Super handyman: Cleaning a showerhead

A lot of showerheads have a variety of spray patterns. You can get everything from a gentle rain to a beating. Sometimes your showerhead can come up with a few spray patterns of its own. How about the spit-bath or the spray-everything-but-you pattern?

If that’s not what you are looking for, then it might be time to clean your showerhead!

Most of the time, the problem is mineral deposits that build up inside the head. The best way to clean out your showerhead is to remove it from the shower. You will need to use a wrench, or maybe two. That way, you can hold the pipe coming from the wall to the showerhead and twist the showerhead to unscrew it. Cover the decorative metal parts with a soft cloth, rubber or tape to prevent the wrench from leaving marks.

If you can’t remove the showerhead, you can try cleaning it in place. Just fill a plastic bag with vinegar, pull it up around the showerhead and tie it in place to let the vinegar surround the showerhead and dissolve the mineral deposits. The vinegar works fast, so take it down in about a half-hour.

If you have the showerhead down, you can soak it in a bowl of vinegar to dissolve the mineral deposits. If you can take it apart to clean it, even better. And warm vinegar works even better than cool. A toothbrush or a toothpick is a good tool to use along with the vinegar.

These same tricks work well with vegetable sprayers and sink faucets. If the faucet has an aerator, you might be able to remove it and clean it. Sometimes that’s all it takes to get the water running smoothly again.

Pizza cutter on dry paint

Painting windows takes time and effort but can really make them look a lot better and last longer. The paint actually helps seal the wood to protect it, and even can seal up joints at the same time. Sure, you should have masked them, but you were in a hurry and got a little sloppy around the edges. If you overdid things and sealed them up a little too much, you might have trouble opening up the windows again in the spring. Cutting through the paint can be as easy as running around the edges with a pizza wheel. A pizza cutter has a sharp blade and is an easy tool to use to slice through a thin layer of paint.

Caulk to the last drop

Getting the most for your money is very important to us, and we try to keep our readers informed so you can do the same! With a lot of products, you get what you pay for, so even though it might cost more money, if it lasts longer, then it might just be worth it. Caulk is a good example. A quality caulk will cost more but will last a good deal longer. When using a caulking gun, try to get every little bit out of the tube that you can. When you think you have done that, release the plunger. Before removing the tube, though, put a folded-up piece of cardboard into the bottom of the caulk tube and insert the plunger again. This extra addition to the tube will push out that last little bit of caulk. Now you have gotten your money’s worth!

Super hints

Ÿ Smoke stains on the glass doors of your fireplace look really bad. But you can make a great cleaning paste from a little of the ashes and some household vinegar. This stuff scrubs off the stains in short order. A word of caution, though: Wear gloves when using it.

Ÿ I learned the hard way that you should never store tools in the same area as pool chemicals, as they may exude chemicals that increase corrosion.

Ÿ Twist-off lids make getting into something easier. But if the cap gets stuck, that’s not the case. Wind a little Teflon tape around the threads before screwing on the lid to prevent those stuck lids.

Q. I want to know if it’s OK to put a new vinyl floor over my old floor. It would be so much easier if I could. What is your opinion?

A. You can, as long as the existing floor is still stuck down firmly, with no loose edges or gouges in the surface. Make sure to do a good job with the adhesive, and you should be fine.

Q. My office is upstairs. I am getting ready to paint it but had a leak at some point and need to get rid of the stain. I heard that if you don’t do it right, the stain will bleed through the paint. What do I need to do?

A. It’s true; water spots are hard to cover, and they do almost always bleed through the paint. The best way to cover them is to seal the surface. You can use shellac or a primer to seal the stain. Kilz is one brand of a good primer, but there are other brands. Just seal the area, and then you can paint the whole thing.

Q. Somehow, my kitchen sink got chipped. It’s white porcelain. I would like to know if I can patch it. What would you recommend?

