Friday, May 19, 2006

Cleaning Clogged Dra

Cleaning Clogged Drains

The drains plug up, they smell and a host of numerous other annoying things happen inside those dark tunnels generally when you have the least amount of time to deal with them. This brings me to my main point and driving point behind all cleaning – prevention!

There are preventive tips you can take that will greatly help keep your drains from clogging.
1)      Switch soap. Oke you Irish Spring (etc) lovers hand over your bars of soap. That white residue you get on your thumbnail when you run it across the bottom of the shower? Well it is soap build up caused by the talc in bar soap.

Guess what? If it's sticking to the shower wall, it's also sticking to the walls of your drains. The soap residue builds up in the drains followed by hair clinging to the soap. Then water can't drain out quickly so that causes green slime. Then you pour toxic drain cleaner down there which goes straight to the city sewer system, which can't process the millions of gallons of that stuff it gets every day so it comes back to your home for your cooking and drinking pleasure. Would you cut that out? And take the rest of your toxic chemicals to the dump for proper disposal. Trust me your health will love you for it and so will your checking account.

2)      Once a month pour one cup Bac Out down all your drains at night right before you go to bed. Bac Out http://www.goclean.com/bac-out.htm are made with active enzymes that "eat" away at bacteria. It's wonderful for kitchen drains to prevent clogs there as well. It "eats" any food that sticks to the sides of the drains keeping those drains clear and preventing them from smelling.

How to unclog your shower and tub drains:
1)      First pour one cup of baking soda down the drain after removing the plug in bathtubs
2)      Follow with one cup of distilled white vinegar
3)      Wait two to three hours and flush with hot water – repeat if needed
4)      That night pour Bac Out down the drains to finish the job. You don't need to flush with water.
5)      Follow step 2 above in the prevention section

How to unclog sink drains:
1)      Turn off the water to the sink and place a plastic bucket under the sink drain
2)      Remove the stopper from the sink  and then remove the curved plumbing fixtures just below the sink.
3)      Use a bristled bottle brush to clean the pipes you just removed and down into the drain as far as it will reach. If you pipes are heavily clogged you may want to use an augur. Pouring baking soda on the brush will help clean the drains even better as will borax.
4)      Replace the pipe and the stopper
5)      Mix the baking soda and vinegar in a quart size bottle. Shake thoroughly to mix and very quickly pour down the drains. That will work down into the rest of the pipe and bubble and fizzle the slime off the drains. Wait  several hours then flush with hot water.
6)      Now pour two cups of Bac Out  Out http://www.goclean.com/bac-out.htm into the drain (one cup if it is not clogged) right before you retire for the night. The enzymes will finish "eating" away the remaining residue. Bac Out is healthy for the sewer systems and your septic tanks. They help "eat" all solid waste helping to keep the entire system in balance like I talked about in my last newsletter.concerning holding tanks and our bodies.
7)      Follow step two above in the prevention section and do this monthly. Not only will this eliminate the frustration of clogged drains it will also keep the toxic chemicals out of your drinking water after it cycles back into your home from the city sewer system.
8)      You will find healthy green cleaners on my web site including the best carpet stain remover you can buy. Ion-a-Clean. http://www.goclean.com/ion-clean.htm. You will love what this does for stain removal and it can be used on Granite or Marble counters and is excellent for people with chemical sensitivities or who have had cancer and should not be around any kind of cleaner.

This article may only be reprinted giving full credit to Mary Findley and her website at http://www.goclean.com. Copyright @2006 All rights reserved worldwide.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Spring Cleaning

     My last article talked about using microfiber only for cleaning windows and mirrors. One reader emailed "Caution: many automobile mirrors (the ones on the outside) are plastic with a metal-like coating. It is neither very hard nor very thick. I don’t use microfiber on my car mirrors." Thank you Jeff for taking time to write!

     See http://www.goclean.com/floorcareguide.htm for information on floor care and further discussion of microfiber. This "wonder material" will get you wondering where the shine went on most surfaces.

     Several people have emailed lately asking where to start with spring house cleaning. They have improved with keeping the clutter picked up and improving on their organizational skills. Congratulations! I love to hear the stories!!

     When you spring clean here are the main areas to focus on:
*Remember what I feel is important may not be important to you. These are areas when left unattended could be costly, time consuming difficult to repair and very probably all of the above.

Cabinets: This was the worst area. Neglect causes the wood to warp, crack and turn grimy from cooking oils and oil on your fingerprints.  Our Wood Care http://www.goclean.com/wood-care.htm restores the graying to cabinets when they dull and it covers scratches and water ring marks on furniture.

At least yearly (twice is best) whether you use my wood treatment or another

  1. Clean them first (you can dilute our wood cleaner 6 parts water to 1 part cleaner as a regular cleaner) or dampen a cloth in a vinegar and water solution.

  2. Treat with your wood treatment. If your time is short consider doing just a section of cabinets weekly. They only take a few minutes and will save you considerable time and money in the long haul.

Next up – Open those freshly cleaned cabinet doors and poke around. Oops, been awhile huh? Children love scrambling around inside cabinets so let them pull everything out. By age six they are old enough to use a damp rag to wipe them out.  Don’t have kids? Offer to baby-sit the neighbors for the afternoon ( Clean cabinet shelves yearly – at least the ones containing food.

Baseboards – they may be out of sight but they aren't out of dirt's mind, Baseboards and the unrelenting black marks in the carpet in front of them.

!) Clean baseboards with our diluted Wood Care
2) If you have black marks spray with Ion-A-Clean http://www.goclean.com/ion-clean.htm or your cleaner. Wait 10 minutes and blot.
*This is a sit down job and I don't mean in an easy chair. Let this little task go unleashed and you will have a nightmare on your hands cleaning this area.
3) Pull your furniture out as you go wiping the walls and doing a thorough job vacuuming as well.

     If you still have energy left tackle the closets. If you live in a damp area this is a yearly must. It affords you the opportunity to treat carpet for mold and mildew and rid the closet of musty smells. There is a product called Pure Ayre www.pureayer.com/marine.htm that works quite well removing all kinds of odors. Remember there is a cause for musty odors – play Sherlock Holmes until you get to the cause. Pulling things out of your closets also gives you a chance to carefully check the walls and carpet for any leaks in the plumbing of your home. Look for dark spots on the walls and feel the carpet for dampness.

     I had a lady email me about some dark spots on the floor in her kitchen that would not come out. I told her it was a mold growing and the dampness had to be coming from somewhere and to check the plumbing. It ended up her dishwasher was leaking and draining onto the floor underneath the linoleum. It had softened the wood underlayment to the point where the floor was close to collapsing. This was the top floor of a two story home. It is important to check your walls and floors yearly for problems, which is easy to do as you are cleaning.

This article may only be reprinted giving full credit to Mary Findley and her website at http://www.goclean.com. Copyright @2006 All rights reserved worldwide.