Q. Dear Jim: I would like to read some of your tips on keeping my home clean. With all the products on the market one gets very confused and concerned about what to bring into our homes and what works. Any tips would be most help full. Thanks for being here to help us! Mary T.

Cleaning Shower Heads:

If your shower heads are not flowing like they use try soaking them in vinegar and watch how well they work after 20 minutes of soaking. Other cleaning products you can use are CLR-calcium, lime and rust remover and Lime-Away. They work well on scale in toilets, tubs and fixtures. Watch out for spilling anything on real Marble floors that are acid base products. Acid base products can strip the sheen right off polished stones. Read the labels well before applying off the shelf products.

Sink faucet cleaning:

For better sink faucet water flow, remove the screens and rinse clean. One simple way to tell if your sink faucet screens are dirty, turn on the water at your tub. If the water pressure out of the tub faucet is not close to the same pressure as your sink faucet pressure, then clean the sink faucet screens. Tub faucet doesn’t have screens.

Disposal cleaning:

How about bad breath coming from your garbage disposal? This is a simple cleaning process. Cut up about 2 lemons or limes and drop them in your disposal. Run the disposal for about 30 seconds the then drop in a hand full of ice cubes. Repeat this process until your unit smells fresh. Always run the disposal for about 20 seconds longer after all foods are removed to help flush the excess out of your drain lines. This tip might keep you from having to call a plumber one day for a clogged drain line. Always remember when leaving town for a while to really flush your disposal well so you don’t leave waste in the unit. And don’t forget if you’re leaving town, remove any left over coffee grains in the coffee filter. If you forget, you might be growing penicillin by-products inside your coffee pot when you return.

Mildew Problems:

I’m from the mold and mildew capital of the world Houston, Texas and this stuff is really bad for your health. Here’s some cost saving tips for mold and mildew removal. Make your own mold and mildew killer with simple household bleach and save money.

Removing Mold:

Mix 1/4 bleach to 3/4 water added to a pump-up sprayer and spray your siding, decks, brick walls, driveway to kill mold and mildew. Here’s the mistake most people make and why it seems to never really kill the mold and mildew. As soon as you spray the infected areas you will notice it turning white, (by the way that’s how you can tell if it’s mold or mildew) most think it’s just been killed. Wrong.

It takes keeping the infected areas moist for about 20 to 30 minutes by refreshing the area with the pump-up sprayer solution. The bad news is mold spores are in the air all the time and can come back quickly in the Houston area so having an inexpensive home solution helps you keep it under control. Use the same mixture for mold around your tub or inside your shower.

If you feel there's mold on your siding be sure to treat the problem before you start to paint. Use the this same solution to kill the mold and mildew then come back with a pressure washer to remove all the dirt and loose paint before you start painting. Also TSP which is in Cascade dishwashing soap is another good cleaner, mixed one cup to gallon of water, works well to scrub the hard to clean areas on your siding.

Using the Bleach Solution On Stucco:

You want to always color test at an outside corner. My experience is that it can remove the color. However, after a while one has to do something with off-colored stucco and the mold and mildew problems.

I tell people to plan on repainting their stucco one day and also plan on filling in the hair-line cracks as well. Clean, using the Bleach mix and a soft plastic brush. I would not allow pressure washing stucco with someone who does not know what they are doing.

Fill in your hair-line cracks with paint caulking and paint the stucco with the latest flexible paint on the market like one called "Duration." This paint is like a coating and not just a paint and lasts many years longer than paint.

Warnings:

Never mix other products with bleach like Ammonia, this mixture can be lethal. Another tip; if you’re working with bleach inside your home or any household cleaners, open several windows and doors. The fumes can be toxic and really do harm. Wear gloves and again lots of ventilation while working with any toxic products.

I suggest that you keep all household cleaners stored in the garage or outside. If you have to keep them inside consider wrapping them in a plastic bag and seal tight to prevent any out-gassing into your room.

Indoor-air-Quality:

Homes today are really built tight and the indoor-air quality can be a real problem. Studies have proven that the outside air we breathe is cleaner than the inside air of our homes.

Coming from Houston I find this hard to believe--but it’s true. Asthma is on the rise nationally; if you have this illness in your family, consider getting rid of your carpet. If you feel you can’t afford to replace your carpet with solid surface floorings, then have your carpet professionally cleaned at least once every other year.

For those with respiratory problems, hard surface floorings are your best solution. Opening windows often is another good solution. Make sure you have no mold or mildew growing in your shower or tub areas or from roof leaks. If you don’t have an exhaust fan get one installed and vent to the outside in your bathrooms. Leaky basements can also be a big concern for poor indoor-air-quality.