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"  (Photograph by Zach Desart) Indoors 1. SAWDUST AND WORKSHOP CLUTTER  The chief culprit in workshop mess is sawdust. It&amp;#039;s slippery underfoot and dangerous to breathe, so making short work of it should be your first priority. Begin by suiting up. Wear a dust mask and old clothes or, better yet, coveralls. Yeah, we know, it&amp;#039;s something out of your dad&amp;#039;s generation--but keeping a pair of coveralls hanging in the shop will make it easier to keep clean. Store them there to keep grime out of the house and cut down on dusty laundry. Your dad was right about a few things.  Begin sawdust cleanup by working from the top of the shop down. Brush or vacuum off the tops of hanging fluorescent shop lights. Speed the job along by buying an extra length or two of hose for your shop vacuum, enough to reach every corner of your shop. This makes post-project cleanup quick and easy; instead of having to roll the vacuum cleaner around the shop, you simply walk the hose around.  Once the floor and shelves are free of dust, turn your sights on bench-top clutter. Make sure every tool has a home by hanging hand tools on pegboard or storing them in boxes, but keep tools you&amp;#039;re using in a plastic tote. That keeps them portable--and off the bench top. You can put them away when you&amp;#039;re done. 2. GARAGE FLOOR GREASE AND OIL You&amp;#039;re better off dealing with spilled lubricants and auto fluids while they&amp;#039;re still liquid. They&amp;#039;re a lot easier to remove in that form than after they&amp;#039;ve soaked into a concrete floor. Sprinkle on an absorbent powder--while everyone has heard of using kitty litter, you can also try dry cement or sawdust. Leave it for a few hours, then sweep up. If you really want to do a thorough cleanup, wet the area and sprinkle liquid dishwashing detergent, such as Cascade. Wait a few minutes. Pour boiling water on the area and scrub with a stiff-bristled brush. Then rinse. 3. BASEMENT MOLD AND MILDEW A moldy basement is a sign that you&amp;#039;ve got a moisture problem. So don&amp;#039;t bother cleaning until you&amp;#039;ve found the cause and completed foundation repairs and drainage projects. After that&amp;#039;s out of the way, cleaning is a piece of cake. Kill mold and mildew by mopping with a solution of a half-cup to 1 cup of chlorine bleach to 1 gallon of water. A squirt of nonammoniated dishwashing liquid will help lift the mold and mildew from the surface. Rinse, then pick up standing water with a shop vacuum. Blot up what remains with old towels. Evaporate remaining moisture by circulating the air with fans.  4. GROUT Don&amp;#039;t feel bad if you&amp;#039;ve got moldy bathroom grout and tile. It can happen even if you clean conscientiously. We have a home-brewed formula to handle it (though you shouldn&amp;#039;t use it on colored grout). Make a paste of Bon Ami Polishing Cleanser and chlorine bleach diluted with water. Ironically, people buy Bon Ami because it doesn&amp;#039;t contain bleach or harsh abrasives, yet it&amp;#039;s these qualities that make the product an ideal foundation for a bleach-based poultice. Scrub the paste over the tiles with a soft brush. Let it dry, and rinse it using a brush and a pail of water. Wash off the hazy residue with a damp cloth, and wipe dry.  5. FIREPLACE BRICK Sure, the brick inside a fireplace is meant to get dirty. On the other hand, if it&amp;#039;s really grubby, a good scrubbing goes a long way to brightening the room that it&amp;#039;s in. First put on a dust mask and sweep up ashes and cinders. If needed, use a spray bottle and apply a fine mist of water to keep the dust down. Don&amp;#039;t apply so much water as to create a slurry. To remove smoke stains, mix a half-cup of trisodium phosphate (TSP) in a gallon of hot water, or use a commercial scouring powder that contains bleach. Use the spray bottle and wet the brickwork with water, so that it won&amp;#039;t sponge up whichever cleaning agent you choose.  Now, scrub with a stiff-bristled plastic or natural-fiber brush. You may be tempted to use a wire brush to scrub off the deposits, but don&amp;#039;t do it. The brush is likely to damage mortar. Rinse the surface with warm water and blot the crud that comes off with rags.  Outdoors 6. BARBECUE GRILL GRATES  Few things are as unappetizing as starting a nice family cookout on a nasty-looking grill. So scrape off the big stuff with a putty knife, then spray the grates with a noncaustic oven cleaner. Seal them up in a plastic garbage bag and let them sit overnight. Scrub with a brass brush and rinse with a garden hose; then get on with the family feast. 