Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with clean

Steam Mopping a Hardwood Floor

Srudolph — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:19:02 -0800

Is it really bad to use a steam mop on unfinished hardwood floors? The house I rent has old hardwood floors that are not sealed. They're pretty beat up and will only look good again the day my landlord decides to refinish them, or I become willing to wax them -- which will be never, probably.

They're not going to be shiny and pretty while I'm living here, but I would like to get them at least really clean. I'm planning to get a Eureka Enviro Steam Mop. If I use it on the unsealed floors, will the damage be structural or just cosmetic?

If it will warp the boards and wreak all kinds of havoc, that's one thing. But if it will just make them icky-looking -- well, they're that already.

I looked at other posts on Metafilter before asking this question. This post had answers from people who recommended against doing it, but didn't give particulars.

Any advice? The steam mop will be worth the purchase for my tiled kitchen and bathrooms, even if I can't use it on the hardwood.

Thanks!

How to keep dry hands clean

queseyo — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:25:12 -0800

How can I keep my hands clean without water or alcohol? I'm a waitress, so I have my hands in water a lot, and need to wash them frequently. Unfortunately, I also have eczema, and dry skin in general, and if my hands get too dry from contact with water, they will break out (I use Protopic pretty religiously so the breakouts aren't too bad). How can I keep my hands clean without alcohol or water (both just dry out my skin to the point of pain)? Does anyone have any recommendations for waterless soaps or alcohol-free sanitizers? TIA

Smudgy Stainless

yellowcandy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:37:52 -0800

Stainless steel everywhere. What's the best way to clean it to be free of fingerprints and smudges? We inherited a kitchen that is pretty much wall-to-wall stainless steel (cabinets, countertops, sink, fridge, etc.). The smudges and fingerprints make me crazy. What's the definitive word on cleaning it?

How can I get clean html from MS-word, to paste into thunderbird?

ManInSuit — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:53:31 -0800

How can I get clean html from MS-word, to paste into Thunderbird? Sometimes, when I'm sending long emails, I like to compose in my word processor - MS-word (2003 on one machine, 2007 on another), and paste into my email client - Thunderbird.

But when I do, there are all sorts of little (and not so little) formatting hiccups. I gather the problem is mostly that Word uses all sorts of crazy non-standard stuff in its html output.

Is there a way to fix this problem? I way to make word produce cleaner HTML? A tool that will turn Word html into something friendlier? A word-paste-cleanup plugin for Thunderbird?

(And : I know I could compose with Open Office or Google Docs. But mostly I like Word, and would like to keep using it if I can...)

Getting tape residue off windows, and holding broken ones up?

nmaster64 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:40:39 -0800

Best way to get duct tape residue off windows, and how to hold broken car windows up? My gf's car is in some real crap shape. I'd love to surprise her one day and clean it up, specifically her windows. Her front driver and back passenger windows don't work and have to be held up. She's been using duct tape for over a year to do it, we still just can't quite afford the fix.

After a year of reapplying duct tape on a regular basis, the windows are covered in baked-on adhesive, it's actual a bit of a safety concern too. What's the best way to get that stuff off and clean them up nice and clear?

And is there a stronger non-permanent solution for holding the windows up? Even w/ tons of duct tape they fall over time or at a big bump. I don't mind the tape solution, I just wish it would hold better and for longer so we didn't have to reapply it every other week.

It's a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix if that helps. Also, I am completely allergic to working on cars for the record.

Ummm...you put your weed in there.

hal_c_on — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:23:26 -0800

What the frack is a roor? So I was given THESE THINGS that say ROOR on it.

What the hell is it...and more importantly...how does it work?

I know these are used for ingesting marijuana. Is it a regular bong, or some kind of fancy device that isn't referred to as a bong or water pipe. I'm not really a fan of that...but I am kinda interested in:

1. How can I clean this so it looks clean and new?...and then how do I sell it? Is craigslist a good bet since ebay doesn't really like to sell "BONGS". I've looked up laws and what I've found is that I can't sell it to anybody under 18, and I MUST clean it before I sell it otherwise its actual drug paraphernalia.

