Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
SOLUTIONS: Rotate freezer items for maximum freshness
QUESTION: I have an upright freezer. Being a senior, I can access all my frozen goods. However, bread gets dry, frozen vegetables get freezer burnt, etc., when I place food on the shelves of the door. What is the best type of food to place on the freezer door shelf? Thank you for your help. Nancy (Winnipeg)
ANSWER: Since many freezers today come with an auto defrost mechanism, the freezer temperature fluctuates, drawing moisture from food. Begin by checking the seal of your freezer. A trick that I use is to open the door and position a piece of paper on the seal at the top of the door. Close the door and pull the paper; the paper should not easily slide out. If it does, the seal may need replacing. Secondly, make sure the freezer is cold enough. Freezer burn is caused by air becoming trapped between the food and your packaging. There are a few companies who have come up with freezer bags with inner linings that form to food and then excess air is squeezed out. Or if you're cheap like me, save old cereal liners and store food such as bread inside of each bag or store food in a quality freezer bag and suck out excess air with a straw.
While there are no set rules for how to store freezer foods, here are a few tips. Store meat products in the bottom section of the freezer. That way if the freezer breaks the juices from the meats won't contaminate any other food. Use the door shelves to store items that are packaged and small enough to fit, such as juice, cookies and shredded cheese. Frozen veggies can be stacked and stored in the higher part of the freezer. Rotate and date items for maximum freshness.
QUESTION: I really enjoy your weekly column in the Winnipeg Free Press. Recently I have started using vinegar instead of liquid fabric softener. I love it. Then I heard using aluminum foil bunched up as a ball is great to use in the dryer to eliminate static and to soften clothes. I have tried this method but there is still static, the clothes are not really soft when they are dry and the aluminum foil breaks into small pieces. Can you suggest an environmentally friendly product that I can use? Linda (Winnipeg)
ANSWER: Reduce static in clothing by making a wool static ball. Using wool yarn, wind it into a wool ball about the size of a golf ball. Put the wool ball inside of a sock and tie a knot to close the sock. Put the sock through a hot-water cycle of the washer and dryer. Remove the wool ball and wrap additional wool around the ball until it is the size of a tennis ball. Put the ball back into the sock and add it to another wash and dry cycle. Remove and now your homemade dryer ball is ready to use. Add this ball to all dryer cycles to replace the foil balls that you previously used. Other options for removing static from fabric: wipe clothes with a dryer sheet; spray with vinegar; brush clothes with a wire hanger; wipe fabrics with hair conditioner or hand lotion.
QUESTION: I use vinegar for most cleaning around the house. Just wondering if it is safe to use on the outside of stainless steel appliances, like my fridge, stove and dishwasher. Mine show every little mark, smudge, fingerprint and I find it difficult to keep them looking clean for any length of time. Your advice and expertise is most appreciated. Shirley (Winnipeg)
ANSWER: Vinegar is not only safe for stainless steel appliances, it is also the product many restaurants use to make stainless steel cutlery shine before serving customers. Also, many people struggle with white hard-water deposits on fridge water-dispenser trays. Vinegar cleans it up in a snap.
QUESTION: I have a small wooden table that I have waxed with a spray over the years and it now has a stickiness to the finish. Can this be fixed as I love this little table? Thanks, Gail
ANSWER: Begin with the easiest solution first -- clean the table with Murphy's oil soap. Wash well and wipe dry. Observe if stickiness is gone. If stickiness remains, the next step is to wipe the table with baby oil. Remove excess and leave to dry. If stickiness remains, try using oxalic acid to clean table. Test on an inconspicuous area first.
What can you do with an old shoe?
-- Donate to Goodwill.
-- Fill the shoes with sand and make doorstoppers.
-- Cut a hole in the toe and use the shoelaces to hang them on the tree outside for a birdhouse or fill the shoe with food for a birdfeeder.
-- Fill them with plaster of paris and make bookends.
-- Fill with dirt and make planters.
