Q. My oven is surrounded with red brick. The former owners had hung a spice rack on the bricks. When the rack was removed, the area behind it was lighter, while the surrounding areas and grout are much darker. I’ve tried bleach and scouring powder on the surrounding areas so far, to no effect. Any suggestions?
A. Were I in your situation, with a small area of brick and grout that sticks out like a sore thumb in the surrounding, much larger area that has darkened over the years, I’d do the opposite of what you have tried so far. I’d try to darken the small area to match the big area instead of scrubbing to lighten the big area to match the small one.
Because we’re in the kitchen, I’d probably whip up a combination of a few tablespoons of vegetable oil with a few more tablespoons of something mildly staining, such as soy sauce or strong black coffee, and a similar amount of warm water. I’d then shake it vigorously in a spray bottle, and spray it on the light area. I’d use a scrub brush to spread it around, with a rag in hand to prevent it from running down onto the bricks below, then rinse it off with warm water in another spray bottle and blot it dry with clean rags.
If one shot didn’t do the trick, I’d spray it again and let it set for 10 minutes before rinsing. Then I’d repeat this process as necessary, allowing longer times between spraying and rinsing off until you get a decent match with the surrounding bricks.
But come to think of it, there are other easier solutions than this one. The first is to do nothing and wait. After a few years of exposure to steam and smoke and grease from cooking, the lighter area will blend in.
A third (and easiest) tactic is to simply hang a picture you like or a handy bulletin board where the spice rack hung. This will hide the light area until you are ready to do something about it. And if you are at all like me, there’s a good chance you will get used to this short-term solution and eventually–conveniently–forget about the problem entirely.
Q. We recently moved into a home with oak floors. The stairs and upstairs hallway have green carpet that has been there for what looks like 20 years. We would like to remove the old carpet and put in new carpet. I pulled back the carpet and was dismayed to see that the pad is disintegrated and is stuck to the floor. What are our options for getting this carpet pad gunk off the wood floor?
A. You had me going there for a minute, as I anticipated your asking about removing the pad residue to make the wood floors attractive again. I would have been forced to tell you about all kinds of sweaty, messy grunt work, and I probably would’ve advised you to hire professional refinishers.
However, since you are going to recarpet, this is pretty simple.
Get a wide (maybe 6-inch), thin-bladed, flexible spackling knife (metal blade, not plastic) at a local hardware store. Holding the knife straight up, with the blade perpendicular to the floor, use moderate pressure (so as not to damage the wood underneath), work in the same direction as the grain of the wood, and scrape off any dried-up pad residue that comes off easily with one or two passes. Then vacuum thoroughly and install high-quality fiber padding (not cheap foam padding that disintegrates and sticks to floors) and then your new carpet.
That’s about it.
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Mr. HandyPerson wants to hear of home repair matters that are troubling you. Please e-mail Mr. HandyPerson at yourplace@tribune.com.
