Cleaning Without Chemicals

After the holiday season your property will most likely need a thorough clean to bring it back to good condition. With many expensive cleaning items on the market or the choice of a professional cleaning service, this job could be expensive. On the other hand, if you are one of those groups of people who'd want to do it themselves, here is an alternative for you. Natural or homemade products offer a choice of benefits, including hardly any health risks, lower costs, and yet another opportunity to go green. The largest worries are germ control and cleansing effectiveness, which can be accomplished without toxic chemicals. Here are a few ways on how to clean up without chemicals (or, at least to reduce their use in your home). Julie Kinnear, Toronto MLS expert famous for her green approach, will share few tips with you!

First Job: Microwave

Don't just fixate on the outside of your appliances, food debris gets left inside the microwave causing nasty smells and a hard to clean surface. Slice lemons and oranges and deposit them in a dish of water before placing them inside the microwave - a tip from hygiene experts from Britain. Cook on full power for about 5 minutes before wiping clean with a soft cloth or sponge and you will notice how easy the debris wipes away due to the steam made. (The oranges absorb the grease while the lemon eliminates odours) Water from a damp cloth will give off steam if the dish and citrus fruit method can't be done - a note for safety: always use a damp cloth as dry cloth could cause a fire. The item of cloth needs to be left in the microwave for a few minutes for the greatest result.

How to Wash your Fridge

To get rid of food spillage and other blemishes in your fridge, simply use soapy water including very little soap). Using an old toothbrush with some of your everyday toothpaste, clean in the corners and those little spaces that are hard to get to. Turn off your freezer if that needs cleaning out and place a bowl of hot water inside, this creates heat which helps the ice thaw. Once the ice has melted use some lemon water to clean and freshen the inside of your freezer.

Cleaning the Top of your Kitchen Cooker Thoroughly

Owning glass-ceramic or induction cookers means you need to pay particular attention to your cleaning methods due to the fact these products can be grazed easily. Day to day cleaning of your cooker, by wiping of any spills and marks to stop build up of stubborn marks should be an important part of cleaning your cooker. Nevertheless, if there are any food spillages or you can't get rid of the greasy film, use a mixture of baking soda and water and a plastic scrub brush to lightly scrub the top clean.

Scrubbing the Oven

I bet like most people you don't enjoy scrubbing your oven. If you aren't fortunate enough to own a self-cleaning one, the task is not fun. With quite a few ways and means of completing the job, it can be quite effortless. One of the simplest mixes that you can make up at home that really does the job is: Mix 5 tbsp of baking soda, 3 drops of liquid soap, and 4 tbsp of white vinegar into a heavy paste. Using a sponge to scour, apply the mix to the surfaces of your oven. Then, just wipe the whole oven clean, rinse it out thoroughly, and let it dry. Half a cup of ammonia left in a closed oven overnight is another accepted cleaning method. Dispose of the ammonia in the morning and sponge the surfaces down with a wet cloth to see the outcome of your work.

How to Make Black Mold Vanish

Many houses across the country including Toronto are finding that with the onset on Autumn and more moisture in the air, those horrible mold stains are returning. Mold and spotless houses are normal, don't think that mold says you have a grimy home. Items break or crack in a home and they are not always noticed immediately. That’s usually when mildew crawls into your beautiful home, unseen, until you either discover the well-known displeasing smell or you spot the atrocious growing stains. For some homes, mold is an ongoing problem in rooms like kitchens or bathrooms due to the increased moisture and humidity in these areas. Whether the mold is seasonal or year round the answer to the problem is totally the same.

Do you employ experts or undertake the DIY method?

Of course there are masses of companies out there that would gladly solve this problem for you, but since many people think twice before paying out money on work they can do themselves, here’s some DIY, eco-friendly solutions. Having said that, should you discover that the area affected by mold is rather big (ie over 10 sq ft or so), calling a professional would be a good idea.

Be aware of safety before you try to solve the problem

Even though most species of mold are harmless to humans, there are certain types (like black mold) that are rather toxic. So before you embark on any sanitation, arm yourself with a pair of hefty rubber gloves and an N95 respirator. If you want to be extra careful, you could acquire a test kit from a hardware shop and send a sample of the mold to a lab. If a member of your household has an allergy or respiratory problems then this kit would help you decide which option you pick.

Eco-Friendly Detergents

For cost effectiveness, environmentally friendly and availability, white vinegar comes the best for dealing with mold. Just like it will drive away ants (as we recently reported in the first issue of Toronto homeowner’s guide), it will not only obliterate the fungi, but also bacteria; it will even dissolve lime scale. While there is always expensive anti-fungal solutions on your supermarket shelf, distilled white vinegar is totally bio-degradable.

