How to fix common house hold items with common house hold supplies. Things you would not normally think of that can be used to to fix and solve problems around your house. Please understand the reader tries "How To's and DIY'S" at their own risk. These helpful hints are here to help you and should work in most cases.
How to Remove Tree Sap
Tree sap can easily be removed using rubbing alcohol or finger nail polish remover. If those are not handy you can try after shave cologne. They usually have a high concentration of alcohol. This also works well for removing hair spray stains on wood work. Care should be taken on all finished surfaces. Always test in a hidden area, first before the more noticed areas.
How to remove Gum from Carpet
There are a few ways to get gum out of carpet. Over the years owning rental properties. I have come across gum that has been pushed deep in the carpet. A combination of these methods can be used at stages. First go to your local radio shack and get a can of "Component Cooler". This is an aerosol spray or freeze mist. This is a product used for cooling electronic components. A bag of ice is used sometimes in this step but the freeze mist works much better. As it gets a lot colder. Caution must be used with this product! As it's spray is supper cold -spayed in the eyes or on skin could cause damage to tissues. So with caution in mind, take your freeze mist and spray the gum. Hold can about 3" away from gum. You may want to wear a glove if you are sensitive to cold. Spray for about 10 seconds. Have a regular screwdriver handy. Immediately after the gum is frozen white. Take one of the pointed corners of the screwdriver blade and poke the gum. It should brake into pieces. Brake it into as many small pieces you can. A few different spays maybe necessary. Then vacuum up the pieces that are left. In some cases you may be done. If there are still gum particles on the carpet fibers you can go to the next step. To get what is left of the gum from the carpet. Spray the particles with WD-40 this will dissolve what is left of the gum. Gently brush the area with a toothbrush to get it loose from the fibers. Don't brush to hard as to tear the carpet fibers, let the WD-40 do the work. That should get most of it for. This will leave a slight oily residue or discolor the carpet a little bit. You can clean this oily spot with Formula 409 and a clean rag or what I think works better is Dawn dish soap with water. Let dry and see what you have, if still off color a bit. Wash again with soap. Good luck, hope this helps.
How Fix a Dead Battery in a Remote
This one will sound kind of silly but it works. If your find yourself one night with a dead remote control and you don't want to go out for batteries. You can take the batteries out of the remote and change there position. That is reverse there position. Put the one on bottom to the top position and the top one to the bottom. Same direction they belong just different position. You should have power now! At least for a little bit. If your batteries are not completely shot, it should work for awhile even a few days depending. A simple little fix, so you don't have to get up and down.
How to Keep a Nut From Coming Loose
You ever have that item that has a nut and bolt, where the nut just keeps coming loose? Here is the quick fix. Back nut off just a little. Then get a bottle of nail polish (color choice is optional) then with the little brush paint it on the threads. If you don't have the room for the brush to fit. Just let the polish run in between, tighten nut. Then paint the rest of the threads all the way to the end of the bolt. Works well, the small brush is just perfect for painting the threads.
How to Remove a Busted off Light Bulb
Sometimes it happens, a bulb is busted off at the base or just comes loose from the base over time. First make sure the switch is OFF. If you own a pair of side cutters you can sometimes get a hold of the edge of the base and turn it out. A lot of times its down in the socket. In this case if you have a potato handy. Cut a square piece a little larger than the bulb base and as long as the potato. Push the potato piece into the socket over the internal glass filament stem, in the middle (note: If some of the glass bulb is still there. Cut the potato in half and use the whole cut side to grab the glass). If still there and not broken off. Either way this should still work. Push the potato down as far as it will go and unscrew it. I did say make sure the light switch is OFF right? That potato is conductive and you will have baked potato if it is ON. If the potato slips and won't unscrew the light bulb base. It will be a bit trickier, you will need two side cutters on either side of the base socket to apply equal pressure. It might look like a pretzel when it comes out but it should come out. The potato method is kind of messy. So watch for falling glass pieces, potato juice and that light switch (put a piece of tape on the switch in the off position for extra precaution if you like). Good Luck!
How to Unplug a Toilet
This may seem straight forward and simple, right? Sometimes, yes you can just plunge it and away it goes. Other times not and you think $$$ plumber time. With smaller children that have to use half a roll of toilet paper each time. Sometimes if you plunge and plunge you just pack it harder and harder. You need to do just the opposite! First off a regular old plunger the one that has been around forever is best and there is a reason why. Do NOT buy the newfangled accordion type you see at stores today. For many reasons, number one being it's an accordion! When you push down on it and the accordion collapses down. Where do you think the dirty toilet water goes? I'm not going to paint a dirt picture here, you get the point. The good old fashioned round one is best. So again the opposite works best. Take your plunger put it to the bottom and push it down real slow let the air escape from around it. Then pull back hard to pull everything back up. Try this once or twice, stuff should come up and reorganize it self and go down on its own. If this does not work try this. Again push the plunger down slow till it bottoms out then again pull it up but not out, keep the vacuum seal. Then push it down hard and back hard all the time keeping its seal. Do this for 4 to 5 cycles. What you are doing is breaking up the debris in the trap way, into smaller pieces. That usually gets it. You can also get a toilet snake for about $30.00. I recommend a Ridged at Home Depot. I don't work for them just best one for the price, cheap ones bend and break. It has a plastic collar that slides down to protect porcelain bowl. Ok all this said, I can't stop without talking about the toilet it self - Buying One. The toilet has evolved into a water saving piece of equipment that uses less water but often needs to be flushed 2 or more times to get rid of the waste. Things to look for when purchasing a toilet. Get the one with the largest trap-way you can. The tallest one you can get (If you don't have smaller kids) as the farther water falls will give you more flush power and pushes wast down the main line father. And again but not least. The shape of the bowl, this may not seem like an issue. However many new toilets now days have square openings where the wast exist the bowl others have trough-ways in the bottom or other irregular casting forms. These are Not good - reason being you can't get a plunger to seal around these irregular shaped bowls. You want a bowl with smooth round sides. So a plunger can make a nice seal around the bowl. Wow all that and I never used a bad word once.