishes finish the job--they seal and protect the cleaned surface. While some people call the finishing stage "waxing," real wax isn't used anymore on the most popular kinds of modern flooring. Various polymers have replaced it.
WHAT DOES YOUR FLOORS MANUFACTURER RECOMMEND? Each manufacturer has recommendations for cleaning and protecting its products, so try to check the manufacturer's directions and follow them. As a general rule, you want to remove all dirt from your floor before you apply the appropriate protective finish. Otherwise, you'll end up with a shiny, dirty floor. If you don't have the cleaning instructions from your floor's manufacturer, here is a general rundown of the products you'll need. Be sure to read any product's label to make sure it's OK for the floor you're working on.
FOR VINYL FLOORS, start by cleaning with a mild detergent or all-purpose cleaner such as Spic and Span. After rinsing, apply a water-based floor polish and finish, such as Future, according to the package directions. You can find one-step clean-and-polish products, but you probably won't be as happy with the results. This same approach works for asphalt and rubber flooring. Solvent-based paste wax will also shine vinyl flooring (it requires buffing) but shouldn't be used on asphalt or rubber.
FOR WOOD FLOORS, a commercial products such as Minwax Hardwood Floor Cleaner will do nicely on a modern polyurethane finish. Floors with an old-time lacquer, varnish, or shellac finish need the protection of wax. Some waxes, such as Lite 'n' Natural and Dark 'n'Rich, clean and wax floors of a particular hardwood color.
FOR CERAMIC TILE FLOORS, a general household cleaner such as Mr. Clean will do a good job. Specialized tile-cleaning products also are available. Avoid abrasive cleaners. Grout is easier to clean when it is has been treated with a silicone sealer.
FLOOR CARE PRODUCTS CAN BE BROUGHT at supermarkets, home improvement stores, discount retailers, hardware stores, or janitorial supply stores.
Furniture Waxes and Polishes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you apply a wax of polyester to your wood furniture, you're not beautifying the wood itself ---you're beautifying the finish on the wood. Use either polish or wax--not both. If you not polish on wax, it will just puddle, Polishes don't offer as much protection as wax--they're meant to be a quick way to put sparkle in a dull-looking finish.
FURNITURE WAXES--be they paste or liquid--are made from combinations of synthetic and natural waxes. The synthetic element is paraffin, distilled from petroleum and other sources. The natural elements include beeswax and carnauba, a vegetable extract. Avoid waxes that contain toluene, a solvent that carries un unwelcome paint-thinner smell.
THE WAY WAX WORKS is to provide a barrier against moisture seeping into the wood of your furniture. This barrier also speeds your cleaning because you'll be able to remove marks and dust more easily. Before you wax, check the manufacturer's instructions. Generally, gloss or semigloss furniture can be waxed. If your furniture has a satin or flat finish, wax may give it a random, messy-looking sheen.
TO APPLY WAX, rub it on thinly with a clean, cotton cloth. Then let it sit for several minutes (check the label for precise timing) and buff it with another clean cloth.
WHEN YOU CHOOSE A WAX,consider your furniture's color. If you have light furniture, pick a neutral tone; for mahogany use clear or a red/brown; for oak, use a chocolate brown to a yellow. For pine furniture that doesn't have much of a finish, beeswax on its own is a good choice;
after buffing, it produces a unique soft glow.
FURNITURE POLISHES often contain mineral oil, mineral spirits (paint thinner), perfume (scents such as lemon or orange oil), and dye (to give them the color of lemon or orange). Not all polishes use mineral spirits, which thins the mineral oil to make the polish easier to use.
COMMON MINERAL OIL-BASED POLISHES, such as Old English, Orange Glo, and Scott's Liquid Gold, are sold in bottles or aerosol cans and are easy to apply. However, some experts frown on polishes, saying they collect dust and create a dirt-and-oil mix on the furniture.
POLISHES THAT ACT AS REVIVERS, such as Guardsman Furniture Polis, contain fine abrasive pumice in the polish formula and don't contain mineral oil. They clean and protect the surface and are really more like a wax.
POLISHES THAT CONTAIN SILICONE produce a nice shine but can make refinishing the furniture more difficult in the future. Look for products that say they're silicone-free (Guardsman, for instance).
WAXES AND POLISHES CAN BE BROUGHT wherever cleaning products are sold-supermarkets, discount stores, hardware stores, and home improvement stores.
Garbage Bags
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stock splits you can handle Garbage bag splits are another story altogether. These polyethylene sacks for trash are not exactly complex equipment. Still, there are number of features to consider.
PAY ATTENTION TO THICKNESS if you want a bag that won't split under a heavy load. Thickness is measured in millimeters. Heavy-lifting bags are 2 1/2 to 3 millimeters thick. The plastic bags you haul for groceries home in, by comparsion, are about 1/2 to 1 millimeter thick.
THINK COLOR. Garbage bags advertised for kitchen use are usually white and are 1/2 millimeter or less in thickness. White bags make a statement of cleaniness and freshness. Dark-colored bags, 1 1/2 to 3 millimeters thick, are designed for outdoor or commercial use. For cost-saving reasons, trash bags used in commercial settings are generally reused (after their contents are poured into a master trash barrel) until they start to smell or stains become noticeable.
THE BAG'S TYING METHOD is also something to consider. Some bags have built-in drawstring ties. These bags cost a little more but make a neat, quick fastener. Other bags have plastic, notched wrap fasteners or twist ties like those that secure bread bags. These bags often come on a roll and are torn off along a perforated line. Still other bags have a handle cut tend to cost the least have no tie at all, you have to secure them by making a knot with the top edge of the bag.
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