Entries Tagged as 'Outside'

Cleaning Gutters: Don’t Be Like Heather

July 11th, 2009 10 Comments

Heather says:

Learn from me add clean out the gutters to your list of semi-annual maintenance.

Why?

Unless you have one of those clog free gutter systems like they advertise on the radio. all. the. time.  Gutters collect leaves and twigs. These leaves, twigs, and ahem, saplings prevent the the flow of water. When the water doesn’t flow down the spout, it can pool which will rot wooden gutters, rust metal ones, or eventually cause the gutters to pull from the roof. During a heavy downpour clogged gutters overflow instead of diverting the water from the home. This increases the possibility of damage to the foundation, or excess moisture or flooding (aka really excessive moisture) in the basement or crawlspace. High humidity can be a welcome mat for some pests as well as the ever obnoxious mold and mildew problems that may develop.

Gutters are not for gardening.

Gutters are not for gardening.

If you have access to a pressure washer the chore goes quickly. Use the fan setting and do not spray the roof or in your eyes. Seriously, it’ll hurt, in fact, wear protective eye wear.

Pressure washer in action

Tell the kids to play elsewhere, this gets messy. Really messy.

It’s important not to spray water under your shingles as the high pressure may damage or loosen shingles and then you’ll be out the time and money you could have saved by attempting this relatively simple chore yourself. If you don’t have a pressure washer, it will take a little longer but it can still be done.

Make sure you have a sturdy pair of work gloves and scoop all the crud out by hand. Tedious? Yes. Effective? You bet.

Be careful as most gutters are attached with sharp screws. The gloves are mandatory.

Gutters CleanOnce the debris has been cleared from the trough, use a garden hose to ensure water flows down the spout. Most spouts have a bend within reach of the top. With your gloves on, pull out any debris that may be blocking the flow.

If all the reachable debris has been removed and water is still not flowing freely, feed a snake* up from the bottom. This handy tool will allow you to pull out almost any clog.

*Not a live snake, a plumber’s auger, these come in handy and I highly recommend all home owners have one in their tool box.*

Check to ensure all the the downspouts are properly diverted away from the house and you’re all done until next time.

Good luck.

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How’s Your Entryway Looking?

October 21st, 2008 8 Comments

Ivy says:

My latest in bathroom reading has been a book of household hints from 1970. Some of the hints are useful, some of them are truly amusing in their datedness, some of them are perplexing. Something that really struck me was this quote: “There is no point in embroidering or buying a ‘Welcome’ mat if no welcome is obvious; and your home, and its responsibilities begin outside the house.”

It struck me as funny because my doormat says, “Leave”- but it also made me think about what the entrance to my home must look like to visitors. So many of us use a side door or the garage door to enter our homes, that the front entrance may be overlooked when you’re cleaning and decorating your home.

So, go take a good hard look at your front entrance. It might be Halloween soon, but it might be a good idea to knock down the real spider webs anyway. Would a pot of mums brighten up the area? Do you need to sweep? How are the outside walls looking? (It’s funny- mine were looking kind of dirty. A quick hosing down took care of that and went a long way toward making the whole area look better.)

This is an area that doesn’t take very long to maintain, but makes a very big difference in how guests view your house. Go take a look at your front entryway today and see what needs to be done!

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Taking out the trash

June 23rd, 2008 2 Comments

Dear Home Ec 101,

Where I live we have to pay for trash disposal. The trash disposal company we use gives us great big trash cans that most of us around here call dumpsters. Today, I was so embarassed when I got this note from the trash disposal guys:

“Could you please clean out your dumpster? The stuff sticking to the bottom makes all the trash fall out onto the ground.”

I looked inside and it looks like bags with cat litter have broken, because the bottom of the dumpster has cat litter and paper trash stuck to it. How can I clean this with a minimum of actually touching this mess?

Signed,

Dirty Dumpster

Ivy says:

The inside of my dumpster gets really nasty, too. I totally feel your pain. I try to clean mine out quarterly- generally whenever I get the trash bill I clean it out. The key to not having to touch much trash is to soak it.