2. I'm PROBABLY not going to buy a pack of cigarettes, take out the tobacco and smoke it...or even take a cuban cigar that I have, crumple it and smoke that...but what if I wanted to. How do I use this to smoke tobacco? I know there are several parts and they connect in a specific way, how do they attach together and work? I wanted to attach them...but since I don't know much about this, I figured I'd keep it separate until I know how to not break it.

3. Also, just in case you were wondering, I won this at poker. They dude claimed that it was worth over $700 (although it was deemed to be worth a $100 bet at the table). How much is it worth? How much did he likely buy it for?

Smells like Teen Spirit

asockpuppet — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:44:16 -0800

How/when did floral, citrus, pine, and mint become associated with cleanliness?

Clean computer start menu for more speed

psc1860 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:15:11 -0800

I want to clean up my start menu on Dell Inspiron E1705 with Windows XP Pro. Computer beginning to run slowly. I use computer almost exclusively for internet, word-processing and Quicken. I have trouble identifying which entries on start menu to delete.

Free Furniture?

bobertdude — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:43:58 -0800

What about free furniture on Craigslist? I'm in need of a desk and a couch, and I know Craigslist and other classifieds sites have a lot of old furniture people are giving away. Do you think it's a good idea? Is there a systematic way you can determine whether the furniture you're getting for free is "safe"?
I know this seems like an odd question, but I don't wanna pick up a seemingly safe sofa from someone only to find myself with a rash on my rump or something due to some unknown problem with the couch. How does one determine how clean furniture is?

Help me do what I need to do to wipe as much as possible from my PC before I sell it

t0astie — Wed, 06 May 2009 01:15:03 -0800

Tomorrow I'll list my ACER Aspire 3680 for sale on eBay. I want to be as sure as I can that there the lucky buyer has as little chance as possible of seeing passwords/pics/personal info. Normally, I would just format and do a clean install of XP. But I've moved house and my install disk is one of 19 packing cases stored 2500km away, so that option is out. I've listed what I've already done after the jump, but I'm hoping a more tech-savvy mefite might spot a hole in my erasure efforts. All steps taken so far have been gleaned from previous threads, but I'm just not confident I'm 100 per cent across the cleanup.

So far I have: moved every file onto a portable hard drive; uninstalled every app (Office, PhotoShop etc); reinstalled brand new up-to-date versions of free/shareware (Win Zip, Google aps, iTunes, Firefox, AVG etc); run Crap Cleaner (cleared data from browsers, cleaned the registry, uninstalled a few things I'd missed); defragged; and installed Window Washer.

The next thing I'm planning on is a final clearout of my browser and Windows info with Window Washer. Then I'll run Wash Free Space.

I'm running Windows XP.

What have I missed?

Bonus question! What, if any, value could I add to my two year old laptop to help it sell well on eBay?

What's the best cleaning method for a HORRIBLY dirty aluminum grill grate?

covert7 — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:56:22 -0800

What's the best cleaning method for a HORRIBLY dirty aluminum grill grate? I have an aluminum grate that is in really bad shape. It's coated in carbon/grease that seems to be fused on. Also the same thing with a little catch pan and grate for my toaster oven. I've tried using those oven cleaner sprays and they might have helped a tiny bit but just barely. After much scraping I can see teeny slivers of actual metal beneath...

Anyone got any good ideas on getting rid of all this residue? Thanks fo the help!

Make sure you get behind Lincoln's ears

easy_being_green — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:43:11 -0800

Who cleans the US national memorials? How often is it done and how long does it take? What is the cleaning process like?

no longer pretending my kitchen floor is't revolting

A Terrible Llama — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:50:39 -0800

How can I do the best job cleaning my floor for the least amount of effort? We have a white kitchen floor of your standard kitchen floor material. It's pitted with these grooves that are basically just little paths of dirt, and it's old and whatever was supposed to happen and keep the non-pitted part from getting etched is way gone, so basically it's a gray floor with deeper pits of darker gray.

Plus, we're a high traffic outdoorsy household, and while in general we're quite tidy, nobody ever wants to clean the kitchen floor and haven't done so in over a year.

The last time we did it we used Dr. Bronner's cleansing suds and scrubbies. It's not a small kitchen and took forever, but it wound up looking pretty decent. Mops don't work. ("Do you want it to be clean or do you want to use a mop?")

