Not everyone is fond of cleaning the bathroom but there are ways to keep it dirt-free and odor-free without exerting too much effort. Here are tips for keeping your bathroom clean all the time.
Don’t use a bar of soap. Ditch your soap bar and switch to a liquid soap instead. The bar can leave residues on the dish soap and will make your bathroom like untidy and grimy. This way, even your sink will stay clean, too.
Use a water repellent. Tired of having to scrub the shower curtain and walls to remove soap scum and minerals? The lazy way to avoid the task is to use a water repellent just before you use the bathroom. You will still need to clean and scrub occasionally, but this will help keep your bathroom looking immaculate.
Protect the shower curtain. How do you keep the shower curtain clean? Spray the bottom of the curtain with All-purpose cleaner that contains bleach, then rinse with water to get rid of scum, minerals, and mold without having to scrub. This only works for vinyl curtains.
Wipe down the walls and shower. Make it a habit to wipe the wet walls and door with a moist squeegee just after you bathe. This will only take a few minutes and will save you time in the long run. Moisture can be a big problem in bathrooms because that will encourage mold growth.
If your bathroom has windows, make sure to open it occasionally to dry moisture. You can also have an exhaust fan installed or leave the door to the bathroom slightly open to allow moisture to evaporate.
Wipe up fresh spills and stains. What about stains from cosmetics and other body products? Do not wait for the spill and stain to dry before you decide to clean it. The simplest solution is to wipe it with wet tissue or wet wipes while still fresh.
Clean the walls with water and vinegar mixture. Instead of scheduling one day in a week to scrub the walls, why not spray them with a mixture of water and vinegar right after you bathe? The vinegar is a natural cleaner and disinfectant. It can also get rid of stains.
Use baking soda on the toilet. Instead of purchasing a toilet cleaner, just sprinkle baking soda on the toilet daily right before you shower and then scrub for less than five minutes. This will prevent stains from building up.
Remove dust when you see it. The easiest solution for this is to pat the dusty surfaces with used dryer sheets. Not only do you get to recycle materials, you will also save time scheduling a vacuuming of the bathroom surfaces.
Place clothes hamper in the bathroom. There should be a container for used towels and clothes before you leave the bathroom. Place it near the door so it’s easy to reach. However, don’t mix in wet or moist towels or clothes with the dry ones.
Living at home with a messy person is a constant struggle for those who love to clean after themselves. It’s not like you can throw them out or tell them to find another home. How do you motivate someone not to be messy even if they would rather do nothing all day?
Sit down and talk about the problem calmly, because when you keep nagging the person, the effect is usually the opposite of what you intended. Ignoring the problem will also not solve it, that is why you should talk agreeing on a solution that will be the most beneficial to you both. This can be especially stressful if you’re living with a friend or a schoolmate, so be sure to make the person understand what you want from him/her without resorting to insults.
Maybe your roommate is just lazy at organizing his/her stuff but is not necessarily dirty. The latter can mean that the person does not clean up leftover food or does not pick up his/her trash. A messy person still tries to keep his/her stuff neat, but does not make an effort to organize them properly. If the person is just messy, then there is still hope, but if he/she is dirty, then you need to emphasize why he/she needs to clean up the mess because it could cause diseases, attract vermin, and produce bad odors. A person will not change overnight just because you’re irritated, so you need to be realistic about what changes you want to see.
If you cannot stand the mess in your shared bedroom, then maybe it’s time to move out of the room. The simple solution sometimes is just to walk away from difficult people. But if he/she is willing to compromise, then you should also respect his/her space. Maybe the person will feel guilty once he/she finally sees the differences in how you organize your things. Don’t force yourself to clean up after their mess, because that’s not your job.
If the person agrees to help you with the cleaning chores, then you need to set up a schedule to divide the work. Don’t expect him/her to transform into a cleaning machine overnight, because that will not happen. Instead, inspire him/her to form a habit of cleaning until it becomes second-nature to him/her. If the inspirational talk and pictures of a clean room versus a messy room do not work, however, make your roommate watch an episode of Hoarders or other reality shows about dirty houses. Maybe they will change their mind about piling their clothes on the chairs next time.
Even though movers and installers do their best to make sure that your walls retain their color and shine, there’s always the risk that your walls could suffer all kinds of dings, smudges, and scratches that can affect their luster.
While your first response to seeing these types of marks on your walls would be to scrub them, this may not always be a good idea – what you would end up doing is creating a really shiny patch on the wall, which most painters would call “burnishing”.
The best way to achieve this gloss is by doing it on walls painted in a flat finish. Be sure to use it only in areas in your home that get less traffic, such as your bedroom.
Cleaning Up vs. Touching Up
There are two things that you want to do to keep your painted walls looking like new for longer – cleaning them up and touching them up. For cleaning painted walls, it’s not the color that matters, but the finish itself that you need to take into account.
The trick to cleaning your walls is by doing so as quickly but gently as possible. Remove dust and dirt first by brushing it off gently, then dab with a non-abrasive sponge with water.
Meanwhile, touching up is simply applying paint for areas that seem to have lost their color – all you need to do is to use the paint from the original can and apply it the way it was applied, i.e. with a roller or a brush.
The easiest walls to touch up are those with flat paint, while the hardest to touch up are those with semi-gloss or satin finishes, as any unevenness or imperfections are glaringly obvious when light is shined on them.
On Fixing Chips and Scratches
The process in fixing these (especially if you see them in your corner walls) can be a bit more complicated – you will need not just the original paint and a paintbrush or roller, but you will also need spackling paste, a putty knife, sandpaper, and time.
