Maintain home's air quality in winter

During the winter months, when homes are closed up tightly, indoor air quality might be worse than the outdoor air quality. This is not good for your family's health. But there are some things you can do to improve indoor air quality.

Dust will always be with us, but regular vacuuming with a unit containing a really good filter -- like a HEPA filter -- will remove a lot of it.

Make sure you clean or replace your furnace filter monthly. Pay slightly more and get a better-quality filter that removes the smaller particles.

Keep in mind as you are cleaning your home that many chemical cleaners give off heavy fumes that stay inside your home. Re-read the labels if you haven't checked them in a while, and make sure you aren't supposed to provide extra ventilation. Substitute with the old standbys, like vinegar and baking soda, when possible. They are much safer to use anyway and don't give off any fumes.

If you do any construction indoors, like painting or recarpeting, make sure you use products that don't emit fumes after the installation (look for products that are "low-VOC" or "no-VOC"). Or wait until spring to do the projects, when you can open the windows and clear the air.

If you have your carpets cleaned, make sure the service uses safe chemicals and soaps, and cleans all traces from the room afterward.

If you must treat for bugs, remember that if the stuff you use can kill a bug, it might not be too good for you either. Use it sparingly and, again, maybe wait until spring or at least a day when you can air out the house afterward.

Many dry-cleaning products emit chemicals into the air of your home. Hang clothes in the garage or on a patio to air them out before bringing them indoors and into your closet.

When the weather is mild, open up your windows and air out the house. That crisp air is a sign that it is clean air. Why not trade some of your stale air for the fresh stuff? This is especially helpful if anyone in your home has had a cold.

Plants can help filter and clean your air. Add a plant to each room, and let it do its thing. It might make your home look nicer, too.

These are simple things, but they can really help your home smell and BE fresher!

Recycled golf bag

When Kelly first started to play golf, she bought an old bag of clubs at a local resale shop. It was a good set, but now that she's mastered the game, she has purchased a better set that is more fitting to her size and style. She still keeps some of the old clubs to use on occasion, but the old bag was not too attractive and needed to be recycled. We turned it into a super lawn-and-garden caddy. It's great. The wheel stand that came with it is still attached and is loaded up with shovels, rakes, hoes and other tools of lawn maintenance; it's easy to use anywhere she is working in the yard. The pockets on the bag are perfect for holding garden gloves, seeds, hand tools and even a cell phone. The lawn doesn't look like a putting green yet, but it's not a bad rough, either!

Old chair upgrade

Sometimes a little TLC is all an old piece of furniture needs in order to look good again. For example, take an old dining-room chair with an ugly, torn-up seat cover. Usually, you can flip the chair over, loosen the screws holding the seat cushion in place and remove the fabric covering and the tacks holding it down. Then place a new piece of fabric over the cushion and use a staple gun or more tacks to hold the new fabric in place. Re-attach the seat to the chair, and you're back in business. Many chairs can be re-covered just this easily, and it's a fun project and a worthy cause in many cases.

Super hints

• Keep a couple of plastic grocery bags handy when painting or doing other messy jobs. You can slip them over your hands to answer the door, the phone or to handle anything else you don't want to get messed up.

• Install felt bumpers to the inside corners of cabinet doors and kitchen drawers to quiet them. These bumpers are really inexpensive and are applied easily with a peel-and-stick backing. What a difference they make!

• Those metal mesh baskets that people hang in their kitchens to hold onions and potatoes are super for the bathtub and shower. Hang them over the tub and fill them with kids' toys, bath scrubbers and shampoo bottles. It will allow these items to dry off between uses and cuts the usual bathroom clutter.

Q. We have decided to add a second water heater to the house since our daughters are growing up. They seem to use a lot of water, and we never have enough anymore. What would be your recommendation as to how we should divide the appliances up for the second water heater?

V.L.

A. It would be our recommendation that you install the second one in series with the first. That way, when one water heater runs out of water, the second will take over. Check your local plumbing code to make sure you do it properly.