What are your tips for the best bang for my buck, in terms of time, effort, or materials, for cleaning my kitchen floor?

Help me clean up after quiting smoking

citybuddha — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:53:11 -0800

I have recently quit smoking and am on the road to recovery. I am looking into options into cleansing programs. I know the years of smoking has probably mucked up my system with many poisons and has reeked havoc on my lungs n such. I want to hear from Me-Fis regarding any programs or treatments they know regarding any de-toxing I could be doing.

How do I clean these shoes?

reenum — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:41:16 -0800

How can I clean vomit off leather shoes? My friends and I had a bit too much fun over New Year's, and my Florsheims paid the price.

I now have several whitish spots on them. All solids have been removed. I want to clean the shoes without ruining them.

Any ideas?

How to protect my wall from the cat dish

kosmonaut — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:22:35 -0800

Cat fanciers: is there a convenient way to keep dried bits of food from getting on the wall next to the cat food dishes? We keep our cat's food and water dishes on the floor against a wall. Over time, the wall area near the dishes builds up a nasty spattering of dried food all over it. The wall can be washed, of course, but we'd love to have a way to keep it from getting dirty in the first place.

Rather than affixing something to the wall semi-permanently, I was thinking that it would be great if there was some product that was a platform for the dishes with a little divider sticking up in the back that would guard my wall from the dish area. It might look sort of like a little stage. A unit like this could easily be rinsed off in the sink from time to time. Does anyone know if this (or something similar) exists?

If not, then how do other cat fanciers protect against this kind of wall mess?

A clean pair of clothes...really?

abdulf — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:50:46 -0800

Is gym-provided workout clothing safe to wear? I'm trying out a fancy gym close to work that provides work out clothes in addition to towels and other amenities.

It sounds like a great concept. I would rather not carry a change of clothes and then have to handle wet sweaty clothes until I get home. But what are the risks?

The clothes come from a common pool, like towels, so you don't keep your own. Someone else may have worn the shirt or shorts the previous time.

They also provide jock straps, but that's touching a little too close for comfort.

The clothes look and smell clean but I'm concerned about things like skin diseases spreading to me and possibly some sort of STD.

I mean, people buy and wear used clothes from thrift stores after washing them. Is a wash cycle with hot water and soap enough to eliminate most of the risk?

I have little understanding of how hardy virus, bacteria, fungus, skin flakes really are. Please enlighten me.

Clothing mess - how to solve?

burhan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:03:23 -0800

Help me organize my 7 year olds clothing! I am in the process of going through my daughters (7) room and cleaning it. The end goal is to declutter and allow for her to put away her laundry/find clothes easier.

What is the best way to organize? Near as I can figure it out, I've got the clothes in piles, donated of old clothes/small clothes. These are the piles I have:

Socks
Underwear
Undershirts
Short sleeves (summer and warm days)
Long sleeves
Jeans/casual
Dresses
sweaters
thermal undergarments
Ethnic clothing
pants
school uniform pants
school uniform shirts

It's not that she has too many clothes.. it's that there are too many categories! I have a 3 shelf dresser drawer, and a 4 cube dresser from ikea...

Thoughts?

cleaning mildew off microsuede?

Lou Stuells — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:24:21 -0800

After 4 months in storage, my red microsuede couch is now a gray velvet couch. Can I clean mildew from microsuede? How? I'm not sure if it has penetrated into the foam and feather cushions - it's still in the garage, because I'm afraid to bring mildew into the living room (hey, I read that Stephen King story.)

The seat and back cushion covers zip off, so I can try laundering or even dry-cleaning those. But what about the body of the couch itself? If it's penetrated into the sofa and cushions, I think I'll abandon the effort. But if it's only a surface issue, I'd like to rescue my beloved sofa. So, what, besides bleach, removes mildew? The upholstery professionals I called were iffy about it, but said they were pretty inexperienced with microsuede, so I turn to you for help or suggestions. Can I clean it? How?

(Curiously, nothing else from storage is mildewy - there was a mattress, dog bed, cat tree, etc. out there too, and they're fine. No leaks in the garage - it was just a damp season I guess.)

