Easy ways to erase years from your concrete

Some things should be "written in stone," but an oil stain on your driveway probably shouldn't. In fact, a lot of the stains on your driveway, sidewalk and patio can be easily removed, so why not take care of them?

Here are some super ways to erase years from your concrete and give it a new life.

Pressure washers are super for washing concrete. You can use them with or without cleaners. You need to have a tip that delivers a wide pattern of spray. Once you have the initial cleaning finished, you can see what stains are left to deal with.

Oil and grease stains can be dissolved by a solvent. Mineral spirits paint thinner, or even WD-40, can be used to dissolve and dilute the stain. Use a scrub brush to get the tough stains out. Then apply an absorbent, like clay cat litter, to soak up the residue, and sweep it away after it has had time to absorb it.

Mold and mildew stains can quickly spread and ruin a concrete surface. But most usually can be cleaned with regular liquid laundry bleach. Start with a mixture of half water, half bleach. Use a scrub brush to work the mold off the surface. If that doesn't do the job, you can repeat it or just the bleach full strength.

There are a couple of other cleaners that we like to use on stubborn stains. Trisodium phosphate, or TSP, is sold in paint stores and is great for tough stains. Oxalic acid is another great cleaner and is also available at most hardware stores. It's great for removing lots of tough stains, and is super on rust spots. Muriatic acid is another choice for really stubborn stains and spots.

Use precautions with all of these cleaners. That might mean wearing gloves, eye protection or a mask, or all three. Read and follow all package directions for cleaners.

Once you have the surface clean, apply a water seal. Concrete is porous, which is why it absorbs stains so easily, so sealing it with a water seal makes a lot of sense. You can do this once a year and prevent a lot of liquids from soaking into the surface. If you want to, you could use epoxy paint on concrete. This is a great solution for garage, patio or basement floors.

An idea that sticks

Velcro is super for holding all sorts of things, so why not use it in the workshop? You can use it to hold tools within easy reach of your project. Just attach a piece to your shop wall and attach the matching pieces to some of your hand tools. Then you can just stick your tools right on the wall via the amazing hook-and-loop material. Obviously it won't hold a power drill to your wall, but it will hang on to screwdrivers and wrenches, so hang the whole set right where they are easy to get to when you need them.

Reduce, reuse, rewire

A lamp with a bad socket or faulty wiring is dangerous and shouldn't be used. But rewiring a lamp isn't that hard, and it can save you a lot over the cost of a new lamp. An easy way to handle the job of threading the new wire into the lamp base is to cut off the plug and use electrical tape to attach the new wire to the end of the old wire. Then you can pull the new wire into the lamp by pulling the old wire out through the top of the lamp. Once the new wire is in place, you can attach the socket to the top of the lamp and the plug to the end. Now your old lamp will live on!

Super hints

• To test low-voltage landscape lights, just put a piece of electrical tape over the electric eye to simulate darkness. Now your lights should come on if they are working properly.

• A clogged downspout needs to be unclogged ASAP. One easy way to do it is to use your plumber's snake. It can be used from the ground too, and will clear out all of the leaves and debris getting in the way.

• If you can't handle bleach fumes, try using vinegar. Vinegar does just about as great a job as bleach, but without the fumes. You should wear gloves, just as you would with any strong cleaner, but a mask is not necessary. Vinegar actually works better on soap scum than bleach, too.

Q. I bought some glazed ceramic tiles at a salvage yard. I want to place them on my bathroom wall. The edge is straight and smooth. How can I cut these without damaging them?

A. The safest way is to use a powered tile-cutter saw. You can rent a good one for the day. Buy some similar tiles that are inexpensive to practice on. You'll get the hang of it with a little practice. Be sure to wear hand and eye protection.

Q. The paneling in the den needs to go! I would like to paint it, but the surface is plastic or has a smooth coat of clear paint on it. What do I need to do to get the new paint to stick?

A. It's best to sand the entire surface to remove the glossy coat. Use a very-good-quality primer. Then you can use any paint you want. Two coats may be needed for the best coverage.

Q. The curtain rods in my dining room have started to come loose. First one, and then another. It seems like the screws holding them in the wall have just gotten loose, and the rods are falling out of the holes. How can I fix them?

A. Anytime a screw is used to hold something to a drywall surface, it can work loose over time. But you can secure a screw in drywall with a molly bolt. A special sleeve fits into the hole and, as the screw is tightened, the anchor spreads out behind the drywall to securely hold in place whatever you are holding. Check your hardware store for these or alternatives.

Reader tips

• We just got into our vacation home for our first winter outing. We don't visit much in the summer, but we spend almost every fall and winter weekend there. We keep the electricity and water turned off when we are gone, and I've learned how to keep the fixtures in good working order. To keep the toilet from staining, I clean it really well and use paste wax inside the bowl. Then I put more water in it to keep the trap full while we are away. It used to get ugly brown stains from our hard water, but not anymore.

• I have tried something to get rid of ants in my home, and it works great. I heard it from an organic gardener friend of mine. You can put the artificial sweetener aspartame on the ant pile or where they are feeding and it kills them or drives them away. It works! I have used it in my yard and have had great success. Of course, I know you are supposed to keep pets away, but that has to be done with any insecticides or poisons. We just put a little metal fence around each mound until we are sure the ants are gone.

• I have had problems every winter with my kitchen sink's water lines freezing. The room is on the north side of the house, and the sink area gets cold. I have figured out that if I just leave my kitchen cabinet open where the drain and water lines are, the heat from the rest of the house will get into the area and prevent the pipes from freezing. I guess the wall isn't insulated enough, but this takes care of the problem. Maybe it will work for someone else with this same issue.

• I have some great neighbors. We have always been around to help each other with many home projects and repairs. We do loan tools to each other, but I've had trouble getting some back, so I mark my tools in a way that makes them easy to spot: I put a dot or stripe of bright-green paint on each tool. On some tools that I can't paint, I put a stripe of green electrical tape around the tool. Now my neighbors won't forget who the tools belong to, and they will, hopefully, remember to return them.

• I replaced several windowpanes in an old door that I was trying to restore. The glass was hard to handle, so I made some of my own handles for it. I used large pieces of duct tape, folded into a circle with the sticky side facing "out." I put the tape on the glass and was able to hold the tape rather than the glass to handle it and maneuver it into the grids on the door. The tape came right off once the glazier's points were in place, and I didn't have to handle the glass by hand at all. Good for my hands, and good for the glass.

Shop talk

• Jig-A-Patch is a wall-patching kit in an easy-to-use container. The patching material sprays on, and the top of the container can be used as a putty knife. After the compound has dried, then use the sanding pad, also included, to sand the patch smooth, and you are ready to paint. You can patch a wall in just a couple of hours. It's just that simple and easy to use, and is available at the Home Depot. To learn more, visit www.jigapatch.com.

• The small, Super G Ratchet Driver is the perfect tool for driving a variety of fasteners. The specially designed adjustable pins fit lots of different-size fasteners. You push the head of the driver onto the fastener and push it in. The automatic ratchet goes to work and makes the job quick and easy. You get more power than you ever could on your own, and you can use it to remove fasteners, too. It comes with four hex bits for even more versatility. Look for the Super G Ratchet Driver at your hardware store or home center, or online at endeavortool.com.

• Write to Al and Kelly Carrell in care of the Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006 or visit the Carrell's Web site at thesuperhandyman.com.

© 2008, Cowles Syndicate Inc.