Magic Vinegar

[poolhound]

I have spent most of the day on plumbing tasks and not a woodworking tool in sight

In our guest bath we have one of those fancy above surface glass bowls as a sink. The plug is a special push in push out fitting as an integral part of the drain. All well and good until it sticks closed!!!

I took the whole thing apart this morning and used an old trick for dissolving limescale. Mix white vinegar and warm water approx 50/50 and let the item soak. Vinegar is of course a mild acid (Acetic) so after a while it disolves the scale that was making it stick and I could then get everything apart and after a good clean its like new.

FYI this is a great trick for shower heads. take the head off and soak it for a day in the vinegar solution and it will be as good as new.


My other problem is the water softener. Not half ask easy a job, oh well back to it...

[JeffG78]

I have a problem with a white haze on my 12x12 ceramic shower tile. I have tried everything with no luck. Any ideas?

[poolhound]

I have a problem with a white haze on my 12x12 ceramic shower tile. I have tried everything with no luck. Any ideas?

If its actually limescale have you tried a product called "Lime Away?" LOML swears by it.

If it is dried on grout or adhesive it may be nearly impossible to remove.

[Ed62]

I have a problem with a white haze on my 12x12 ceramic shower tile. I have tried everything with no luck. Any ideas?

Have you tried mixing vinegar and baking soda, diluted maybe 3 to 1 with water? If not, give it a try. Spray it on the tile, then let it set for a few minutes (keeping it wet). Keeping your fingers crossed, rinse well. I use baking soda to clean my blades with, and it does a pretty good job after soaking overnight.

Ed

[alpha]

Magic Vinegar

Vinegar mixed 50/50 with water is the best wallpaper remover I have found. Use a scraper with blade reversed so you don't gouge the wall.

For cleaning other items,

http://www.howtocleanstuff.net/

Bob

[rnelson0]

If it is dried on grout or adhesive it may be nearly impossible to remove.

There are grout removers of various intensities. I let some grout haze sit a bit too long once and bought three products before I found one that worked. I would suggest calling a tile shop and ask them for the strongest they have. Dilute it with water (it will still be cheaper than buying mild, medium, then hot later!) and see if it works. If not, add a bit more dissolver in with the water, never more than a 1:1 ratio.

Some of these solutions are so strong they will eat away at the coating on the top of the porcelain, so use discretion in care in where you try them. You can get it off without a chisel, though!

[Uncle Cracker]

Dried grout can be removed with sulfamic acid (HD in the tile department). Be careful with this stuff, because it burns, and will turn your lungs to monkey sh!t if not thoroughly ventilated. Wear eye protection also.

For cleaning, I would be skeptical of mixing vinegar and baking soda, as one is acid and the other is alkali. I think they would tend to cancel each other out (after a lot of fizzing and off-gassing). If there is a cleaning element to it, it may be simply because there was an imbalance in the mixture, with some residual effectiveness of one ingredient or the other.

[eccentrictinkerer]

To remove stubborn haze after tiling, I use a dilute solution of muriatic acid. It's cheap and available at the BORG. Also available in the swimming pool aisle.

Masons use it to clean up. It has the potential to be dangerous, but it is effective. Read and obey all warnings.