Part 254

«To Make Loose Nails in Walls Rigid.»—As soon as a nail driven in the wall becomes loose and the plastering begins to break, it can be made solid and firm by the following process: Saturate a bit of wadding with thick dextrin or glue; wrap as much of it around the nail as possible and reinsert the latter in the hole, pressing it home as strongly as possible. Remove the excess of glue or dextrin, wiping it cleanly off with a rag dipped in clean water; then let dry. The nail will then be firmly fastened in place. If the loose plastering be touched with the glue and replaced, it will adhere and remain firm.

«How to Keep Lamp Burners in Order.»—In the combustion of coal oil a carbonaceous residue is left, which attaches itself very firmly to the metal along the edge of the burner next the flame. This is especially true of round burners, where the heat of the flame is more intense than in flat ones, and the deposit of carbon, where not frequently removed, soon gets sufficiently heavy to interfere seriously with the movement of the wick up or down. The deposit may be scraped off with a knife blade, but a much more satisfactory process of getting rid of it is as follows: Dissolve sodium carbonate, 1 part, in 5 or 6 parts of water, and in this boil the burner for 5 minutes or so. When taken out the burner will look like a new one, and acts like one, provided that the apparatus for raising and lowering the wick has not previously been bent and twisted by attempting to force the wick past rough deposits.

«To Remove the Odor from Pasteboard.»—Draw the pasteboard through a 3 per cent solution of viscose in water. The pasteboard must be calendered after drying.

«To Remove Woody Odor.»—To get rid of that frequently disagreeable smell in old chests, drawers, etc., paint the surface over with the following mixture:

Acetic ether 100 parts Formaldehyde 6 parts Acid, carbolic 4 parts Tincture of eucalyptus leaves 60 parts

Mix. After applying the mixture expose the article to the open air in the sunlight.

«To Keep Flies Out of a House.»—Never allow a speck of food to remain uncovered in dining room or pantry any length of time after meals. Never leave remnants of food exposed that you intend for cat or hens. Feed at once or cover their food up a distance from the house. Let nothing decay near the house. Keep your dining room and pantry windows open a few inches most of the time. Darken your room and pantry when not in use. If there should be any flies they will go to the window when the room is darkened, where they are easily caught, killed, or brushed out.

«An Easy Way to Wash a Heavy Comfortable.»—Examine the comfortable, and if you find soiled spots soap them and scrub with a small brush. Hang the comfortable on a strong line and turn the hose on. When one side is washed turn and wash the other. The water forces its way through cotton and covering, making the comfortable as light and fluffy as when new. Squeeze the corners and ends as dry as possible.

«Preservation of Carpets.»—Lay sheets of brown paper under the carpet. This gives a soft feeling to the foot, and by diminishing the wear adds longer life to the carpet; at the same time it tends to keep away the air and renders the apartments warm.

«To Do Away with Wiping Dishes.»—Make a rack by putting a shelf over the kitchen sink, slanting it so that the water {400} will drain off into the sink. Put a lattice railing about 6 inches high at the front and ends of the shelf so that dishes can be set against it on their edges without falling out. Have 2 pans of hot water. Wash the dishes in one and rinse them in the other. Set them on edge in the rack and leave until dry.

«A Convenient Table.»—

Ten common-sized eggs weigh 1 pound.

Soft butter, the size of an egg, weighs 1 ounce.

One pint of coffee and of sugar weighs 12 ounces.

One quart of sifted flour (well heaped) weighs 1 pound.

One pint of best brown sugar weighs 12 ounces.

«How to Make a Cellar Waterproof.»—The old wall surface should be roughened and perfectly cleaned before plastering is commenced. It may be advisable to put the first coat on not thicker than 1⁠/⁠4 inch, and after this has set it may be cut and roughened by a pointing trowel. Then apply a second 1⁠/⁠4-inch coat and finish this to an even and smooth surface. Proportion of plaster: One-half part slaked lime, 1 part Portland cement, part fine, sharp sand, to be mixed well and applied instantly.

«Removing Old Wall Paper.»—Some paper hangers remove old paper from walls by first dampening it with water in which a little baking soda has been dissolved, the surface being then gone over with a “scraper” or other tool. However, the principle object of any method is to soften the old paste. This may be readily accomplished by first wetting a section of the old paper with cold or tepid water, using a brush, repeating the wetting until the paper and paste are soaked through, when the paper may easily be pulled off, or, if too tender, may be scraped with any instrument of a chisel form shoved between the paper and the wall. The wall should then be washed with clean water, this operation being materially assisted by wetting the wall ahead of the washing.

«Stained Ceilings.»—Take unslaked white lime, dilute with alcohol, and paint the spots with it. When the spots are dry—which will be soon, as the alcohol evaporates and the lime forms a sort of insulating layer—one can proceed painting with size color, and the spots will not show through again.

«To Overcome Odors in Freshly Papered Rooms.»—After the windows and doors of such rooms have been closed, bring in red-hot coal and strew on this several handfuls of juniper berries. About 12 hours later open all windows and doors, so as to admit fresh air, and it will be found that the bad smell has entirely disappeared.

«Treatment of Damp Walls.»—I.—A good and simple remedy to obviate this evil is caoutchouc glue, which is prepared from rubber hose. The walls to be laid dry are first to be thoroughly cleaned by brushing and rubbing off; then the caoutchouc size, which has been previously made liquid by heating, is applied with a broad brush in a uniform layer—about 8 to 12 inches higher than the wall appears damp—and finally paper is pasted over the glue when the latter is still sticky. The paper will at once adhere very firmly. Or else, apply the liquefied glue in a uniform layer upon paper (wall paper, caoutchouc paper, etc.). Upon this, size paint may be applied, or it may be covered with wall paper or plaster.

If the caoutchouc size is put on with the necessary care—i. e., if all damp spots are covered with it—the wall is laid dry for the future, and no peeling off of the paint or the wall paper needs to be apprehended. In cellars, protection from dampness can be had in a like manner, as the caoutchouc glue adheres equally well to all surfaces, whether stone, glass, metal, or wood.

II.—The walls must be well cleaned before painting. If the plaster should be worn and permeated with saltpeter in places it should be renewed and smoothed. These clean surfaces are coated twice with a water-glass solution, 1.1, using a brush and allowed to dry well. Then they are painted 3 times with the following mixture: Dissolve 100 parts, by weight, of mastic in 10 parts of absolute alcohol; pour 1,000 parts of water over 200 parts of isinglass; allow to soak for 6 hours; heat to solution and add 100 parts of alcohol (50 per cent). Into this mixture pour a hot solution of 50 parts of ammonia in 250 parts of alcohol (50 per cent), stir well, and subsequently add the mastic solution and stand aside warm, stirring diligently. After 5 minutes take away from the fire and painting may be commenced. Before a fresh application, however, the solution should be removed.

When this coating has dried completely it is covered with oil or varnish paint, preferably the latter. In the same manner the exudation of so-called saltpeter {401} in fresh masonry or on the exterior of façades, etc., may be prevented, size paint or lime paint being employed instead of the oil-varnish paint. New walls which are to be painted will give off no more saltpeter after 2 or 3 applications of the isinglass solution, so that the colors of the wall paper will not be injured either. Stains caused by smoke, soot, etc., on ceilings of rooms, kitchens, or corridors which are difficult to cover up with size paint, may also be completely isolated by applying the warm isinglass solution 2 or 3 times. The size paint is, of course, put on only after complete drying of the ceilings.

«To Protect Papered Walls from Vermin.»—It is not infrequent that when the wall paper becomes defective or loose in papered rooms, vermin, bed bugs, ants, etc., will breed behind it. In order to prevent this evil a little colocynth powder should be added to the paste used for hanging the paper, in the proportion of 50 or 60 parts for 3,000 parts.

«Care of Refrigerators.»—See that the sides or walls of all refrigerators are occasionally scoured with soap, or soap and slaked lime.

«Dust Preventers.»—Against the beneficial effects to be observed in the use of most preparations we must place the following bad effects: The great smoothness and slipperiness of the boards during the first few days after every application of the dressing, which forbids the use of the latter on steps, floors of gymnasia, dancing floors, etc. The fact that the oil or grease penetrates the soles of the boots or shoes, the hems of ladies’ dresses, and things accidentally falling to the floor are soiled and spotted. Besides these there is, especially during the first few days after application, the dirty dark coloration which the boards take on after protracted use of the oils. Finally, there is the considerable cost of any process, especially for smaller rooms and apartments. In schoolrooms and railroad waiting rooms and other places much frequented by children and others wearing shoes set with iron, the boards soon become smooth from wear, and for such places the process is not suited.

According to other sources of information, these evil tendencies of the application vanish altogether, or are reduced to a minimum, if (1) entirely fresh, or at least, not rancid oils be used; (2) if, after each oiling, a few days be allowed to elapse before using the chamber or hall, and finally (3), if resort is not had to costly foreign special preparations, but German goods, procurable at wholesale in any quantity, and at very low figures.