Easy 2014 valentine contest:
Submit one sentence that affected your life, either positively or negatively. All entries will be entered into a draw to win the complete bestselling book series, 1, 2 and 3 Household Solutions. Deadline: Feb. 28, 2014. Mailing address: Reena Nerbas, Box 429, Blumenort, MB R0A 0C0 Email: householdsolutions@mts.net
I enjoy your questions and tips, keep them coming. Missed a column? Can't remember a solution? Need a motivational speaker for an upcoming event? Check out my website at Reena.ca.
Renovation & Design
ASK THE INSPECTOR: Temper your indoor temperature expectations
QUESTION: I own a 1-3/4-storey home with no basement, but a small crawl space. I installed a new high-efficiency furnace a year and a half ago.
Over this past winter, my tenant complained that it got very cold overnight in the house. I went to the house on several occasions in the evening and found that the house was a complete sauna -- the tenant had the heat cranked up to 30C. The tenant said that it wasn't until after midnight that the house got unbearably cold. He said that it's fine during the day.
I brought in the same man who installed the furnace and he said that everything is working fine. Could this overnight cold actually be happening? How can I stop it from happening again this year? Is there any way that the furnace could be cutting out overnight? It is an older home, built in the 1960s, and the tenant does complain that the doors are drafty even after I replaced the weather-stripping.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Richard May
ANSWER: There are many things that can go wrong with the various mechanical systems in our homes, but sometimes a defect can be suspected when nothing is wrong. This can usually be chalked up to either ignorance or misguided expectations by the occupants. This may be the case in your situation, but it could also be caused by improper settings or an actual malfunction.
Your description of the state of the home when you visited on various occasions leads me to believe that your tenant has unrealistic expectations about normal indoor temperatures during the heating season. If the home was anywhere near 30C, and the occupants were not walking around in bathing suits and sandals, they must be new immigrants from somewhere with a very warm climate. They may find our winter temperatures unbearable, and consequently turn up the thermostat to ridiculous levels.
Even very elderly homeowners, who may be understandably cold, rarely set the indoor temperatures higher than 23 or 24C. Any higher than that and the furnace may run almost continuously on very cold days.
If your tenant likes to keep the indoor environment very hot during normal daily activities, I can see why they may feel chilly when they become sedentary and go to bed. Even a slight draft from an older bedroom window may feel very cold to individuals not used to such extreme temperatures, especially when laying in bed. You may be able to minimize this issue by installing clear plastic sheathing on the inside of the windows, or suggesting your tenants purchase warmer bedding, but that may not be the real issue.
Keeping a home unseasonably warm during the heating season can have a real detrimental effect on the building. If the home does not have lots of attic insulation, excessive heating may cause several problems. A warm attic during the winter can cause ice-damming, premature roof deterioration or excessive condensation and frost buildup. This can lead to moisture damage in the attic or inside the home once the frost melts.
Your tenants may also be turning the thermostat up to maximum at night in a misguided attempt to keep the house warm. If so, the burners may be running for such a long time that they are straining the furnace. This will trigger sensors inside the furnace that shut of the gas valve to prevent overheating. This is even more likely if there is a lack of airflow to the blower, often caused by dirty air filters.
There is also a chance that the fresh-air intake or exhaust may be covered with ice or snow, especially if the furnace is constantly running. As the outside temperature drops at night, the furnace exhaust may freeze, partially blocking the vent and shutting down the furnace. Checking the area around these pipes on the outside of the home should tell you if this is happening.
Another possibility is a problem with thermostat function or settings. If you had a programmable electronic thermostat installed with your new furnace, it may be set to turn down the temperature at night automatically. This may have been inadvertently set by your tenant or the furnace installer, and not checked during the daytime by your HVAC contractor. I would recommend going through the program settings, cross-referencing with the owner's manual, to ensure that they are not set too low for the tenant.
If everything checks out with the thermostat, I would recommend adjusting your tenant's heating habits rather than the furnace. Even if they are paying the gas bill, it's unwise to heat a home above 25C in our winter climate. Adding more insulation to the attic and crawlspace and covering leaky windows with removable plastic may help, but only a more realistic indoor temperature day and night will prevent problems with your home and furnace.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the President of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors-Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be e-mailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca.
trainedeye@iname.com