Extermination and Prevention

Mold and its removal requires more than a single treatment. The space the mold has developed must be carefully cleaned. Then it is imperative to make the rooms in your home less mold-friendly. When cleaning hard surfaces such as tile or ceramic, linoleum, tile grout, or plastic such as shower curtains, wet the effected area so that the spores don’t become airborne, then simply give it a good scour with a cleaner of your choice. Once you have finished cleaning, totally dry the space.

It is nearly impossible and at best extremely difficult to erase surfaces that are porous of mold. We would advise you throw away these items and purchase new ones. To stop mold returning is a fairly simple thing to do. Try to rid your home of the situations where mold breeds, such as leaky water pipes; also keep a watch on the humidity in your home with a hygrometer so you can take preventative action if it gets too high. Airing rooms often is a very simple step and one that doesn't cost you any effort. Keeping the humidity to less than 60% helps obstruct mold returning. In hot weather humidity increases, so invest in a good air conditioner, if it has filters, as these are a breeding ground for mold, make sure they are regularly cleaned. For colder months, you might need to invest in a dehumidifier. Best of luck, and here's to a mold free house.

Picture by checoo.

Will algae oil save the Earth?

In our green real estate section we usually try to focus on environmentally friendly advice for our homes. But this text will be focused on an interesting research, which may lead to helping us if we are feeling guilty because of our cars eat up too much gas. Oil is an crucial part of our everyday lives. Nowadays, the crucial part of a life in the developed world is a car, and nearly everybody has one. So do I, of course, as a realtor who drives around daily. Without our dear cars, the life would be so much harder. Of course, the two crucial issues of driving are well-known: prices driven up and down because of unsure oil supplies, and the environmental harm made by fuel burning and emissions of carbon dioxide.

An American biologist Craig Venter is also a successful businessman, who founded The Institute for Genomic Research. Genetic engineering is the main interest of his work, that has provoked a great deal of heated debate by his latest project.

Algae are known for creating natural oil, which is already part of a number of experiments with biofuels. But Craig Venter is ready to find out more than that. He is trying to find out if it's possible to change the genomic make-up of algae in order to make them create oil of almost the same structure as the traditional crude oil. This possibility is so much better, as you can use current oil industry infrastructure like refineries, and even produce plastics in the same way as from crude oil refining employing the same production plants that are currently being used. As Exxon Mobile, being one of the most successful oil producers in the world, heard of all this, they gave Venter a $600 million subsidy to go on with his research.

And now you may be demanding, OK, but what is so great about it from the ecological point of view? Well, just this. Oil production based on algae could quite likely be the solution to one of the most serious threats facing the world today. During the photosynthesis process, plants take the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to produce the oil, which is later burned and turned into oxalates. Of course, this miracle solution won't be available this or next year, but for sure it is a good way to go. The team of Craig Venter are trying to win where others have tried and failed, but this time there is a good chance of success. There are many people in Canada and elsewhere that would love to protect the environment, but due to their occupation, it is very difficult for them to stop using cars, just like so many of my Toronto real estate colleagues can't.

Photo: Saab Aero by gmeurope

Why should you switch?

Two of the most cited reasons for switching from the traditional light bulbs to environmental bulbs are mostly 1) saving the environment while 2) saving money. The environmental bulbs are economical in several ways: they can be used up to ten times a longer time than the "normal" bulbs, and the amount of emanated warmth is smaller, therefore there is less air conditioning necessary, which is significant mostly for large offices. Another fact is that the environmental bulbs use only one-third of the energy usage of the traditional bulbs, which is good both for the environment and also your pocket.

Except for running a Toronto real estate agency, I'm always looking for ways to make my lifestyle a bit more Earth-friendly. The range of environmental light bulbs in the stores is very rich, and if you are not an experienced buyer, you might get a little decide while shopping for light bulbs, we have summed up some easy tips for you.

The perfect light bulb for you

These bulbs come in all shapes and sizes so the best thing to do is to bring the traditional bulb you want to replace to the shop and match it with the available environmental bulbs. You will only need one-quarter of the original wattage (60 watt traditional bulb = 15 watt environmental bulb). Also read the label if it's suitable for dimmers, should you wish to use it in a dimmer light.

Where to use environmental bulbs

For spaces with high temperature and insufficient ventilation, such as recessed ceiling fixtures, it would be a bad idea to use a environmental light bulb. The bulb takes anything between one and three minutes to light up and doesn’t like to be switched on and off often. Therefore use in places where the bulb can stay on for at least 15 minutes at a time to prevent early damage.

How to dispose of environmental bulbs

Always recycle your bulbs at designated places. Be very careful if you smash a fluorescent bulb. There is some mercury in it, which is a poisonous heavy-metal. Do not try to clean it with a vacuum cleaner. You also shouldn't touch it with bare hands. Instead, try to sweep the mercury bits with a piece of carton paper. Pick up smaller bits with sticky tape and wipe the affected space with a damp cloth. Open the window for at least 15 minutes to avoid mercury exposure.