7. ALUMINUM AND VINYL SIDING Dirty siding: bad. Clean siding: good. If only this job were that simple. Begin by covering outside light fixtures or electrical outlets with plastic bags. We admit that this next part sounds odd, so bear with us. Minimize streaking by washing the siding from the bottom to the top. Otherwise, the streams of solution racing down will leave hard-to-remove streaks. Rinse the opposite way--from top to bottom. Yes, pros often do just the opposite, but if you don&amp;#039;t do this for a living and don&amp;#039;t have the equipment and experience to move very quickly, follow our advice. Don&amp;#039;t overlook the bottom edge of lap siding, soffits or anywhere that dripping water can cause a buildup of dirt.  To clean aluminum siding, use trisodium phosphate (TSP) and warm water. Use a soft brush and don&amp;#039;t scrub so vigorously that you remove the finish. For vinyl siding, gentle scrubbing with some warm water and a little dishwashing liquid should do the trick.  For mildew-covered siding, try a product like Jomax House Cleaner and Mildew Killer. It&amp;#039;s added to a solution of warm water and bleach and applied with a garden sprayer. It can often remove dirt and mildew without scrubbing. 8. ASPHALT DRIVEWAY Do yourself a favor--tackle this job in the morning, while it&amp;#039;s still cool. Use a broom and a leaf blower to remove leaves and dirt. You&amp;#039;ve been waiting for a good use for those old recip saw blades you can&amp;#039;t part with. Here&amp;#039;s one: Use them to rake weeds and dirt out of cracks. Mix up some general household cleaner, such as Spic and Span, in a bucket with warm water, and scrub with a stiff-bristled broom. Rinse well with a garden hose. To keep out weeds, fill cracks with asphalt crack sealer.  9. FENCES AND DECKS If you&amp;#039;re well experienced with a pressure washer, you can carefully work your way over the surface with a 25-degree spray nozzle. For the inexperienced, scrubbing by hand is more likely to clean, not splinter, the wood.  Before you begin, thoroughly rinse nearby siding, trim and doors using a garden hose and spray nozzle. Wetting these surfaces prevents debris from sticking to them. Next, mix 1 cup of TSP, 1 cup of liquid bleach and 1 gallon of warm water. Work a small area, then rinse before moving to the next, to ensure uniform cleaning. 10. LAWNMOWERS If you&amp;#039;ve come this far, a little more cleaning won&amp;#039;t kill you. Dried clippings block airflow above the mower&amp;#039;s deck and hold moisture below. Brush them off the deck and from between the engine&amp;#039;s cooling fins. Disconnect the lead from the spark plug, tip the mower on its side and scrape under the deck with a putty knife, and then rinse it with a garden hose. Tip the mower down; remove the engine shroud and vacuum the area clean with a shop vacuum. Remember to reattach the plug wire, though, or you&amp;#039;ll never get that mower to start. The Ultimate Cleaning Toolkit   &amp;amp;gt; FOR BEST RESULTS, MATCH THE CLEANER TO THE JOB. KILL GERMS DISSOLVE SOAP SCUM REMOVE GREASE ATTACK DIRT WHAT TO USE Chlorine-bleach-based cleaners Acidic cleaners Dish detergents, powdered or liquid alkaline cleaners, solvents Powder or liquid alkaline cleaners, such as those that contain ammonia or trisodium phosphate WHY A University of Michigan study concluded that bleach kills bacteria by attacking their proteins. Bleach also breaks apart light-absorbing molecules, lightening dark-colored stains. Of course, chlorine can also attack dark-colored fabrics or surfaces, discoloring them. Soap scum is an alkaline precipitate, a layer formed after the water has evaporated, leaving behind a thin layer of soap and mineral particles. Acid-based cleaners such as vinegar and CLR (calcium lime rust) attack soap scum&amp;#039;s alkaline chemical bonds. Detergents contain surfactants, additives that reduce water&amp;#039;s surface tension and help it dissolve the chemical bonds of grease molecules. Alkaline cleaners, such as dish detergent, attack greasy and oily acidic deposits. Solvents loosen molecular bonds, allowing grease and oil to be blotted up. Alkaline cleaners break up and suspend soil molecules in water, allowing dirt to be flushed or scrubbed from a surface. Choosing a Pressure Washer Nozzle    &amp;amp;gt;65\u00BA Nozzle Applies a mixture of cleaning chemicals and water.40\u00BA Nozzle Cleans and rinses.25\u00BA Nozzle Scrubs patios, sidewalks, decks. Cleans debris from crevices.15\u00BA Nozzle Removes caked-on dirt, grass. Strips weakened paint.0\u00BA Nozzle  Cuts dried mud off machinery or attachments. For jobs around the house and yard, a pressure washer that operates at 1200 to 3000 psi is all you need. It&amp;#039;s light-duty compared to those that operate at 4000 or higher, but it&amp;#039;s still got enough power to do damage or cause injury. To use it correctly, first choose the right color-coded nozzle.  Do: Wear long pants, gloves and protective eyewear. + Hold the nozzle 6 inches to 1 foot above the surface, or per the manufacturer&amp;#039;s directions. Don&amp;#039;t: Spray against glass windows or doors or direct the spray upward when cleaning lap siding or sidewall shingles. + Spray against electrical meters or network boxes for phone or cable service. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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