Hardwood Floors: Beautiful, But a Pain to Keep CleanWritten by Allen Shaw
Hardwood Floors are beautiful to look at and expensive to install. But keeping them clean is not necessarily easiest thing to do. Growing up in a house with hardwood floors, I know how hard it was for my Mom to keep floors shiny, especially with four kids. With two boys and two girls constantly running in and out of house with various forms of “outside world” caked to our shoes, I believe my Mom finally just gave up. If she had followed even basic rules for keeping a hardwood floor clean with four of us tracking Mother Nature in on a daily basis, she wouldn’t have had time for anything else. Dirt and dust is your hardwood floor’s worst enemy. Though microscopic in size, minute granules scratch your hardwood floor’s finish and over time transforms your mirror-finished floor into a floor more reminiscent of floors of log cabins inhabited long ago by our ancestors. Following are some tips to keep your investment shiny and new for years to come. Though there are many manufacturers of hardwood floors to choose from, and they all have their own rules for keeping your floor clean and grit-free, there are some basic rules you can follow to keep your floors looking good. For surface finishes: Always use manufacturer’s recommended cleaning products. If manufacturer is not known, use a generic cleaning hardwood floor cleaner. When little Junior spills his soda on a daily basis, wipe it up immediately with a damp cloth.
| | Keeping Your Home Spa CleanWritten by Terri Greene
Purchasing a home spa is a great expense; which can be easily wasted if you don’t keep your hot tub in good condition. Hot tubs provide an area for you to relax and unwind at end of day. They also provide a luxurious place to entertain guests. That being said, like your house, you want your hot tub to be clean when others are relaxing in it. The following illustrates tips and procedures that will help to ensure that your hot tub remains in good condition: Recommended Procedures for Hot Tub Maintenance: On a Day-to-Day Basis- Check and regulate sanitizer level as required.
- Monitor PH level to ensure it is at a safe and appropriate level.
- Check water line with water cleaning paste.
On a Weekly Basis - Oxidize hot tub with non-chlorine shock.
- Add no-foaming lotion to reduce amount of foaming in your tub.
- Check calcium hardness.
On a Monthly Basis - Using a cartridge cleaner, clean filter cartridge.
- Check water balance by taking a water sample.
Along with procedures above, there are also a number of things to remember to do whenever you change or top-up water in your hot tub. The three most importance hot tub maintenance procedures are - balance, sanitization and oxidization of water in your hot tub. - Water Balance – Water balance ensures that your hot tub maintains an ideal comfort-level for everyone in tub. It also ensures chemical efficiency is up to par. Calcium hardness, total alkalinity and pH levels are all key factors to maintaining water balance. Here are appropriate levels for each of elements:
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