Weekend Project: Fall cleaning tips for inside your home

Spring cleaning seems to get most of the attention, but fall is also a good time to get your house in order. Check out these fall-cleaning tips for the interior of your home and your yard and garden and those that follow.

Clean drapes, upholstery, carpeting, and floors. A canister vacuum is better equipped to clean drapes and upholstery, while an upright is better for deep-cleaning carpets. For your carpeting, use a carpet cleaner or schedule a professional cleaning. If your wood floors have taken a beating over the summer, see "Can This Flooring Be Saved?" to deal with worn finishes or damage.

Be a greener cleaner. Try these alternatives to store-bought cleaners. The video here shows more ways that everyday products cleaners can substitute for specialized cleaners.

Dispose of old paint and other hazardous products. Don't dispose of old paint, cleaners, solvents, pesticides, or other potentially dangerous products with the trash. Read our advice for proper disposal of  paints and finishes and common household items.

Also check with your municipality for collection dates for hazardous household materials. A feature on Earth911.com lets you search by location for dates. As a colleague recently discovered, you can save a ton of money carting refuse to a certified facility rather using a professional waste-disposal service.

Be wary of airborne and other problems. If your home has never been tested for radon or lead, read our report on home-use test kits to find those that work best. We've also found mold kits to be ineffective; use a professional if you see these telltale signs of mold.

There's also little evidence that air purifiers can help people who suffer from asthma and allergies. If you want to use an air purifier, use whole-house and portable models that rely on filters and that produce no ozone. (Ratings of air purifiers are available to subscribers.) Look for our report on carbon-monoxide and smoke alarms in the November 2009 issue of Consumer Reports, online and on newsstands in early October.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: If you or another member are prone to accidents, watch this video on the best ways to handle spills from wine and soda. Before the start of heating season, get your heating system tuned up. And to save money on your utility bills, install a programmable thermostat, read our buyer's guides to furnaces (more details here), solar water heaters, and pellet stoves, and follow our overall experts tips for cutting your energy costs.

Tip of the Day: How to make your own (less-toxic) household cleaners

Whether you're looking to lower your exposure certain potentially toxic ingredients in store-bought products or to save yourself some money or both, it's easy to make your own less-toxic cleaners using common household ingredients  and some clean, empty containers. Check out the list of ingredients below and then try the simple, reliable recipes that follow.

As always, store cleaners safely and don't experiment mixing common household cleaners. Mixing bleach and ammonia, for instance, could produce an irritating or dangerous toxic gas. Also read "Clear Windows, Unclear Warnings," which covers glass cleaners whose safety warnings for children and pets aren't as obvious as they could be. And read our report on keeping kids safe around the house.

Baking soda (bicarbonate of soda). You can use this mild alkali powder for a variety of purposes, such as removing stains from tile, glass, oven doors, and china; cleaning the inside of a refrigerator; helping to absorb odors; and removing baked-on food from pans. It also acts as a stain remover for fruit juices and other mild acids.

Borax. A powder or crystalline salt sold in most grocery stores, borax is a water softener and sanitizer. It makes an excellent freshener when added to laundry and is an all-around deodorizer.

Castile soap. A mild soap available in liquid or bar form that can be used for general-purpose cleaning. It was once made from olive oil, but now might include other vegetable oils as well.

Cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate). This common baking ingredient is a mild acid that you can use as a sink and bathtub stain remover. It can also be used to remove spots from aluminum cookware.

Distilled white vinegar. Good for a variety of household cleaning tasks, use vinegar to help kill germs and deodorize, remove some carpet stains, clean coffeemakers, chrome, cookware, and countertops, and  unclog drains. Note that while white vinegar has a slight scent while wet, when dry, it leaves no odor. However, don’t use it on acetate fabrics, such as in some tablecloths, because it can dissolve the fibers.

Hydrogen peroxide. A mild alternative to chlorine bleach that you can use for stain removal and mild bleaching and germ killing. Available in drug stores and supermarkets.

Lemon juice. You can use the juice (which acts like a very mild bleach) to lighten stains and cut grease. It can also be used to remove tarnish can be used on brass, copper, bronze, and aluminum, but not on silver.

