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HOMEMAXERS 1 CHAT Tuesday, January 9, 1940

(FOR BROADCAST USE ONLY)

Subject: "QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS." Information from Mr. R. K. Helphenstine, Jr., Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

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Now that the holidays are over and the more settled days of winter are here, housewives once more are turning their attention to the house. In the mailbag this week are a number of inquiries about floors and furniture.

The first letter "brings up again the question of how to keep a waxed floor , clean. This letter says: "I heard you advise using a soft mop dampened with oil for cleaning a waxed floor. But my neighbor who is an excellent housekeeper tells me that an oiled mop will soften the wax and eventually spoil the finish on the floor. Who is right?"

Both are right. If you use a mop soaked in oil on a waxed floor, it will leave oil on the floor and harm the wax finish. But if you use a mop just "barely dampened with the right oil mixture, it will leave no oil on the floor and it will gather up the dust efficiently.

Mr. R. K. Helphenstine of the U. S. Forest Service advises cleaning your floors with a soft cotton floor mop kept barely dampened with a mixture of 3 parts kerosene oil to 1 part paraffin oil. By the way, paraffin oil also goes "by the name of mineral oil. It is a clear tasteless oil often used for medicinal purposes. Buy it at the drug store. A small amount of this paraffin or mineral oil will go a long way in dampening a dust mop because you use so little of it. Remember — you use 3 times as much kerosene as paraffin oil in the mixture.

An easy way to get the oil into the mop is to put perhaps three tablespoons of oil mixture in a large tin can with a tight cover. Shake the oil around in the

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can, then put in the mop, cover the can, shake again, and let it stand a day or so. The mop will absorb the oil and he ready to dust your floors. The tin can is a good place to keep the mop when it is not in use, as it eliminates a fire hazzard.

By the way, when your floor mop gets dirty, wash it out in hot soapsuds, then rinse and dry it and dampen it again with the oil mixture. As ©very good house- keeper knows, only a clean mon will do a good job of cleaning.

Now for the second question up for reply today. Another housewife writes: "Every now and then I find a spot on my floors too soiled to clean with ordinary dry-mooping. Can you tell me how to remove such a spot without injuring the finish of the floor? Shall I try soap and water or some gasoline cleaner?"

The best way to clean a spot the mop won't take off is to rub the spot light- ly with very fine steel wool moistened with turpentine. Avoid using soap and water or gasoline. They may injure the floor finish.

The third question also concerns spots on the floor: "My living room floor has several very ugly and stubborn grey spots. They came from water left on the floor by a leaky radiator. Can you tell me any way to get these out short of re- finishing the whole floor?"

If your floor is finished with a wax seal, you can remove these spots by sanding by hand; then natching with the seal; and finally buffing with a pad of steel wool. A varnish finish is harder to natch without showing the patch. But a varnish finish kept in goad condition will resist water spots better than a seal finish.

Now here's a letter from a housewife whose problem is white spots on furni- ture. She writes: "How can I remove some white marks from the top of my dining- room table? They seem to come from heat or water."

Try spirits of camphor or essence of peppermint on those white spots. Very often, but not always, you can take such spots off furniture or floors by rubbing

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lightly with a piece of flannel dampened "by spirits of camphor or essence of pepper- mint followed after a few minutes "by rubtiing with furniture polish.

If the st)ot is on a shellac surface, try a mixture of alcohol and water, half alcohol and half water.

If this fails to accomplish the desired result; it will he necessary to re- finish the entire surface.

The last letter today inquires; "When do you use soap and water on a wood

floor?"

And the answer is; Never except when you are preparing the floor for re- finishing. Soap and water dries out the wood and is hard on most finished. Regular sweeping and dry mopping with occasional special treatment for spots, such as those mentioned in the letters today — that's all the cleaning a woll-f inished floor needs.

And that's all the questions today. Next Tuesday we'll have more inquiries from the mailbag.

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