We love our fresh coffee and we love having it all day long. Now we have more reasons to love it, did you know that coffee can be used for household cleaning? Here are some cleaning tips for using leftover coffee grounds –
Fridge Deodorizer
Coffee naturally deodorizes a smelly fridge, so you can fill a glass with old grounds and stick it in the corner of your fridge. This works for that horrid onion or fishy smell that overwhelms you once you open the fridge and works better than baking soda
Pest Repellent & Natural Fertilizer
If you’ve noticed some ants, snails and slugs in your garden – well, coffee can serve two purposes, the strong aroma is known to repel the annoying pests. The second use as a natural fertilizer, you can add 2 cups of old coffee grounds into a 3-5 gallon bucket of water and let steep overnight and pour over garden and potted plants.
Keep Your Garden Clear of Cats
We live in a world where we love our gardens and our kitty cats, but having our beloved pets eat plants and flowers from our gardens can be dangerous. For instance, the delicate lily (lilium spp) may be beautiful to look at but when consumed by a cat it can cause lethargy and vomiting for up to 12 hours and if not treated can cause kidney failure. You can prevent this from happening by spreading used coffee grounds at the base of your garden.
Air Neutralizer
You can create a pretty display of flowers and neutralize the air at the same time by simply placing some coffee grounds (to appear like soil) in a vase or mason jar and filling them with fresh cut flowers.
- Oil Paints. Oil paints are pretty self explanatory, and are oil based. Also known as Alkyd paints, oil based paints can actually be toxic, and has strong fumes (if not properly ventilated). Oil paints, in general, dry slower than other types of paints, but they happen to blend better. This gives oil paints an advantage if you’re painting a large area, or if painting multiple colors onto a wall. Oil base paints are also some of the most difficult to get out, in the event of a spill. If you choose to use oil based paints, make sure to open some windows, and turn on a fan to help circulate air. This type of paint usually comes in a gallon size can.
- Acrylic Paint. Acrylic paints are among the most popular type of paints on the market. Water based, they are also the easiest to clean. Unfortunately, this type of paint dries quickly, making large areas more difficult to paint. Acrylic paints and oil paints will not mix, and acrylic paint might not even adhere to a wall if it was previously painted with oil based paints. Acrylic paints also do not blend well. If you are working with a large section, or attempting to blend colors, make sure to keep a water squirt bottle at hand, and squirt the walls to help keep the paint wet for best results. If you are going to make a glaze with acrylic paints, then make sure to choose a water based glaze, as an oil glaze will not mix. This type of paint usually comes in a gallon size can.
- Latex Paint. Latex paint is water based, but differs from acrylic. Latex paint is also easy to clean. It is a very versatile paint, since it can be used both inside and outside of the home. There are two different types of latex paint, interior and exterior. Latex paint is usually purchased in larger quantities than the other types of paint (latex paint generally comes in 5 gallon buckets, versus 1 gallon pails for the other types), although can be found in 1 gallon sizes. This makes latex paint excellent for painting large areas. Latex paint can also be used to help with lead paint abatement. Latex paints will adequately cover and seal the lead based paint so that contamination isn’t possible. Latex paints do not blend well, and dries quickly. This could lead to imperfections in the paint job that could cause latex paint to peel. Humidity also plays a factor in latex paint. If the walls are too humid, the paint will ball up and not stick, or will go on uneven, and allow the paint under the coat of latex to show through. Latex paints do not do well with faux finishes or any type of glaze.
Using these tips you should have no problems finding the right exterior painters and will certainly save time, money, and headaches in the future. If you would like to receive a free quote, please contact us today!