Washing soda (sodium carbonate or soda ash). A stronger alternative to baking soda, washing soda can be used as a water softener in conjunction with laundry detergents (gloves are recommended as it will irritate skin). Don't use it with silks, woolens, or vinyl.

San Francisco Giants seek the best record—environmentally, if not in the standings

The San Francisco Giants aren't cleaning up in this year's division race. The Giants are 7.5 games behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, and even after last night's fine pitching performance by their young ace Tim Lincecum, remain 3.5 games back of the wild-card-leading Colorado Rockies and have only a 14.2 percent chance of making the playoffs, according to CoolStandings.com.

While its attention is clearly on the Major League Baseball playoffs, the club has also focused on greener cleaning for its uniforms, having abandoned laundry detergents with phosphates, chemicals that can boost cleaning performance but also promote harmful algae growth in waterways. The team's official supplier of laundry detergent is Vaska Products, a Berkeley, California, manufacturer that claims all its cleaning products are free of phosphates. (The Giants use a commercial product.) Read our latest report on laundry detergents, in which we note that manufacturers can make green claims without any checks or federal standards. The full story and ratings are available to subscribers.

"We want the very best for our players and for the environment, and when Vaska demonstrated that their approach effectively cleans tough game stains, left the uniforms softer and smelling better than ever, and is gray-water safe, we did not hesitate to use their products in our clubhouse," Mike Murphy, the Giants clubhouse manager, told Treehugger.com.

Switching to a phosphate-free detergent is part of a broader green initiative by the Giants at their AT&T Park (shown). The team has incorporated solar technology throughout the stadium, replaced hundreds of incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and installed a new irrigation system designed to reduce water use for the field by up to 50 percent.

Phosphates were banned from use in consumer powdered laundry detergents by the mid-1990s, and liquid laundry detergents have never contained them. But it's a different story for dishwasher detergents, many of which still contain phosphates. Some states have banned dishwasher detergents with phosphates.

For our latest report on dishwasher detergents (ratings available to subscribers), we tested several phosphate-free products. Several performed worse than cleaners with phosphates, but phosphate-free Method Smarty Dish did score very good overall.—Daniel DiClerico | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Read the October 2009 issue of Consumer Reports and our new Energy Saving & Green Living guide for more advice on lowering your utility bills, including an in-depth look at solar water heaters and wood-pellet stoves.

What's new on ConsumerReports.org: October 2009 home-related content

Tests that reveal the pros, cons and long-term costs of pellet-burning stoves and solar water heaters headline the new Energy Saving and Green Living Guide that we've published in tandem with these stories from our October 2009 issue. Among the key findings:

• Pellet stoves and solar water heaters. Our Alternative Energy overview reveals how both pellet-burning stoves and solar water heaters could reduce heating costs. But their high prices ($1,300 to $3,900 for pellet stoves; $2,200 to $6000 for solar water heaters, not including installation) and in the case of pellet stoves, higher operating costs (burning pellets is more costly and more polluting than burning natural gas) can lengthen payback times. Both also require upkeep and maintenance. Ratings of pellet stoves and an interim report our solar water heater testing are available to subscribers.

• Simple energy savings. Cut your Energy Bills lists more low-cost and cost-effective ways to reduce your utility bills, including specific tactics for heating and cooling, water consumption, and electricity use.
 
• Tracking federal incentives. See qualification criteria, installation costs, and annual monetary savings from the many energy-savings products and projects eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit. We also describe how energy audits (done by private firms or on your own with help from government Web sites) can spot home energy wasters.

• CFLs now offer savings and style. Choosing the right compact fluorescent lights is another great way to cut your electric bills. They've been showing up in more and more fixtures, and our ratings (available to subscribers) include models that will work in conventional lights and recessed and track lights, outdoor and flood lights and porch/post lights.

• Readers share mattress ratings. When it's lights out, tap into the wisdom of 17,444 Consumer Reports readers who shared their ratings of the best mattress brands and retailers.

• Vacuums for tough times. Our report on Vacuums rates the performance of both the high-powered high-end and low-priced (but still well performing) models that manufacturers are rolling out during this recession.

