Last weekend while Deb was priming the insides of the cabinets, I continued working on deep cleaning the beams throughout the house. I say "deep" cleaning only because the transformation is incredible and instantaneous. Aunt Mary always kept a wonderfully clean house. When we pulled up the carpet there really wasn't any thing under it except disintegrated padding. However, 55 years of gas log soot, cigarette smoke, and greasy steam from cooking had built up on the wood work in the house in places that I don't think anyone thinks to clean.
After experimenting with several products I have found one that really "outshines" the rest. I tried Murphy's wood soap, Amish Wood milk and Simple Green but they all have their drawbacks. The wood soap does a good job but takes a good deal of scrubbing. The wood milk is in a 12 oz bottle with button spray pump on top and takes a lot of pumping to cover a small area and it is really expensive. The simple green does a good job, but runs off too quickly.
The product of choice..... Gunk Automotive No Streak aerosol glass cleaner with Ammonia. Spray it on, and it foams up and sticks. Let it sit 15 or 20 seconds and wipe it off. The only draw back is the foam is pretty thick so I've been using a lot of paper towels. But, hey, I do work for a forestry equipment dealership after all, so I am contributing to my job security.
Here is a during and after picture of a beam.
During
After
Every little swipe brightens the room a little more.
Here is a spot Samantha did in the hallway behind the fireplace.
As the title says, that was the cleaning part. And here comes the waiting part. We only have one outlet right now since the electricians are rewiring the whole house to prepare it for another 50 years of living. And to handle the power loads families these days require.
I've been joking that our walls are vomiting copper.
New 200A breaker box will be hidden behind the master bedroom door.
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