Can I have my couch back, or is it too late?

Not buying this "cats are clean" nonsense...

Alabaster — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:42:15 -0800

Are cats really as clean as everyone says? ... because if I had a friend who crawled around on all fours in a sandbox full of his own urine and feces which he buried with his bare hands, I would not feel comfortable having that friend cuddle up against my face or walk across my kitchen table.

... and if a friend licked herself from head to toe I wouldn't exactly want to pet her. And if she licked her butt I wouldn't exactly want her licking my face afterwards.

... and if a friend sat bare-anussed directly on my pillow, I'd probably throw that pillow away.

But people always talk about how clean cats are. What gives?

Are they as nasty as they seem -- should I be following them around with a can of lysol and covering the surfaces of my house with plastic? Or is there some magic property I'm not aware of which makes them super clean??

Seeking Credit Report Expert/Janitor

goalyeehah — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:46:29 -0800

Where do I get a legitimate credit report and how do I go about cleaning it out? I am about to look for start-out loan and know that my contacts will be checking into my credit. I took care of what was outstanding and/or had gone to collection about 2 years ago and am now current and meeting my obligations with nothing I owe having gone to collection.

1) How do I get a legitimate credit report without being scammed?

2) Is there a way to clear out the past debts that had gone to collection and been taken care of?

Is penny-wise pound-foolish with replacement filters?

daisyace — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 16:15:58 -0800

With some products, the off-brand is as good as any other brand, sometimes even coming off the same production lines in the same factories. With other products, there is a quality difference between brands. How about for replacement HEPA filters for a Kenmore air cleaner? (And, as a bonus, should I believe the warning against washing and reusing the charcoal pre-filters?) My Kenmore air filter has charcoal prefilters to replace every three months, and a HEPA filter to replace yearly. The Kenmore replacement HEPA filter is $110, while this aftermarket one, for example, is $68 including shipping. Both claim to capture 99.97% of particles down to .3 microns. I picked my air filter carefully based on reading about tested differences in performance, so I don't want to cheap out now if there's a quality difference, but I don't want to pay extra if there's not.

For the bonus question, the charcoal pre-filters come with the warning, "DO NOT try to wash and reuse either the HEPA filter or the pre-filter," but when I take out the pre-filters, they sure look like a good hosing off and a thorough drying in the sun might make them perfectly serviceable again. Would performance be degraded?

Cleaning cleaner

prefpara — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:52:16 -0800

How can I get CVS-brand liquid "high efficiency" detergent out of a nylon duffel bag? (asking for a friend)

Who else makes high quality 220-240V voltage regulators?

thewalrus — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:58:20 -0800

Electrical engineering / voltage regulatorfilter: I'm searching for manufacturer or vendor sources on high quality, 220V to 240V automatic voltage regulators. This is for use with telecommunications/GSM/ISP equipment in the third world. Any other advice related to the subject will also be greatly appreciated. In the past my firm has used the 3kVA 230V single phase unit from TSI Power (PDF link) which works nicely. It comes in a standalone unit or a 3U rackmount enclosure about 20 inches deep. However, it's relatively expensive and doesn't have any sort of monitoring display on the front, just three LEDs for online/status/fault. It's also a build-to-order item versus something that we can order off the shelf from a wholesaler, like most UPS units in the 1kVA to 6kVA size range.

For those of you who have traveled in Asia and seen the <> breaker panel --> 3kVA or 5KVA voltage regulator --> TrippLite true online UPS --> equipment). The generator is extremely reliable and well maintained, but with a transfer switch the system can also be run from city power supplies, which have brownout and fluctuation problems.

How do I get smoke out of suits?

midwestguy — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:43:06 -0800

How do I get smoke smells out of men's wool suits--dry cleaning didn't work. I recently received half a dozen very nice (and very expensive) men's suits, along with a full length wool Burberry coat from my uncle, who recently retired and moved to Florida. They fit perfectly, look fantastic, but they reek of smoke. I've tried hanging them out in the sun, sprayed them with Febreze extra strength, and they have all been dry cleaned. Does anyone have any further ideas before I gamble and throw them in the washing machine? I love the suits, and could not afford anything like them on my own, but the smoke smell icks me out.