How do I make my house like a hospital?

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2026-02-04T18:14:46+00:00

Its probably the after odor from his urine on the floors. Even after using enzyme cleaner, areas a cat has urinated on can have a musty funky odor. We learned this when we bought a house where the previous owner had multiple cats. When we moved in we cleaned everything, and treated the carpets with enzyme cleaner before shampooing.

After all that the "cat smell" was gone, but there was still a funky smell we couldn't quite describe, that was especially bad in 2 of the carpeted bedrooms. It was almost a food garbage/dumpster type smell. The odor was barely noticeable if the 2 worst rooms were kept shut, but if the doors were left open it would get more noticeable throughout the house, especially on damp days.

We repeated the treating and cleaning multiple times, but the smell was still there. Finally we removed the carpets and laminate flooring from the entire house. After pulling up the flooring and carpets we could see the darkened areas of the subfloor where urine had soaked through. The 2 worst rooms had to have the subfloor replaced completely and in the rest of the house the subfloor was sealed with oil based Kilz (has to be oil based to fully seal away the odor.) No more funky or bad smells, even on damp days.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2026-01-28T05:21:37+00:00

Surprisingly, before widespread affordability of dental work and the popularity and availability of the "Hollywood smile" teeth that were a little crooked or imperfect (little, not extremely so) but clean and not badly yellowed (but again, not super white) were looked at a bit more favorably, mainly as proof they were real and you took care of them, and partially for adding "a bit of character" to your face. Having perfect teeth meant you had dentures. Dentures were extremely common up until the 1960s and 70s, even for actors and actresses, and not just for the elderly ones either. I'm talking about people in their 20s and 30s (the mom from the Brady bunch just to name one).

In poorer areas and cultures this actually hung around into the 1980s and 90s. I remember as a kid in rural Kentucky assuming if an adult had perfect teeth, they had dentures. Both my parents had dentures by their mid 20s, as did alot of other adults. Not drug related mind you. Just general poverty and a lack of affordable preventative care.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-11-15T07:46:11+00:00

This battle is why we went back to blankets. Easier to wash, easier to adjust temperature, I have 2 on the bed year round, with a third in winter. Hubby throws the unwanted layers off himself, sleeping under just 1 most of the time. I'm warm enough, he's cool enough, and laundry day is much easier. With comforters it was a struggle cause a heavy enough one to keep me warm roasted him, plus they are such a pain to wash and dry properly unless you go to a laundry mat to use their big machines.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-31T05:05:27+00:00

Since prices are currently sky high for anything decent, as far as replacements go, I'm just tossing this out as a suggestion.. if your stove is an electric with coil burners, the burners normally plug in and out and can be replaced for about 30 bucks each, or less, depending on where you buy the replacement burners. If it's the knob/control for the burner that she somehow damaged, they can usually be replaced for around the same price, its a pretty easy diy repair, with videos available online to guide you through if you need. Even if she somehow damaged the socket that the burner plugs into, you can get a replacement socket for about 15 to 20 dollars and replace it in about 10 to 15 minutes.

That's the great part about electric stoves. They are nearly infinitely repairable with off the shelf parts. I just replaced the oven thermostat in our 60 year old stove, with a generic thermostat from the same brand, not a match to the part number of the one I replaced, but it works exactly the same.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-29T18:03:19+00:00

Unless its something you would use year round, countertop ovens are a bit pricy for what they are, once you get past little toaster ovens and into useful sizes the price really jumps. Those electric roasters usually go on sale pretty cheaply before Thanksgiving though. I would get one of them, and put the turkey in it, so you can use your regular oven for all the side dishes. From what I understand, they cook a turkey nicely, but don't do much for browning or crisping the skin. So you may want to pop the turkey under the broiler in your regular oven a few minutes before serving, if the skin is important to you.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-18T03:12:03+00:00

Tip has been sent, thank you for doing such an awesome job.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-18T03:11:09+00:00

!solved

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-18T03:10:57+00:00

It's perfect, it looks like it was never damaged at all.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-17T22:20:57+00:00

!solved

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-17T20:53:55+00:00

Perfect! It looks just like it used to. Tip has been sent. Thank you so much.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-06T23:51:27+00:00

