DIY tips

Doing some DIY at home chaps. Would appreciate some tips for these :

- Whiten old grout between tiles, which now look yellowish
( kitchen and bathroom )

- Kill off black mould on grout between tiles
( kitchen and bathroom )

- Kill black mould on silicone
( next to kitchen sink )

- Paint on the walls next to my front door ( outside ) has cracked. What's the easiest way of fixing this ? And, what paint should I use so that it doesn't crack

- What can be used underneath polycarbonate sheets in the conservatory to keep the heat and sunlight out from the roof ?

Bleach can remove stains and kill mould. I forget the exact make but you can pick up a mould and mildew killing bleach in a spray by one of the main manufacturers (DETTOL I think) that's very affective at killing mould. You can use neat bleach on the grout and leave for an hour. I've done this and the grout has come up gleaming white. Saved me regrouting. Just try and get a dispenser that will allow you to apply it only to grout ( I think Domestos do one). As some tiles don't play well with neat bleach.

With silicon I find the best thing to do is remove the old silicone carefully with a Stanley knife and reapply new silicone. Use some masking tape around the area when reapplying so you get a neat line. Wet your finger with saliva and then wipe. Also remove tape once you have applied silicon don't leave it to dry.

Paint on walls - I would scrape off as much of the loose paint as you can. Then water down some PVA and paint it on the area. Once dry repaint with white paint. It shouldn't crack anymore. Try and get outdoor masonary paint from someone such as Sandtex.

an old toothbrush is good for the grout.

YEHBABY, I think you were talking about this :

http://www.poundland.co.uk/images/58...ith-Bleach.jpg

I used in the bathroom and it worked very well.
In the kitchen, however, it didn't work against old grout. I'll just use white acrylic paint and paint over!

You can buy grout whitening pens. It's a bit like Tip-Ex (other correcting fluids are available), and does give pretty decent results.

For the Silicon, I just tend to dig it out and reapply whenever Mrs Cheesyboy has had enough of it looking so filthy. It's a pretty easy job.

How can you be talking about DIY and not just regrout it? :P

It doesn't take long (depending on size of course) and will get you the best results. You don't need to remove the tiles or anything like that :)

I was more thinking

1.) Domestos Grotbuster for the kitchen grout

http://www.domestos.co.uk/products/specialist.php

2.) Dettoll mould and mildew remover for removing mould

http://www.dettol.co.uk/mould-and-mildew

Double post

I've found a steam cleaner pretty good at demoulding, tiles, etc. Steam and wipe, pretty much. Darn good at easy and effortless cleaning on tiles too, removing soap splashes, etc, and bringing them up like new.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Agent

How can you be talking about DIY and not just regrout it? :P

It doesn't take long (depending on size of course) and will get you the best results. You don't need to remove the tiles or anything like that :)

---

Too much effort!
I want results in the quickest way possible :D
I am currently using sugar soap and cleaning off dust from the old grout and painting over with white acrylic paint.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OilSheikh

- Paint on the walls next to my front door ( outside ) has cracked. What's the easiest way of fixing this ? And, what paint should I use so that it doesn't crack

---

Used a scraper ( think thats what you call it ) , scraped off cracked paint, used Polycell crak filler paint and then will use Wilko Masonry paint


Now, got another question :
My shed has a lot of small and mid sized spiders. And, thats where I keep stuff for storage. How do I get rid of all of them ? Is there anything like an EMP for spiders ?

Is there a particular problem the spiders are causing?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Butcher

Is there a particular problem the spiders are causing?

---

Yeah, they makes webs, gives me shivers to enter my own shed!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OilSheikh

Yeah, they makes webs, gives me shivers to enter my own shed!

---

My solution to this would be to suggest manning up :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cptwhite_uk

My solution to this would be to suggest manning up :P

---

Gotta agree. I don't kill spiders. Even when my wife wants me to remove one from the house I don't kill it. I just pick it up, by cupping it with my bare hands and put it outside. Obviously they are UK spiders, there's no way I'd do that if I lived in Australia.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OilSheikh

Doing some DIY at home chaps. Would appreciate some tips for these :

- Whiten old grout between tiles, which now look yellowish
( kitchen and bathroom )

- Kill off black mould on grout between tiles
( kitchen and bathroom )

- Kill black mould on silicone
( next to kitchen sink )

---

I use this: OzKleen Bath Power Shower & Bathroom Cleaner. Available from Sainsbury, Tesco etc.