Keep in mind that you will need to mix the spackling paste until it is smooth before applying it to the chipped area with a putty knife, and that you will also need to wipe off any excess paste around the spot.
Once that’s done, wait until the paste has completely dried before lightly sanding it with fine-grit sandpaper, and then vacuuming away the excess dust and painting it.
For larger areas of chipped paint, larger amounts may be required, and the difference between old and new paints is more likely to show up.
So, you got to fix toilet bowl before, and it seemed easy enough right? Not exactly! You may have fixed it, but you don’t know whether it will last or not, you might have even just been lucky not to have damaged anything further. Even when you have a bit of experience, plumbing can still be a bit complicated and it should be a good call to seek plumbing services when something goes wrong.
1. Quality work and results
Hiring a PUB licensed plumber from Singapore to fix toilet problems can guarantee you with excellent services. Of course, because they are already certified professionals, they can be trusted to handle any plumbing works with superior quality. A certified plumbing contractor will be able to fix toilet bowl choke with warranty and insurance and can provide advices on cleaning and maintenance to help with the upkeep of your bathroom’s plumbing system.
An HDB plumbing contractor would also be the ideal person to call when you have plumbing concerns in your HDB flat. Because they are sanctioned by the Housing and Development Board, it will be fairly easy to give them a call and also rely on them when the time comes that they do the job.
A licensed plumber has extensive knowledge about plumbing and piping systems and will be able to at least find a small sign of damage in them. He will also be able to fix the usual household plumbing problems, of course. And may even teach you how to get rid of a toilet bowl choke by yourself.
2. Safety
Obviously, there will be times when you’ll be cheated. Cheap plumbers might leave a job unfinished (i.e. putting a temporary fix to a broken pipe) so that you’ll call for their services again. Unfinished jobs can be especially worrisome when it involves leaking pipes because it can be dangerous.
Buildings with more than one floor usually have the pipes running above each floor. A leaking pipe, which can eventually burst, can risk damaging office documents, computers, and etc. If we are talking about a gas pipe, of course there will be risk of a fire.
To fix broken pipes, calling a reliable plumber even if he charges a bit more expensively, can bring you great results and possibly guarantee safety.
3. Round-the-clock work
Problems with sink pipe stuck with food in your home or office here in Singapore can occur at any time of the day. Fortunately for us, we can always call a 24 hours plumber. A choked sink or a leaking faucet can happen even at the middle of the night. So, having a pro to call during these hours would be very beneficial.
In Singapore, having an emergency plumber who works 24/7 ready on contact, can be a better back-up than having none at all.
Whether you want to save money or hire the best plumbing workmen to attend to your needs, it will still probably be best to hire licensed workers, even if the plumbing cost is a bit higher. Aside from getting the job done professionally, employing plumbing services might even help you improve the overall lifespan of your plumbing and piping systems.
Regular aircon servicing is a must if you want to extend the life of your air conditioning unit. Fortunately, You can call on a reliable air conditioning services company in Singapore in case you need a professional aircon technician for a home AC repair.
Look out for these tell-tale signs that indicate you need aircon maintenance soon.
1. Aircon Leaks. Some leaks in the unit are visible especially if the problem is with the refrigerant. However, you should never handle insufficient coolant issues by yourself because it must be handled properly. Another type of leak may come from a clogged drain line and drain pan or a clogged air filter. Excess moisture from the cooling process should be drained, but if the line is blocked, the water can leak into other parts of the unit and cause damage. This can be avoided through regular air conditioner cleaning as part of the aircon maintenance routine.
2. Thermostat Issues. A faulty thermostat can cause problems in maintaining the ideal temperature for the room. Not only should it be kept clean by making sure you upkeep AC, but it must be calibrated and inspected by a professional technician because it is prone to a lot of issues.
3. Broken Compressor. The role of the compressor is to help with the heat exchange in the coils, but if the unit has a defective compressor, the cooling will not be effective. This can lead to a chain of problems with the refrigerant level, coils, and other parts of the air conditioner. An emergency aircon repair cost for the compressor alone will be much higher than the cost of aircon servicing.
4. Frozen or Clogged Coils. There are two types of coils that an air conditioner uses to complete the heat absorption and exchange process. The evaporator coils absorb the heat from the room and send it back as cold air, while the condenser coils contain the refrigerant which cools the warm air. If your air conditioner is not cooling, the problem could be because of the frozen or dirty coils. This is a result either of a low refrigerant level or debris.
5. Smells and Sounds. A clean AC should not produce smells or loud noises whenever it is used. If it has never been cleaned for over a year, it could be housing mold and dead animals, or the filters and drains are clogged up with debris. Loud noises could be produced by a broken fan belt or defective compressor. To fix this problem, hire contractor to clean centralized AC unit at home if you haven’t had it serviced by an aircon expert here in Singapore.
6. Faulty Fans. The aircon fan, located in the external unit of the air conditioner is supposed to disperse the collected heat from inside the room. If it is full of debris or has been damaged, the compressor could overheat because the heat transfer is not effective. If you see early signs such as fluctuating temperature and if the air conditioner not cooling, it’s important to fix cooling system before significant damage is done to the unit.
7. Bad Wiring. If you have just moved into a new apartment and noticed that the air conditioner isn’t working well, call a reliable aircon servicing company for aircon repair and to inspect the AC wiring. Sometimes poor installation may be the cause of several problems in a unit, not poor maintenance.