I use my hose to fill my dumpster about a quarter full, then I add either some laundry detergent or dish detergent. I think that helps with the smell. Then I let it sit for at least half a day, but sometimes 24 hours if it’s really nasty down there.

Once it’s had time to soak, I dump it out on the driveway or other hard surface. Take it from me, who learned the hard way- don’t dump it out on your grass. Usually there will be bunches of nasty bits on the bottom which are really hard to pick up but aren’t that hard to just sweep up.

Then, all you have to do is use the hose on its highest sprayer setting to spray out any leftover bits. Don’t forget to spray the outside and the lid so the whole thing will be sparkly clean. And yes- the soaking method does work with clumping cat litter, as I had a cat litter explosion myself in my dumpster fairly recently.

Now your “dumpster men” as my youngest son calls them will be happy!

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Cleaning up the lawn furniture

May 22nd, 2008 8 Comments

My Darling Home Ec Divas,

I’m all set for Memorial Day weekend. I have family and friends coming over for a barbecue. The menu’s set, the food is bought, the house is clean (well, it’s getting there), I’m ready. Well, except for one thing. My lawn furniture is ewww and funk. Seriously, I don’t know what happens over the winter to make it so nasty, but it is. Can you help?

Love,

The Jamesetta Brown Of Lawn Furniture

Ivy says:

There’s something inherently hilarious about the words “lawn furniture.” I often imagine what people from way back in history would think of we modern people, and I think they’d probably fall down laughing at the idea of having furniture for your lawn. Heck, if you go far enough back, they’d probably roll with laughter just at the idea of a lawn.

That said, let’s get your lawn furniture clean. Now, you all may have noticed I rarely suggest cleaning things with bleach. That’s because I hate bleach. I hate how it smells, I hate how I always end up with little bleachy spots on things, I hate that it kills plants if you’re not careful. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. (Whoo! such strong feelings about a household cleaner!)

Even though I hate bleach, I realize it has its uses. This is one of them. There’s nothing like a good scrub with some bleach water to get that funky mold, mildew and whatever other funk is on your lawn furniture. Make up a bucket with 1 part bleach to 10 parts water and use a scrub brush to scrub your lawn furniture.

Do not do this on your actual lawn. Do this on your driveway. If you use a hose to hose off the furniture after scrubbing, make sure you’re not letting the water run onto the sides of your lawn, unless you want dead grass. I always try to make sure it’s heading out onto the curb where it will eventually run into the sewer. And hey, sanitized curbs!

Have fun at your barbecue!

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I felt “pressured” to answer this question ;)

March 26th, 2008 3 Comments

Dear Home Ec 101,

My husband has finally agreed to have our house and granny annex professionally pressure-washed. There’s quite a bit of pale green mildew on the vinyl siding.

Is good ole’ bleach and water the best cleaning solution? Should soap be added? If so, what kind (dish? dishwasher? laundry? hand?)?

Any other tips with regard to pressure washing?

Signed,

Green in Greeley

retrochick.JPG Ivy says:

Fear not, Home Ec 101 is your one stop pressure washing information station! Okay, not really, I just wanted to write that. ;)

What you’re going to want to do is a pre-wash of your house before you get to the pressure washing. Using bleach in the pressure washer could be bad for the plants that surround your house, so use a scrub brush or sponge on a stick and a solution of 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Rinse that off carefully and then you’ll be ready for the pressure washing.

I usually use a commercial pressure washer solution in the pressure washer, just whatever you can buy at Lowe’s. I’ve not found any certain brand that I find better than others, to be honest. Follow the manufacturer’s directions and wash from the bottom up to apply the detergent, then rinse from the top down. Make sure you’re not using too much pressure- too much can damage your siding. Spray carefully around- not on- doors, windows, and electrical stuff.

Have fun pressure washing, I think it’s kinda fun to watch your siding come clean!

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