Brilliant stuff and no bleach in it. Spray, leave on for a while then wipe off/a light scrub on grout/silicone. If it hasn't been done for a while repeat the process then see if the grout actually does need redoing. No awful bleach smell either :thumbsup:

It's great at removing limescale on glass shower doors too. And all with virtually no effort

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OilSheikh

- What can be used underneath polycarbonate sheets in the conservatory to keep the heat and sunlight out from the roof ?

---

Take a look at solar control film, purported to cut UV and heat in conservatories. It's not cheap (depending on the size of your conservatory) but its easily applied. I've never used it though

A couple of links for you to look at to give you more info:

http://www.bonwyke.co.uk/retail-wind...protection.php

http://www.windowfilm.co.uk/resident...supertint-poly

Gogle has suggested applying Eucalyptus oil inside the shed. This makes spiders run away. Time to buy one and put it into action!

I use the dettol mold and mildew killer (green bottle) which gets rid of the black mold and then I use something I picked up in the Tesco hardware area where all the polyfila is and tools, which stops the mold coming back. That stuff is supposed to be for using around window sills on painted areas though. It does say not to get into the water course when applying. I have used it on the bathroom but I did it just before I left to go on holiday so it had weeks to dry out. So if you have really bad reoccurring mold try that.

Spider wise apparently bug bombs don't really work on them. I found that emptying the shed and killing them all has got them under control.

Assuming you've got Sky or some similar TV package, with a load of shopping channels, OilSheikh, take a look at the X5 steamer. It'll give you an idea of what I'm talking about for these devices, with my earlier post. And it seems to be on one channel or another a fair bit.


That is NOT the one I have I might add. I've never used the X5, and don't have any experience of it, beyond seeing it advertised. Mine is a VAX, and was about £60 when I got it. But it offers much of the same facilities. It can be used for floors, carpets (up to a point, anyway), furniture (chairs, etc), fabrics like curtains, cleaning cooker tops, glass (like windows) AND is very good at removing grout stains, mould blackening, etc.

And, it's superb for shower doors, cleaning those irritating little soap and/or hard water drying marks from shiny tiles, mirrors, etc.

Those that I've seen, including my VAX and that X5, come with several atrachments, including a wide nozzle with microfibre pad for glass, tile, floor "lino", etc, and a little nozzle with stiff fibres for stubborn stuff, like grout, and even a wire brush nozzle, though don't use that on anything that scratch, obviously.

But the biggest single point is you use NO chemicals. None at all. So, other than the electrical power to heat the water into steam, you buy the device and the only on-going cost is replacing the microfibre pads .... or if you don't want to fit them to the wide nozzle, just pay a couple of cheap microfibre cloths. Or j-cloths, etc, but they aren't quite as effective.

And the process, basically, is that the steam softens and cleans, and the microfibre removes the crap.

These things are even pretty good at steam-cleaning the inside of your oven/microwave with minimal elbow-grease, and NO chemicals.

Take a look at those TV adverts, OS. Remember they are adverts, but they'll show you what I'm talking about.

Put it this way. I get a lot of joint pain, especially elbows. Cleaning the shower, grout, oven, etc the old way = nightmare, and pain. With the steamer, it's a doddle. You can even put a shine on taps etc with a quick steam, and wipe to dry. Job done.

heavy black mould can be removed using a bleach:water mix 1:3 ratio. BUT make sure the sponge is as dry as you can get it - ie wring it out so it's damp but not dripping. Wipe the mould off the surface et voila. Repeat periodically. Ideally once a week for a month or so, and fortnightly thereafter to keep it at bay.

If you want to get rid of the mould permanently and the mould has got into the plaster then the only way to really get rid of it is to rip off the plaster, and any affected plyboard (where relevant). Coat affected masonry with a mould inhibitor, (reboard) and replaster.

Simple DIY tip that eluded me for far too long.

Don't try to pain round light switches and sockets. Simple loosed the cover by 5-10mm and let the bristles pass behind the facing then secure again once dry.