Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com

Marketplace \| Services \| Contact Us \| Community \| Arts & Entertainment \| Local Guides

Published by the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. CLICK FOR NEWSPAPER DELIVERY

Home & Garden readers might also want to read Keep it Green, a gardening column by Michael Womack.

Saturday, October 20, 2001
Home Q & A

Q. Our home is 40 years old. In my bedroom bath we have a four-way lamppost light fixture that holds four 60-watt bulbs. I was blow-drying my hair using a 1,500-watt dryer and I heard a pop. All electric in the bathroom cut off sharply and now nothing comes on and the light switch seems looser. No other part of the house was affected. Could you tell me what happened and what we can do?
   A. We can only assume what happened. It sounds like you overloaded the circuit in your bathroom. If your hairdryer and the lamppost were plugged into the same receptacle, chances are you blew a GFI circuit breaker or a fuse. If you have checked the fuse panel and found that all is OK, you must start looking for the GFI breaker that controls the circuit for your bathroom.
   A GFI receptacle contains its own breaker system (two plugs with two buttons in the center). One button tests the circuit and the other resets it. The GFI breaker isn't always located in the room where everything goes off. Sometimes the breaker is located in a different bathroom or in the garage. From now on, leave the lights off when you are drying your hair.Better yet, get four compact fluorescents and reduce the 240 watts currently being used by your pole lamp to 54 watts.
   Q. I have a mildew problem on the ceiling above my shower. I do not have a window in the bathroom. I want to paint, but am worried it might just be covering a problem instead of repairing it. I use bleach about every two weeks to clean the ceiling and walls, and it does make the appearance of the mildew go away for a few days. What would be the best thing for me to do?
   A. Mildew in your home can be easy to remove. Just mix one-third cup of powdered laundry detergent (less if concentrated) and 1 quart of liquid chlorine bleach with 3 quarts of warm water. Add the bleach to the water first and then the detergent. Scrub with a bristle brush, and in minutes the mildew will disappear. Rinse the area thoroughly and towel-dry. Although this reasonably mild solution can be used for most painted surfaces, you'll want rubber gloves, eye protection and plenty of ventilation.
   But why spend time removing mildew when you can prevent it? Mildew can't grow without a food source, and the food source that mildew thrives on is moisture. Mildew spores are in the air everywhere. They look for moist places to settle, feed and grow.
   How do you prevent mildew from growing? Reduce or eliminate the food source by cutting down on the amount of moisture, usually condensation, which settles on walls, floors and ceilings. This might not be as simple for someone who lives in Florida as for a family in west Texas, but, given varying degrees of attention, eradication is possible even in relatively humid climates.
   That you don't have a window in your bathroom means that ventilation might be poor. Moreover, the lack of natural light provides optimal conditions for mildew growth.
   According to the Building Code, a bathroom without a window must have an exhaust fan to remove moisture and odors. Unfortunately, bath fans are often undersized, broken or simply not used. If you have an exhaust fan, make sure that it is cleaned periodically, that the duct is properly connected and in good shape and that it is always used during showering and allowed to run for 10 to 15 minutes after the shower is over.


- Associated Press

| Talk about this story | Next Story | Home |

[ Printer-friendly version ]
[ Subscribe to newspaper ]

SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND