How to restore a house after the New Year holidays

Recommendation points

• Problem # 1. Scratches on furniture and floors
• Linoleum
• Laminate, parquet and furniture
• Problem # 2. Electricity
• Problem No. 3. Upholstered furniture: BEFORE and AFTER
• BEFORE
• AFTER
• Problem # 4. Stains on walls and ceilings
• Problem number 5. Sewer blockages

In this article, you will learn how to deal with the typical troubles that can happen to your furniture and interior during your home festivities. We will tell you how not to be left without electricity in the midst of a party, and what you need to do to return your home to its original comfort and freshness after the guests leave..

What could be better than New Year’s holidays? Only the absence of the consequences of guests visiting your home. A noisy party never ends without “marks” on carpets, furniture, floors and kitchens. We will look at some common troubles and how to fix them..

Problem # 1. Scratches on furniture and floors

This nuisance arises not so much during the “folk festivals” as in preparation for them. Cramped apartments sometimes oblige to make a rearrangement to receive a large number of friends and relatives, turning the living room into a dining room or bedroom into a living room. Scratches are repaired differently depending on the coating material.

Linoleum

Small mechanical defects of linoleum – scratches – can be repaired with a special repair compound based on PVC glue. This glue is identical in composition to the base of linoleum, therefore it is ideally connected according to the principle of “cold welding”.

The repair mix can be purchased at a flooring store. If a significant area is damaged, replace it. How to do this, read our article “Caring for linoleum”.

Laminate, parquet and furniture

Scratches on hard materials are much easier to deal with as they are better suited to cold repair mixes. To seal small and large (not through) scratches, you can use a special composition – furniture wax.

For work you will need:

1. Furniture wax, matched to the color of the coating (or furniture) – 3-5 USD e.
2. Marker of the same color – 1 c. e.
3. Fixing varnish (aerosol) – 10 cu e.
4. Spatula, hair dryer, cloth.

Operating procedure:

1. Clean up the scratch site.
2. Paint over the scratch with a marker and carefully remove the marks from the surface with a dry cloth.

Note.In some cases, this may be sufficient.

3. Warm up a ball of furniture wax in your hands, put it on a spatula and additionally warm it up with a hairdryer.
4. Fill the scratch in several passes.
5. Remove wax deposits from the surface.
6. Cover the repair area with aerosol varnish.

Video tutorial: how to patch up a chip on a laminate

If it is not possible to immediately eliminate the defect, cover it with tape. Water entering the interior of the laminate panel can swell the substrate. The sealed scratch will not stand out against the general background if you follow all the rules specified in the instructions.

Problem # 2. Electricity

Sometimes electrical appliances can cause some problems during the unrestrained New Year’s fun. So, for example, an ordinary light bulb in a socket, broken by a champagne cork, becomes an unpleasant surprise. Often at this moment, a short circuit occurs and automatic fuses are triggered..

To be prepared for surprises of this kind, make sure that access to vending machines or traffic jams is free and there is no “barn lock” on the switchboard. This will ensure the prompt inclusion of electricity. If you are using conventional bugs, keep a spare fuse and spark plug ready..

Council. Before installing incandescent bulbs, lubricate the base with regular petroleum jelly. This will make it easier to twist the lamp..

If the cause of the short circuit is a broken light bulb, and the light goes out, it is necessary to remove the base from the socket. There are several ways to do this..

Method 1. Classic.Turn off the electricity (plugs, machines) and unscrew the base with pliers. The method requires basic knowledge of a household network device.

Method 2. Vegetable.Turn off electricity (traffic jams, machines). Wash the medium potato and cut it in half. Use half of the tuber as an adapter between your hand and the rest of the lamp – plant the tuber on the base and turn it out. The method is good, but unreliable – the base can sit very tightly.

How to Unscrew a Broken Light Bulb Using Potatoes

Method 3.Can be used without de-energizing the building. We take an empty plastic bottle of 0.5 l and heat the edge of the neck strongly – until it melts. Then, with lightning speed, we press the molten throat to the remnants of the base. After solidification, we twist the bottle counterclockwise in front of the amazed audience (and unscrew the base).

Video tutorial: how to unscrew a broken light bulb using a plastic bottle

Problem No. 3. Upholstered furniture: BEFORE and AFTER

BEFORE

Furniture damp cleaning is usually done before guests arrive, during the general cleaning of the house. By tradition, at this sacred moment, everything old, negative and unnecessary is swept out, washed, eroded and knocked out on the fence in the yard. In short, everything that interferes with life should be left in the outgoing year. This very much applies to dust and dirt accumulated in the bowels of upholstered furniture..

An easy way to clean upholstered furniture, steps:

1. Moisten the sheet completely in water and wring it out thoroughly (possibly in a washing machine).
2. It is advisable to add fabric softener to the water.
3. Cover the sofa with a sheet and knock out with your hands or special devices (carpet cracker).
4. Dust will settle on a damp sheet, and the sofa will be saturated with the scent of the air conditioner.

How to clean a sofa with your own hands, video

AFTER

Let’s analyze small incidents that can occur during and after the visit of guests.

Spilled liquids should be wiped up immediately with dry rags, napkins, towels. The better you rub, the less likely traces will appear. If the liquid was colored, rub it in several times with water. Juice and coffee will be “asked” to add some liquid soap to the water. Obligatory final drying with a hair dryer will minimize the possibility of streaks.

Fresh greasy stains should be sprinkled generously with salt or starch and left to absorb for 10 minutes. Then remove the powder.

Stains from markers, felt-tip pens, and ballpoint pens can be removed with acetone, alcohol, or other solvent. Remember, any stain is best cleaned immediately. Old contamination can lead to unexpected and tangible costs for furniture makers’ special services.

Attention! Remember the rule – act until the stain dries by itself.

Interior care products – stain removers will be indispensable. These assistants will be able to resolve any issue spilled or splashed on the carpet or furniture. They are formulated with mild, non-toxic solvents that are excellent at dissolving fats.

Stain removers for carpets and furniture

Name	Manufacturer country	Release form	Price, cu e.
“Vanguard” “Magic Pencil”	Russia	Stick, 35 g	3.5
Pro-Brite Axel-22 H2O2	Russia	Water spray, 500 ml	4.5
Proffidiv	Russia	Powder, 400 g	6.5
Vanish OXIACTION	Russia / Germany	Water spray, 500 ml	10.5
MIRACLE DRY FOAM	USA	Set, 550 g	12.5
MANNOL Textile Foam	Germany	Gas. spray, 650 ml	15.5
Hagleitner CarpetSPRAY	Austria	Water spray, 550 ml	26

Problem # 4. Stains on walls and ceilings

It is better not to stain the walls and ceiling at all, but if you like the holidays, choose washable coatings for finishing – plastic, varnished wood, soft 3D panels, washable wallpaper and acrylic paint. If something irreparable happened and red champagne still left its marks on the walls or ceiling of the room, it makes sense to think about partially refreshing the interior. For example, repaint the ceiling or rearrange furniture, hang a decorative panel or mirror. If the affected area is not higher than 1.5 meters from the floor, you can install a children’s drawing board in this place (if there are children).

Problem number 5. Sewer blockages

Traditionally, large quantities of food can cause unexpected clogs in the kitchen drain. There are a lot of both popular and high-tech methods to eliminate blockages..

The most common cause of blockage is food fat that has settled on the siphon walls. In a situation where there are only 20 minutes left before the chimes, it is necessary to act decisively and quickly. Here are a few tricks that are effective depending on the “severity” of the blockage..

1. Wait for the water to drain and pour boiling water with a lot of sodium chloride into the sink neck. This can dissolve some of the fat and make it possible to complete the culinary masterpieces begun. However, the kitchen siphon should be revised as soon as possible..

2. If boiling water does not work, and the dishes are accumulating at an alarming rate, it is necessary to “defibrillate” the siphon with a plunger. In the absence of this tool, you can try to clean the drain manually.

Diy plunger imitation, work procedure:

1. Take a small (300×300 mm – like two books) kitchen towel and fold it in half.
2. Fill the sink halfway with hot water.
3. Put on rubber gloves and flood a towel over the sink drain.
4. With your palms folded in a dome, push the water column into the drain and back.

It is important to remove the blockage from its place, then it will be washed away with a stream of hot water.

3. High-tech method with the involvement of mechanized funds. If you have a vacuum cleaner with a blow-out function, use it to clean the sink drain, after wrapping it with a towel (do not block the hole!). If the blockage is fat, it will be instantly destroyed by the air flow, if it is something more serious (solid object, deposits, hair), you will need the services of a plumber with a cable.

4. In the long term, the blockage can be poured overnight with a special sewer cleaning compound..

Folk ways to eliminate blockages

Pipe cleaners

Name	Manufacturer country	Release form	Price, cu e.
Chirton	Russia	Powder, 60 g	1.5
Mole	Russia	Liquid, 1000 ml	2.5
Help “Minute”	Russia	Liquid, 500 ml	3.5
Mellerud	Germany	Liquid, 600 ml	6.5
“Magos Techno” 500 ml	Poland	Liquid, 450 ml	6.5
Help “Minute” Gel	Russia	Gel, 1000 ml	7.5

As you can see from the article, troubles pass faster and easier if you are prepared for them in advance. Knowing these folk ambulances will make you the “king” or “queen” of any New Year’s Eve party..