• Standout shower towers. Our tests of shower towers revealed three models that could provide an invigorating spray while staying within federal water-consumption regulations and avoiding surcharges imposed by some utilities for heavy water use.

• The scoop on a robotic gutter cleaner. We unleashed the iRobot Looj 155 robotic cleaner on some sections of leaf-clogged gutters and found its promise exceeded its performance. Subscribers can read the full report here.

• Snow blower problem. We found a Toro snow blower that lacks an essential safety feature and gave it our Don't Buy: Safety Alert rating. But safe and cost-effective blowers did abound in our new ratings of 17 models (available to subscribers).

• Green dishwasher detergents wash out. Our tests of three phosphate-free dishwasher detergents also proved disappointing, although you can find capable phosphate-free performers in our August 2009 review of dishwasher detergents.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Find our more about upcoming increases in federal incentives for energy-efficient appliances.

Dirty dishes drive Washington residents in search of phosphate-free detergents

Back in the mid-19th century, the message was, Go west, young man. Since last summer in the Spokane, Washington, area, however, people have been heading eastward to Idaho. They're not in search of land or riches or potatoes; rather, it's dishwasher detergents they're after, according to this recent Associated Press story.

After the ban on the sale of dishwasher detergents with more than 0.5 percent phosphate (some detergents have up to 9 percent) went into effect in the Spokane area last summer, many consumers in the city became unhappy with how well some eco-friendly phosphate-free products cleaned their dishes. So they've been making the quick trip east on Interstate 90 into Idaho, where they can stock up on the dishwasher detergents of their choice.

The ban will go into effect throughout Washington on July 1, 2010. Fourteen other states currently have passed similar legislation or are considering banning detergents with phosphate, and a bill calling for a nationwide ban was introduced in the U.S. Senate on March 24.

Phosphates boost the cleaning power of detergents, but they also encourage algae growth in freshwater, which robs the water of oxygen for fish and plants. But that hasn't deterred consumers. "Yes, I am a smuggler," one shopper at an Idaho store told the AP. She stressed that she had tried green dishwasher detergents but her plates were left with grime and bits of food after being washed.

Our past test of dishwasher detergents showed that some phosphate-free products did a good to excellent job cleaning. However, manufacturers have reformulated their products, and the early indications in our ongoing tests are not encouraging for many phosphate-free dishwasher detergents.

Stay tuned for more results as they become available.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter

Essential information: Find out how proper loading can improve the performance of your dishwasher, and if you're in the market for a new dishwasher, load up on our expert buying advice.

By the Numbers: Electrolyzed water seen as a "miracle" cleaner

$10,000

Price of the electrolyzed-water cleaning device being used as a sanitizer by the housekeeping staff at the Sheraton Delfina hotel, in Santa Monica, California. This type of electrolysis machine is seen as way to replace chemical-based cleaners for all manner of jobs, according to this recent article in the Los Angeles Times. The salt-and-water cleaning solution for the hotel's ElectroCide System (basic setup shown), which is made by Woburn, Massachusetts-based Electrolyzer Corporation, costs about a penny per gallon.

Essential information: Read about greener cleaners.

10 Questions for . . . Arlene Blum, Biophysical Chemist

In this installment of 10 Questions for . . . , Associate Editor Kimberly Janeway speaks with Arlene Blum, Ph.D., a biophysical chemist, author, and avid mountaineer. Blum recently won a Purpose Prize for 2008, which recognizes individuals 60 and older who are working to solve some of society's pressing problems. Blum won for her work to mobilize scientists, industry, and consumers to limit toxins in household products. Here's her take on toxins—including their impact on humans and consumer awareness—and the link between mountain climbing and her current work.

How are you working to limit toxins?
I'm executive director of the Green Science Policy Institute, and we're bringing scientific unbiased peer-reviewed data to government, industry, and nongovernmental groups to help make more informed decisions about which chemicals should be used in consumer products. We've stopped 10 bad standards just by putting together good information and people.

What's your latest achievement here?
We mobilized scientists, firefighters, and nonprofits around the world to persuade the International Electrotechnical Commission to reject a flammability standard that would have resulted in adding unneeded and potentially toxic fire retardants in the plastic enclosures of all consumer electronics, such as computers and printers.