Q. I want to install wood paneling in my basement. Can I just install the paneling right over the sealed concrete block walls, or do I need to add some type of vapor barrier first? Can you please give me some advice?

H.R.

A. It would be a good idea to install a vapor barrier between the paneling and the concrete-block wall. This will ensure that no moisture comes through the concrete wall. Even though it is sealed, this can still happen at some point, and the vapor barrier won't cost much and might protect your paneling, which would cost a bit more to replace if it did get wet.

Q. I have a filtered exhaust fan over my kitchen range. I've tried to clean it, but the grease won't come off. Can you give me any suggestions?

J.K.

A. Sometimes replacing the filter is the only way, but you can try to clean it. Find a small pan the size of the filter and lay the filter flat in the pan. Cover it with mineral-spirits paint thinner and let it soak for a while. Use a little steel wool on the stubborn places to loosen the grease. A toothbrush also works pretty well. Rinse it off with warm, soapy water and let it dry completely before installing it again. Good luck.

Reader tips

• My chainsaw has been my best friend this fall. I had to remove a couple of trees from my property and saved a bundle by doing the work myself. I learned that keeping the chain oiled made the work go much smoother, so I filled an empty squeeze bottle with chainsaw oil and kept it in my tool belt. I used it whenever I needed to without having to return to the shop, and the job went smoothly and without a hitch. It was a shame we switched to gas logs. The trees would have made nice firewood. My neighbor was more than happy to take the logs off my hands to use in his fireplace this winter, thank goodness!

B.K.

• I tried your window-cleaning formula, and it worked pretty well. I thought I might share my secret formula with you, and you can try it and see if you like it. I use ½ cup rubbing alcohol, ½ cup ammonia, ¿ cup water and 1 small drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid. It works great for me and leaves no streaks. The dirt is whisked away, and I usually have the ingredients on hand when I need to do the washing. I hope you enjoy it.

G.M.

• You'll love my trick for replacing the wiring in my new/old lamp. I bought a really neat old floor lamp. The wiring was old and cracked, so I removed the bottom plate, cut the socket off at the top and attached the new wiring to the old wiring with electrical tape. Then I pulled from the bottom so that the new wire was pulled into the lamp from the top as the old wiring was pulled out from the bottom. I attached a new socket, re-installed the bottom plate to the lamp and it works great and looks super in my den.

N.W.

• I just painted my old radiators, and they look a lot better. I used a silver-aluminum paint made just for radiators to give them a more industrial look. I also installed a piece of aluminum to the wall, cut to fit, behind each radiator to reflect some of the heat back into the room. Last weekend was the first time I used them, and I must say that the aluminum reflectors really seem to help a lot more than I thought they would. I just thought I would pass this tip on to your readers in case anyone else wanted to try it.

M.T.

• I don't have a lot of money to spend on my garage storage, but I sure did need to find a better way to organize my tools. I looked at garden-tool holders and found a lot of different types. They were all pretty expensive and I decided to find a less-expensive way. I just drilled holes in the handles of my rakes, hoes and picks and hung them on nails installed in the stud walls of the garage. They are all neatly hung up off the floor and ready for next year. And it cost me only a dollar in nails.

E.T.

Shop talk

• We ran across a super way of adding light to your stairs in the DecoRiser. It's a low-voltage lighting system that installs on your stair risers, indoors or out. They are easy to install and will add safe lighting right where you need it most. There are several different styles to fit your decor, and it might be the solution you are looking for. To find out more and locate a dealer, visit its Web site at www.backyardamerica.com.

• Ryobi's One+ Tool System is being improved. The battery is being upgraded to a new 18-volt lithium-ion battery. The new battery will fit all of the One+ tools in the line and is a super improvement. The new battery provides twice the run time and will hold a charge four times as long as the current batteries. It's also 20 percent lighter in weight. The new battery will be available alone or combined in kits with a variety of One+ tools. Look for the new hyper-green-and-gray color scheme at your hardware store or home center. To learn more visit www.ryobitools.com.

© 2007, Cowles Syndicate Inc.