House and Home II: Shelter In Place

[divasahm]

Sprinkling your beds with red pepper often repels critters--I'd give that a try (and maybe black pepper, too) before spending more on stronger repellents.

[boxofrocks]

I have spilled tomato-based pasta sauce on my yoga mat. It's a Gaiam Extra Sticky Mat FWIW. I've used mild soap (Dove) and scrubbed with a nail brush, but stains remain. Any thoughts on how to remove them? Thanks.

[scarlet]

Jul 31, 2020 13:43:03 GMT -4 boxofrocks said:

I have spilled tomato-based pasta sauce on my yoga mat. It's a Gaiam Extra Sticky Mat FWIW. I've used mild soap (Dove) and scrubbed with a nail brush, but stains remain. Any thoughts on how to remove them? Thanks.

Try hydrogen peroxide.

[Deleted]

Help! I apologize for length here, but I'm desperate and it's a long story.

After I cleaned my bathtub on Saturday with Scrubbing Bubbles (a foaming bleach cleaner), I discovered that my shower drain was clogged. The water would back up every time I took a shower and release bleach fumes, making my eyes sting and my apartment reek (and also make my asthma worse.) I think the bleach was just hanging out in the drain, not going down.

Well the drain was finally fixed this morning. After the plumber left I wiped down the tub with a wet paper towel, and ran the tap with hot water for about 20 minutes in an effort to flush the cleaner down. I have all my windows open, and have been running two fans in the bathroom all day in an effort to get the fumes to dissipate. And since I live in a place that's experiencing a hot and humid summer (and it topped out at 90 degrees today) it was not a comfortable situation for me.

I couldn't smell the bleach after I got back from my evening walk, and so I closed all the windows and turned the fans off and took a shower for the first time in several days. Only to get more fumes and have my eyes sting anew.

So my question is, does anyone know how long I'll have to run the fans and keep the windows open so I can eventually take a shower without releasing a cloud of bleach fumes that spreads through my whole apartment? And is there anything else I can do to speed this process along? I work from home in a small apartment and do not have any outdoor living space, so I can't really go anywhere to escape the fumes. Also I'm tired of sponge baths and it's freaking hot here and I'd like to use my AC again.

[Deleted]

I think I'd probably call the plumber to check it this is normal--it sounds like there must still be some sort of blockage?

[Deleted]

I’ve contacted my landlord. After the anxiety attack I was having during my last post passed, I realized that this is probably not related to anything I did and there must be something else wrong.

I’m just really frustrated because it took three days to get the plumber here to fix the clog, and who knows how long it will take to get someone to look at this problem. And in the meantime I’m stuck taking sponge baths if I want to avoid irritating my eyes and aggravating my asthma.

[Deleted]

Ugh, it sounds anxiety inducing and extremely irritating. But yeah, not worth risking the bleach fumes for a normal shower:(
Hope your landlord is on top of getting it taken care of quickly.

[ratscabies]

Is it an apartment situation, where a neighbor might be overzealously cleaning, or disposing of bodies, and their bleach is backing up into your plumbing?

[Carolinian]

This is going to get TMI, but if you pee in the shower the ammonia in your urine might be mixing with the residual bleach and form a chlorine gas, which is incredibly pungent.

[Deleted]

Well, I don’t pee in the shower so I don’t think that’s it.

Aug 6, 2020 0:21:57 GMT -4 ratscabies said:

Is it an apartment situation, where a neighbor might be overzealously cleaning, or disposing of bodies, and their bleach is backing up into your plumbing?

That’s what my mother’s theory is; the plumbing in this building is terrible. The pipes froze and burst in the unit three floors above mine a few years ago and I don’t think it was ever fixed properly.