Are chemicals in household products tested for their long-term effects on human health and the environment?
Our government requires health information only for foods, drugs, and pesticides. Consumers have no protection at all against toxic chemicals in household products.

What's the standard in Europe?
In Europe they reverse the burden of proof. Manufacturers have to show that chemicals are safe before they introduce them. In the U.S., chemicals are innocent until proven guilty.

How do toxic chemicals affect human health?
A big chunk of cancers, birth defects, thyroid disease, and neurological and reproductive impairments may be environmentally based. Reducing toxic chemicals in our homes and our bodies could help reduce these problems. I'm especially concerned about the chemicals that are persistent and biocumulative. These chemicals can migrate out of our couches and our TVs into dust and then into our bodies. Some are fat-loving and can stay in our fat for a very long time. They can also wind up in soil and rivers and then make their way into our food supply.

In 1977, your research led to a ban of the fire retardant Tris in children's garments, including sleepwear. How did Tris affect children?
We found that as soon as kids put on pajamas, you could find cancer-causing breakdown products in their urine the next morning. Tris was immediately taken out of sleepwear, but it's now being used in furniture foam.

What's on your mind: Our most popular blog posts of 2008

Before we get too far into 2009, we thought we'd look back at the most popular posts on the Home & Garden blog from 2008. The 10 blogs below generated the most buzz last year.

Inside CR Test Labs: Sewing machines
This sneak peak at our March 2009 report on sewing machines (shown) generated quite a thread in the comment box. Around 150 readers chimed in, including the commenter who implored, "please don't lump in embroidery machines with general sewing machines." Roger that, as you'll see in the full report, coming in the upcoming story, whose issue is on sale and online in February.

Own a tankless water heater? Take our survey
Some 1,200 readers answered that call (another 100 commented directly to the item). The results of the online survey informed our October 2008 report on tankless water heaters, in which we revealed significant variations in installation costs, energy savings, and overall satisfaction.

Mold can be a problem for some front-loading washers
Here, we reported on the buildup of mold that many readers told us was occurring in the rubber gasket of the door to their front-loading washer. Sixty commenters jumped into the issue, some supporting the claim with tales of foul-smelling clothes, others reporting no complaints with their front-loading washing machine.

Why Consumer Reports doesn't rate specific models of mattresses
Not everyone rested easy with our explanation of why we don't rate mattress models. Wrote one commenter: "I subscribed to CR specifically for a mattress report and instead get a report on why you don't do a mattress report." Visit our new mattress product page for more details on mattress shopping.

Buying Advice: Portable air conditioners
Cooling the air was obviously hot on readers' minds when this blog posted on June 20. Our take on portable air conditioners is lukewarm at best—not only do they deliver less relief than manufacturers claim but the units also tend to be pricey.

Greener cleaners go mainstream
The launch of a line of natural cleaners from Clorox prompted this March 24 post.

Buyer's guide to pellet- and wood-burning stoves
Surging home-heating costs in recent years has fueled interest in alternative ways to keep warm during the winter. Hence the flurry of comments to this buying guide. In fact, there's been so much interest that we're now planning a testing-based report on these products.

Buzzword: Radon
Of all our 2008 Buzzwords, none resulted in as many comments as this entry on radon. Several weeks later, The New York Times ran a story covering concerns about radon in countertops, raising the buzz again.

Tip of the Day: Don't get ripped off by an alarm company
Dozens of readers responded to this blog with their own experiences with alarm companies, crooked and credible alike. One unlucky homeowner tells how she was swindled out of $360.

Are EdenPure space heaters just a lot of hot air?
That question spurred significant interest from readers. Some defended their EdenPure space heater, others didn't recommend these appliances. Read our report on space heaters for more information.—Daniel DiClerico

Shower Cleaners: Powders prevail; one green cleaner shines

We recently pitted a dozen spray, powder, and aerosol shower cleaners against each other to find out which are the best at removing deep-seated soap scum, rust stains, and mildew from shower tiles. See the results you'll see in the video (right) and in our report.