A. There are porcelain touch-up products available at most hardware and paint stores as well as major discount stores and home centers. The liquid comes in a small bottle with a brush in the cap. Standard sink and bath colors are available, so look for the brand name of your sink for the best match. Just follow the directions. Get rid of the rust first, then use the patch.

Q. I was working with some stain on a piece of furniture on my back patio. I accidentally spilled some on the concrete, and now it’s smeared around. Is there any way to remove it?

A. If it has soaked into the concrete surface, then you are stuck with it. Eventually it will wear off, but once it penetrates the surface, it’s pretty much going to be there for a while. The only thing you might do is stain the whole surface.

Reader tips

Ÿ With all of the salt and other crud coming into the garage on the cars this winter, we have a lot of cleaning up to do before the annual spring garage sale. After scraping the stuff off the surface, we found some oily stains of some kind. I poured a small box of cornmeal over each to try to draw it out. It did a pretty good job on most of them. I let it sit on top overnight, and then swept it up. I repeated the procedure on two of the stains, and they are now gone, too.

Ÿ I installed new porch railings on my back patio. I found some Creole-style railings and decided to do the project myself. The only problem I had was drilling into the concrete for the anchors. I used a masonry bit but learned a little trick to help it last longer: I found that you could squirt a few drops of water at the base of the bit as it was drilling to keep the bit from overheating. It worked, and seemed to make the job go faster, too.

Ÿ My snowblower has become my new BFF! We’ve spent a lot of time together this winter. My secret for quicker cleanups actually came from my wife. She suggested that I spray the shoot with some nonstick cooking spray. It works quite well. The snow slides off quickly, and just a spray every time I use it is well worth the extra trouble. I have my own can and keep it in the garage next to Frosty!

Ÿ I’ve always heard that you can seal a tube of caulk by sticking a long nail into the tip end. I found that you can use a long deck screw for better results. The deck screw seals better and seems to prevent the caulk from drying out so much. I use my power screwdriver to get the screw out, so it’s very easy to do.

Ÿ I have a very good, heavy-duty steel front door. Unfortunately, it has a large glass window in the middle of it. I wanted to put up a curtain over the window but didn’t want to drill holes into the door to do it. I found a magnetic curtain rod. It was so easy to put up. It’s adjustable in length and just stuck right to the top of the door. I decided to add another rod at the bottom of the window so I could attach the curtain to both rods to prevent it from blowing when the door was opened and closed. It looks nice, and I have my privacy again.

Shop talk

Ÿ If you have done a good job of weatherproofing your home, it will be sealed up tightly. This will save energy but may, in some cases, create a mildew problem. Mildew not only looks and smells bad, but it can ruin walls, carpeting and just about any surface it gets on. Learn how to rid your home of this problem once and for all. We’ve put together a pamphlet called “Mildew Around Your House,” and it is full of tips on how to get rid of mildew and how to keep it from coming back.

Ÿ Nu-Set looks like an ordinary padlock, but it’s more than that. The interactive lock has a main control unit that it is in constant communication with. This main unit interfaces with your cell phone so you can program, open, close and monitor the lock via text messages. You can add more locks to your system if you want, also. The lock itself is super tough and is made of heavy-duty steel wrapped in a weather-resistant coating. It’s unique and has a lot of super applications for homeowners and businesses alike. Check it out at www.nuset.com and find a dealer near you, or call them at (800) 606-8738 for more information.

Ÿ Winding a garden hose around a hose reel is a whole lot easier and more fun with the Automatic Hose Reel by Suncast. It uses the water pressure from your water supply to wind the hose back onto the reel — without kinking, too. It’s so easy to use, and the Smart Trak hose guide keeps it from tangling in the process. Several different case styles and colors are available to make it look good on your patio, and it’s made tough to last a long time. We have one of our own, and it’s been so much better than the old self-winding type. You can find these wherever Suncast products are sold. If you would like to know more or see one in action, visit the company’s website at www.suncast.com.

Ÿ Write to Al and Kelly Carrell in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006, or visit the Carrells’ website at thesuperhandyman.com.

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