The contacts on the base of your cordless phone must be clean for the battery to charge properly. Over time and with use, the copper contacts that transfer electricity from the phone's base unit to the handset can oxidize or become coated with dirt or oil. Any foreign matter on the contacts will imp

Mexican tile flooring, often known as saltillo tile, is made from clay that is typically hand shaped and fired in earthen ovens. True Mexican tile provides hard, durable flooring with a warm, rustic charm. It is usually sealed at the time of installation to protect it from stains and fading, but the

Silver-plated platters can keep their lustrous silver coating as long as you clean and store them gently to avoid scratching, chipping off the silver plating and tarnishing. Proper storage also reduces the effects of tarnish from chemicals and moisture to subsequently reduce the amount of cleaning r

Wood is an excellent choice for many paintable projects, but its porous nature and rough surface can present challenges to painters. The pores in wood will absorb paint quickly, requiring you to add many coats to get an evenly-colored surface, unless you properly prepare the wood in advance. Use wat

If you love hanging plants and want a more rustic or natural-looking plant hanger in your home, make a macrame plant holder out of cord. Create a macrame plant holder for any kind of pot, as long as it's not too big or too heavy to hang. Once you've learned the basic knots of macrame, elaborate on t

Leather couches add style and general appeal to any room. Leather can last up to five times longer than other fabrics, making it a suitable choice for something that gets everyday use like a couch, according to discount-leather outlet store Diamond Leathers. Although leather is very durable and stro

Bleach-based spray cleaning products are one option for getting rid of mold.bottles of cleaning product. bleach. disinfectant. image by L. Shat from Fotolia.comMold is a fungus that grows in multicellular patches known as hyphae. Outbreaks of mold can lead to dark discolorations on a...

It happens. A car parks on your driveway and has oil dripping out of it. Or maybe you cause a grease stain in your garage from one of your projects. You can't leave the cement oil stain untreated or you risk tracking the oil into your house. If you are able to start the oil stain removal process qui

Whether you have carpeting or a hardwood floor, eventually the ground beneath you needs to be cleaned. Luckily, many advancements in the world of floor cleaning have made the process easier than ever before.

If the refrigerator hasn't been cleaned in a while, it likely contains a plethora of odors and bacteria. Before anything else, throw out all old, spoiled and expired foods. Next, remove the remaining foods to give the refrigerator a thorough cleaning. Commercial cleaners are not necessary; the ingre

The North American Bluebird society recommends mounting your birdhouse on a metal pipe. Birdhouses mounted to trees or wooden posts are vulnerable to predators, and wind can easily disturb hanging birdhouses.

Used for years to keep moths at bay, mothballs themselves will leave a pungent and unpleasant odor that lasts for weeks. The Environmental Protection Agency classified naphthalene -- a common ingredient in mothballs -- as a "persistent, bio accumulative and toxic chemical" that can cause various sid

Offices, whether at home or at work, accumulate clutter and germs. Junk mail, old paperwork and personal items populate drawers and desktops. Food particles, germs and dust also can gather to make the area unsanitary. To keep your office more efficient, keep it clean and clear of these things, give

Not many laundry mishaps compare to the frustration of pulling a garment from the dryer and realizing you didn't pre-treat a stain. The heat from a conventional dryer can set stains into fabric, making them challenging and sometimes near impossible to remove. You can enhance your odds of successfull

A bow-front aquarium can be the centerpiece of any room where it is placed, but only if it is properly cleaned. As with any aquarium, the glass on a bow-front will accumulate dust and dirt, and that debris will leave the tank looking murky. Since the aquarium is a closed environment containing sensi

If you have wood surfaces in an area in which you usually style your hair, you may begin to notice hairspray residue on the wood. This residue not only dulls the appearance of wood furniture, but it can also damage the finish of the wood over time. You can remove hairspray from wood through a simple

Pots and pans can become stained quite easily after time and sometimes can be a pain to clean. Especially when the stains hit the corners, where they can be quite difficult to remove. Usually it takes awhile before pots and pans to become stained, but they do despite cleaning them with regular deter

Eggs stick to pans as a result of chemical bonds shared with the metal. These bonds, usually covalent, commonly occur when cold eggs are added to an insufficiently heated or unoiled pan. Heating the fat with the pan causes a minute amount of steam to form when the eggs touch it, separating them from

The crawl space--the small, unfinished area beneath the floors of a home that contains electrical wiring and other utilities--is susceptible to dampness and mildew, which can lead to mold that can spread through the air and eventually through your home. If you have a crawl space in your home, learn

Concrete molds are precast shapes that are used to make concrete bricks. They enable the construction of uniformly shaped bricks without having to individually shape them all the time. Different materials can be used to make molds. Rubber is widely used for this purpose because of its flexibility in