In our tests, powder cleaners like Comet and Ajax proved the most effective (and cost the least). Aerosol cleaners didn't work as well and, despite the no-rinsing-needed claims on their labels, left streaks. There's still no substitute for elbow grease. If you're looking for a green cleaner, Clorox Green Works compared favorably to the all of the cleaners. For more details, see our ratings of shower cleaners, available to subscribers.—Gian Trotta

Essential information: Find out which showerheads provided the most effective, relaxing sprays and join in the spirited debate that ensued from our recent "Shower vs. Bath: Which Uses More Water?" blog posting.

Greener cleaners go mainstream

In January, the Clorox Company launched Green Works (shown), a line of what it claims are “natural” cleaners. Days later, SC Johnson announced that a new Greenlist label would appear on its familiar blue Windex glass cleaner. Both products are now being rolled out into retailers nationwide. You know the green bandwagon is getting crowded when two behemoths of the household-cleaning industry climb aboard.

No sooner had the companies launched the products than some in the green blogosphere began questioning the safety of the ingredients used in these cleaners and whether they really are just more examples of greenwashing. So we decided to take a closer look.

Clorox Green Works
Clorox says that its Green Works products, which include all-purpose, bathroom, dilutable, glass-and-surface, and toilet-bowl cleaners, are at least 99 percent “natural.” But without a nationally accepted standard definition for that term, the company is using its own. Natural cleaners, Clorox says, are defined as having ingredients that come from primarily plant and mineral materials and contain less than 1 percent petrochemicals. But keep in mind, natural doesn’t necessarily mean nontoxic or nonirritating.

Unlike with many other cleaners, including some from Clorox, you will find a complete list of ingredients on Green Works packaging. That’s significant, since full disclosure is not required by federal law. At the same time, since it can be difficult to judge the potential harmful effects of ingredients you might be unfamiliar with, if you’re concerned about your health and safety, check for warning labels; they are required when a product contains ingredients that are known to cause harm to humans. Four out of five Green Works products carry “caution” labels, which indicate relatively less hazard than “danger” or “poison” labels would.

Four Green Works products carry the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment, or DfE, label (shown). The presence of the label means that the EPA evaluated the ingredients for health and environmental impacts. But it doesn’t signify that the ingredients are harmless; rather the label indicates that they are considered to be the least harmful in their chemical class. Also, since ingredients are judged individually, there is not one clear standard that all products with a DfE label must meet. Consumer Reports is in the process of evaluating the DfE label.

In April, a Sierra Club label will also appear on all the Green Works products. The label will indicate that the products have been reviewed by the club and are environmentally preferable to conventional products. However, the label is not free from conflict-of-interest, as the Sierra Club will receive financial support from Clorox as part of this partnership.

SC Johnson Greenlist
SC Johnson’s Windex Original blue glass cleaner is the first product to carry the company’s Greenlist label. However, the manufacturer claims it has been reformulating several of its products in accordance with the Greenlist process since 2001. Since the company defined the process, it decides what’s green. Basically, with Greenlist, ingredients are ranked on a more-to-less impact scale from 0 to 3. That information is then used to improve the “environmental and health profile” of products by reformulating them with ingredients considered by the company to be less harmful.

For the Windex, SC Johnson says it replaced a 0-rated solvent with a more environmentally responsible material and reduced the levels of volatile organic compounds in the cleaner. VOCs, chemicals found in many household products, can cause dizziness, headaches, and other acute symptoms.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find a complete list of ingredients on Greenlist products since the company is not required by federal law to disclose all the ingredients used. Without this information, it’s impossible for us to tell whether the green or any other claims are true.

SC Johnson also carries cleaning products with the DfE label, indicating they have gone through the government’s screening process for health and environmental impacts. Those products include Shout Trigger laundry stain remover and Citrus Action, Scrubbing Bubbles Soap Scum Remover with Orange Action, Shower Shine Daily Shower Cleaner, and Fantastik Oxy Power multipurpose cleaner.

In the end, the best way to find eco-friendly cleaners—from Clorox, SC Johnson, or any other manufacturer—is to look for products with labels that have been independently verified as green in the Eco-labels Center on GreenerChoices.org. Also read our report on greener cleaners and use the cleaner recipes there at home.—Kristi Wiedemann, Science and Policy Analyst, GreenerChoices.org

Essential information: For information on Earth Day and greener living, visit our Earth Day Guide.