Is there such a thing as a quick home improvement project? Today I noticed the brass handle on my front door was awefully tarnished. So I took it off thinking I'd whip out the Brasso and get it back to shining. That project started @ 4:30 and I'm still trying to get some of the maybe 3+ years of dirt/tarnish off it. :roll: Yes I have stopped a few times to fix dinner and research alternative cleaning agents but come on. It's been almost 4.5 hours of on/off work for this little handle. I told my husband I should have just gone to Lowes and bought a new one. Now I've got to much time invest and need to see the project through. My web research led me to try a variety of methods to clean it including: rubbing alcohol, lemon juce, ammonia and ketchup <yep ketchup> My husband suggested kool-aid. He said in the navy that's what they use to strip floors. :shock: Some of these methods helped and along with Brasso I've worked most of the grime off but it is taking forever! I was expecting a one hour project max. And along the topic ... why do they say vinyl siding is maintenance free? While taking down Christmas lights today I noticed our house needs yet another power washing. Just did it in the spring. We have to do it every year or two.
Most brass door handles/knobs have a protective coating of varnish or polyurethane...you may not even be hitting brass in the stubborn spots.
For Brass & Copper I always use the FREE ketchup or hot sauce packets from the fast food places. Cover item and let sit over night. Works great; no rubbing, no work. The bottoms of my Copper Pots are bright & shiny! :?
Shaving cream works well too!! That is what we used to clean the floors, rifles, showers, and pretty much everything else with in the Army. It instantly removes scuff marks from floors. Good Luck!
Once you get the brass stuff clean buff it with a silicon based car wax. Will keep it nice and shiny for alot longer than without.
Most door locksets have a "lifetime" warranty, mechanical and finish. Why clean the darn thing? Take 15 minutes pull the lockset return to Lowes Or Home Depot and get a new one???????
Great tip but isn't it kind of scary that what we put in our stomachs such as ketchup and coke will clean so well:shock:
"And along the topic ... why do they say vinyl siding is maintenance free? While taking down Christmas lights today I noticed our house needs yet another power washing. Just did it in the spring. We have to do it every year or two." I imagine that's still easier and cheaper than having to paint every couple of years!!! Wish I had vinyl siding!!
Nope There's no such thing as a quick home improvement project, or a maintenance-free anything to do with a house. I say that as a former owner of a 100+ year old house that was constantly in need of painting -- I mean literally, we could just continually go around the house scraping and painting, by the time we got back to where we started, we needed to start over.:evil: So now I have a "new" house, and maintenance is a lot easier, but it's still the rule that every project will take longer than you expect, and cost more than you expect.
