Clean from the top

When cleaning your home, it's best to start at the top and work your way down. That way, the dirt falls onto the floor, which is cleaned last. Begin by cleaning cobwebs off the ceiling with a broom or vacuum and work your way down. Do the walls, shelves, and dusting of higher objects. Then move down to counter tops, tables, couches, beds, and lower dusting. Empty the trash and mop or vacuum. A last touch-up step is cleaning the mirrors and polishing crome on water spigots.

Yolanda Garcia - 356-0952
Yolanda's House Cleaning

Energy-saving tip

To help keep your energy costs down, Larry of The Watermill Inc. in Lake City recommends those who own a pool or spa to "make sure to use a solar cover."

Larry Larsen - 367-1403
The Watermill Inc.

Lawn care in Seattle weather

Seattle residents should plant cool-season grasses, which include bent grasses, Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescues, tall fescues and perennial rye grass. By nature, cool-season grasses grow actively in the cool spring weather and slow down or go dormant in the summer heat. With regular watering, they often will stay green through the growing season.

Also, cut your grass no shorter than 3 inches tall. Shorter grass is more susceptible to drying out and burning in the hot sun. Water your lawn before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m.

Julio Pastranazo - 356-0952
Quality Lawn Care Maintenance

Great experiment to see if your toilet leaks

Toilet leaks can range from small to large, constant or random. Many are even silent. Even a small, silent leak can easily waste $50 per year in water and sewer costs. Large leaks can waste much more. Fortunately, most toilet leaks are relatively easy to fix. In a properly functioning toilet, no water should move from the tank to the bowl, unless the toilet is being flushed. A leaking toilet loses water from the tank to the bowl without being flushed. Mialee Jose of Seattle Public Utilities offers the following tips on checking for a leaky toilet:

1. Remove the tank lid. (Don't worry, this water is clean until it enters the bowl).

2. Add some food coloring or a dye tablet to turn the water a different color. Put the tank lid back on.

3. After about 30 minutes, look in the bowl. If you see colored water, you have a leak. If the water is clear, water is not leaking from the tank to the bowl.

If you do have a leak, there are a number of possible causes. In most cases, you will simply want to replace the flapper (the rubber thing at the bottom of the tank that keeps water in the tank) and/or the filling mechanism. These are available at hardware stores and home centers for about $8 each.

Mialee Jose - 684-7283
Seattle Public Utilities