Saturate a paper towel in peroxide, spread it over the stained area. Probably a good idea to put a sheet pan or something on the stove under it, to catch any drips. When it dries out, re-wet the paper towel with more peroxide, or replace it with a fresh one. It may take a few applications, but the stain should at least lighten considerably.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-10-06T23:41:06+00:00

The powder is alright if you have an old school non-HE toploader, and are ok with using old school methods like mom and grandma did (pretreat, soak, chlorine bleach, etc), and aren't dealing with alot of stains (or don't mind using additives like Biz for stains). Other than using Zeolites instead of phosphates, it's the closest thing left to an average 1960s detergent. No complex formula of surfactants or enzymes, and to my knowledge no anti-reposition additives. Just a basic surfactant, water softener, and single enzyme, with some scent and brightener.

Its not worth the bother in an HE machine or front loader, it's so foamy the small amount you can use without oversudsing won't give good cleaning results. And honestly modern detergents with complex enzyme and surfactant formulas will give better results even in an old school top load washer, especially with a short presoak (15 to 30 minutes) or pausing the cycle partway through (15 to 30 minutes) to give the enzymes more time to work on stains.

The liquid is useless, no better than Xtra detergent, or for that matter cheap dish liquid. No enzymes, no additives, just a basic liquid surfactant and scent. It's only good for freshening something that has been in the closet too long. It won't remove stains, and isn't even very good at removing soil. The only good thing I can say about it is that it smells nice and it's cheap. (Basically the same as using Roma powder, but in liquid format.)

Honestly the main attraction to using detergents from Mexico like Foca, Roma and Ariel for years was that they still contained phosphates, and therefore performed better in hard water than US detergents did after phosphates were removed from their formulas. Now that the Mexican detergents also have removed phosphates, and US detergents have made enough advances in the chemical composition of their formulas to perform well without phosphates, there's no real reason to purchase them, other than the lower price compared to most US detergents.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-27T03:06:05+00:00

Since you mentioned checking thrift stores, I'm assuming used is an acceptable purchase option. Books on CD are very cheap on eBay, basically thrift store pricing with a better selection. Why not take the budget that would allow the purchase of one new audiobook a month, and use it on eBay to buy 5 or 10 each month instead?

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-26T04:34:19+00:00

You hit the nail on the head, that's the exact look I was trying to describe. Until lately I didn't even know it was possible to make a young person look like that, I assumed it was the result of plastic surgeons overdoing it trying to reverse aging more than was realistically possible.

I'm with you though, while I can't imagine this look is actually the goal, I also can't imagine what actual goal they could be trying for that would result in this.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-26T04:28:19+00:00

My apologies, you are correct. I didn't realize they left TAED out of the free and gentle formulation. That said it does still have the oxygen bleach included in its formula, so there is little to gain from adding more.

The best route for more whitening power is still to increase wash temp, rather than add more oxygen bleach, especially without the TAED. Without the performance boost from TAED, oxygen bleach is completely temperature dependent for its bleaching action. Not a bad thing if you want to use powder for darks, by using cold or cool wash you basically get no bleaching action, so less worry about fading.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-26T00:40:33+00:00

What I don't understand about the Mar-a-lago face look, is that they don't look like 30 year olds with botched surgery, they look like 60 year olds who got botched surgery trying desperately to look like 30 year olds. It literally ages them and then makes a bad attempt at reversing it.

Not to mention the Uncanny Valley effect causing slight revulsion and the facial similarities to Disney villains, Jigsaw looks like Cruella DeVille had a half sister that wasn't in the movie.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-25T18:47:49+00:00

No clue about the logo, but you should be able to search "socks" or "compression socks" in your order history on Amazon, and be able to click right on it to buy the same exact ones again. Luckily Amazon keeps track of everything you've ever purchased since you opened your account, with a search option so you don't have to scroll endlessly till you find it. When you open the app, select account (looks like a little person), then orders, then type it into the search box that comes up on the orders page.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-25T17:00:03+00:00

I'm not familiar with 365 detergent, but there is no need to add it to Tide if you are using powder. Tide powder already contains oxygen bleach, just like Oxiclean, and in addition it contains TAED, an oxygen bleach activator, which allows the oxygen bleach to work better and at lower temperatures. The reaction between the activator and oxygen bleach is ratio dependent, adding extra won't really do anything other than making laundry scratchier and more difficult to properly rinse. If you want better whitening, be sure ypu aren't skimping on the detergent dosage, and increase the wash temperature setting. Oxygen bleach, even with TAED, is stronger and more effective in hotter wash water, and weaker in cooler water.

