Category: Home Cleaning

Real suede comes from animal hide, but faux suede is made from polyester. A faux suede comforter appears and feels like suede but consists of thin plastic fibers. Unlike real suede, suede that is durable is safe to wash in the washing machine. Toss your faux suede comforter in the washing machine once a month to remove dirt, dead skin cells and allergens and leave it looking, smelling and feeling its best.

Place the comforter in a washing machine.

Set the machine for a cold water wash.

Add gentle laundry detergent, like that for washing delicate clothes, formulated , to the detergent dispenser.

Hang the comforter on a clothesline to dry if at all possible. In the event you opt to machine-dry, utilize a non – or no-heat cycle and inspect the quilt frequently. When it’s still slightly damp, remove it and hang it to complete drying.

Place the dry comforter and brush it lightly.

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A countless number of germs may be lingering on the arms of the classic rocking chair you just brought home from the flea market. Irresistible or not, in case your undeniable bargain makes everyone in the house sick, the cash you saved was for nothing. Furniture pieces which you buy new can also profit from a gentle duvet the minute they enter your home — or even before you bring them indoors.

Spray It Down

Surprisingly, upholstered and fabric-covered furniture pieces are among the easiest to disinfect. Simply remove and spritz the piece all over with a fabric-safe soap spray. Spray on the cushions separately and allow all the pieces to dry. Most of the spray soap cleaners you buy at the supermarket are safe for cloths, but if you are not sure, spray a little, concealed place on your upholstered piece to see if it causes a reaction. These types of cleaners typically work to kill mildew mold, viruses and bacteria.

Wipe It Off

If your spray soap is safe for timber surfaces, then use it to clean your wood furniture or the wooden parts of combination pieces. Just spray it on and allow it to dry. If you have distilled white vinegar, you can use that as well. Mix a solution of 1/2-cup vinegar, 1/4-cup baking soda and 1-cup ammonia to 1 gallon of warm water. Apply the solution with a damp towel and buff to remove. This method effectively cleans and disinfects your timber surfaces without streaking or harmful finishes.

Add a touch of Lemon

Lemon is a natural disinfectant and also kind to the environment as well. Rather than using bleach to wash exterior plastic patio furniture, or if you’re cleaning plastic tables, chairs and crib railings in the infant’s room, lemon is a non-toxic alternative. Fill a spray bottle with equal parts water and white vinegar and add 15 drops of lemon essential oil. Spray your plastic surfaces, wait a couple of minutes, and just wipe dry.

Conquer With Kerosene

Spray soap, white vinegar and lemon are safe choices for eliminating germs and germs from alloy, but should you want a little added boost for combating rust, use a steel wool pad dipped in kerosene to conquer rust stains once and for all. As soon as your metal piece is cleaned and seems new again, give it a once-over with car wax to stop the rust from coming.

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Unlike conventional white towels, colored towels’ laundering labels often have finicky instructions, such as not to use bleach or hot water. This can leave you wondering how to disinfect and deodorize them. When you climb out of the bathtub or step out of the shower, a tidy, non-funky-smelling towel is really a welcome commodity. Freshen and sanitize your coloured towels at label-suggested warm or cool water, and with no harsh chemicals, to get a “funk-free” clean.

Sodium Bicarbonate, aka Baking Soda

Baking soda can clean away bad smells from nearly anythingelse. Add a half-cup or so of baking soda to a clean load of towels along with gentle laundry detergent. Always use a modest number of gentle soap to clean towels to allow them to last longer, and skip the fabric softener to get much more absorbent fibers, advises that the Towels from Gus website. Baking soda is a natural, pH-balancing material that doesn’t just cover or mask a bad smell – it neutralizes it. Whether an offensive smell remains, don’t dry the towels, but instantly repeat the washing procedure once or twice.

Lemon Fresh and Germ Free

Lemon has disinfecting qualities, but also has minor bleaching qualities, so use it carefully to clean dark- or light-colored towels. Add about a half-cup of lemon juice along with your normal laundry soap to the clean water, and allow your machine agitate or mix for a couple of seconds before adding the towels. If you have a front-loading machine, then use a bathtub to presoak your towels at pre-mixed lemon water; then squeeze out much of the water before laundering as usual. Always pretest a towel — or less expensive matching facecloth — for color fastness, and launder like-colored items together to avoid a color-bleeding calamity.

Odor & Germs, Meet Vinegar

Like lemon juice, white vinegar contains minor bleaching qualities. Use it instead of lemon juice, and along with bleach-free laundry soap. If a musty odor remains, repeat the washing procedure. If a vinegar scent is evident, then run the load via an extra clear-water rinse cycle.

Avoid the Funk

To keep towels out of creating a funky or musty smell, hang them up to dry instantly after each use. In even a couple of hours, a damp, bunched towel is the perfect breeding ground for mold spores. Wash towels frequently, but do not store damp towels in the hamper until wash day; mold thrives in damp, dark places, such as hampers. Hang them over the edge of the hamper, bathtub or shower stall to dry prior to placing them inside. Along the same lines, make sure your laundered towels are fully dry before you bend and store them away. Sometimes, add 1/4 cup of vinegar, lemon juice or color-safe bleach to the wash water to help keep your towels odor- and germ-free.

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No matter how careful you and your family members try to be together with your microfiber sofa, accidents happen. An exploding pen or a pencil left over the sofa with the cap off may leave an ugly ink stain. The sooner you get to the stain, the better chance you have of removing it. Fortunately, microfiber furniture often has removable cushion covers, allowing greater pretreating plus a more thorough washing.

Remove the cover of the microfiber cushion if possible. Most covers have zippers that allow you to take out the foam pad inside.

Fill a small spray bottle with undiluted rubbing alcohol. Place the nozzle to the best mist.

Spray the ink stain with the alcohol and blot the stain with a white rag. Press the rag straight up and down. Do not rub, as this can null the stain.

Spray and blot as many times as required to remove the stain. If the stain is gone following the alcohol treatment, there is no requirement to use the oxygen bleach and wash. Just dry the spot with a blow dryer on low heat.

Mix a scoop of powdered oxygen bleach with sufficient warm water to make a slightly runny glue. Stir till the bleach is fully dissolved.

Apply a spoonful of bleach glue to the spot and wait for 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the cloth to ensure the paste does not dry.

Wash the cover in water in a washing machine. Insert another scoop of oxygen bleach to the washload if needed. Utilize dye-free, unscented laundry detergent.

Dry the cushion at the dryer on low heat to remove any water marks.

Replace the covers on the pillows. Brush the cushion gently with a nylon-bristled scrub brush to restore the grain and remove any remaining water marks.

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Together with the sound of falling water and the sparkle of reflected sunlight, ornamental fountains may add sense of elegance to the landscape. They can exude tranquility when working properly, but as with any water-holding vessel, a leak leaves a sinking feeling as the water drains off. Pre-formed plastic fountains are hard and seldom leak, but there is a quick fix if they do develop a crack.

Unplug the fountain heater and drain any remaining water in the fountain.

Inspect the surfaces to get escapes. Welding seams — the ridge-like protrusions in the surface of the plastic — would be the most likely places for cracks to happen.

Clean the area around the leak using dish soap and then rinse thoroughly.

Dry the area with a towel and then use a hair dryer to evaporate any water that could be between the cracked pieces of plastic. If it’s possible to get another side of the plastic surface, then dry it in this side also.

Squeeze a bead of silicone caulk over the field of the leak and then push it in the crack using a utility knife. Catch the silicone to cure for the period specified on the product label.

Fill the fountain with water following the caulk has cured and plug in the pump.

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Ornamental gourds do not produce edible fruits, but instead they are used for craft and decoration projects. Gourds from the Langenaria family, such as bottle and dipper gourds, are generally cured and dried for later use. Mold can develop on the gourd surface since it heals, which results in mottling and stains some discover desirable for decorating purposes. If you would rather a gourd without mottling, or in case dark spots look, you can wash them away and create your dried gourds almost uniform in color.

Dilute 1 part chlorine bleach in 9 parts water. Wipe down the gourds with the bleach solution prior to curing to prevent some mold growth and reduce the chances of dark spots.

Cure the gourds in one layer in a dry, dark, cool place for approximately six months, or until the shells become hard and the seeds rattle inside. Turn the gourds once or twice per week all sides dry evenly.

Dip a rag to a solution of 1 part chlorine bleach and 9 parts water. Alternatively, use rubbing alcohol. Rub the outside of the dried gourd harshly together with the rag to remove any mold on the surface.

Scrub the washed gourd with fine steel wool or fine-grain seams until the dark spots come away. Wipe the gourd with a damp rag to remove the sanding residue.

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Vinegar: This versatile component does everything from shining mirrors to creating pickles taste nourished. Vinegar can also be useful for cleaning most kinds of flooring — gentle enough not to damage factory finishes, however strong enough to remove dirt and grime from finished hardwood, vinyl, laminate and ceramic tile. When you add a little soap and baking soda into the mix, your homemade flooring cleaner becomes much more effective.

Combining the Right Ingredients

Combine 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of dishwashing detergent, 1 2/3 cups baking soda with 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar. Stir the mixture until all of the lumps are dissolved; then pour it into a clean spray bottle. Wash flooring in small sections by spraying, mopping away, then rinsing thoroughly with clean water. Don’t skip the rinse, or you are going to be left with obstinate baking soda streaks which are catchy to eliminate.

Tackling Stubborn Stains

Flooring that is stained with spills and mishaps presents an whole new set of difficulties, but based on what’s marring your beautiful floors, either baking soda or vinegar or a combination of the two is likely to undertake it effectively. Apply full-strength vinegar to stains like mildew, soap scum or hard-water deposits; subsequently use a little muscle to clean away the stains. Just be cautious when applying strong vinegar solutions to finished hardwood as it may damage the finish if left too long. And don’t permit any other liquid to seep between the cracks in the boards.

Cleaning Darkened Grout

Stained grout is no match at all for a little baking soda paste applied with a toothbrush; add water into baking soda until it is a paste-like consistency. Next, paint over the grout lines using some other little brush. Follow up with an application of equal parts water and vinegar. Allow the mixture to foam; subsequently begin scrubbing gently. Don’t forget to rinse.

Where Not to Use Vinegar

Several kinds of flooring don’t wear well if you use vinegar to clean them on a regular basis, such as travertine and other natural stones like marble and stone. These kinds of floors are sensitive to acidic materials like vinegar, and if you use it on a regular basis, it may damage the stone. If your floors is any sort of natural stone, play it safe and use a neutral cleaner as opposed to one that is alkaline or acidic. Also, take care not to permit strong vinegar solutions to stay on hardwood for any duration of time as it may cause the finish to peel.

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