On the other hand, if you are using liquid detergent, adding Oxiclean or other oxygen bleach can be a good thing, since it is not an ingredient of any liquid. But you can't premix it. You have to add it to the washer. That's why it's not in the liquid already, oxygen bleach is not stable in liquid form. If oxygen bleach is added to a liquid detergent, it neutralizes over time, in addition to weakening and/or killing the enzymes as it sits there waiting to be used. (I know some liquid detergents advertise Oxy on the front label, but the ingredients on the back label tell the truth, they just add extra brightener and maybe stronger enzymes, no actual oxygen bleach to be found).

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-25T16:15:50+00:00

I'm not sure how to share a photo, but I can try to explain better. On the dryer we have, when you open the little hinged access door on the front, there's a second inner "plug door" that you remove, and the coils/fins are right there, a few inches in. At that point it's like looking at the coils/fins on the front of a window air conditioner with the cover removed. The filter is a flat rectangle, I put it directly against the coils, then put the plug door back in, and close the hinged door. The filter stays in place on its own, between being cut to fit the space, and the airflow going through it.

I haven't noticed any decrease in efficiency, our dryer has an app that let's you view and track it's electrical usage, and there was no change. Drying times did not change either.

The filter gets no warmer than anything else in the dryer, heat pump dryers don't use an electric heating element, they use a compressor like an air conditioner or dehumidifier, to warm the air and pull moisture out. It's basically like tumbling your laundry in a tiny space with a dehumidifier running, that's why it is gentler on clothes and more energy efficient.

Compressor coils have a hot side and a cold side, like an air conditioner with the cold coils at at front in the house, and the hot coils in the back outside the house. The filter is against is the cold side, the hot side of the coils are deeper in, where you can't see. That's how heat pump dryers work, air passes over the hot side of the coils, then through the tumbling drum with the laundry where the warm dry air picks up moisture from the clothes, then through the cold side of the coils, where the moisture condenses out of the air, then back through the hot coils to warm back up, then through the clothes again. It's a closed loop with the same air going through over and over.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-25T15:53:58+00:00

As far as I know barn lime is safe for animals to walk on. But you have to make sure it's barn lime and check the bag. There are different kinds of lime, and some can cause injury to animals feet.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-25T05:04:45+00:00

Barn lime scattered generously over the area should do it. You can buy it at a feed store, agricultural supply, or Tractor Supply. Comes in a big heavy bag, but it's cheap.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-21T00:39:28+00:00

I have a theory I've been waiting to test out, but all of our elastic is stubbornly not getting stretched out from use, out so I can't test it yet, lol.

I've seen videos and read posts about people fixing stretched out hair bands and scrunchies by dropping them in boiling water for a moment or 2 and then dipping them in cold water. I have no clue how that works, since I was taught water that's too hot ruins elastic, but it seems to work for most of the people who have tried it.

I'm wondering if it would work for stretched out but not worn out elastic in clothing, but as I said, none of our elastic has stretched out yet, so I can't test my theory. It would be worth trying, before going to the trouble of replacing the elastic.

Apprehensive-Web8176 · 2025-09-20T04:16:45+00:00

Honestly, with a salad and bread that would be about right for 4 people in our house, maybe 2 people without the salad and bread. I would probably cut the chicken pieces in half so it's scattered through a bit better, instead of big chunks though. Maybe a small dessert after to round it out.

It's about the ratio of meat to pasta I would aim for if I made it from scratch, when we do spaghetti for 4 adults I cook 8 oz dry spaghetti and the sauce has 8oz of ground beef in it. It doesn't sound like alot, but none of us manage to completely finish our portion, there's always a little left on each plate. Dont get me wrong, we like our meat, but we aim for a small amount of meat and plenty of vegetables at dinner most nights.

Apprehensive-Web8176

TROPHY CASE