Home Interiors Maintenance Tips - The "Anti Wrinkle Cream" for your home

After spending a bomb on interiors in terms of resources, time and love -  it’s painful to see things slowly (sometimes not so slowly) coming apart as the home ages and matures. As a home making professional even I have felt this anguish seeing my creations going down especially when just basic maintenance could have ensured longevity.

Below are simple maintenance tips that I have learned over the years that should help you keep your interiors in top shape and you (...and me...for the homes I have done) feeling great about your now "not so new" but "matured” home.

1. The essential “Yearly” carpenter visit: 

Like how we need an annual health check up, your woodwork needs one too. The hardware that’s used nowadays (zero crank hinges, hydraulic lift ups, sliding systems etc) tends to gather play with regular use. You would have noticed the space between the shutters either becoming bigger or smaller with use – sometimes the shutters may clash, rub against the adjoining panel, wall or slab or bend/ get damaged if the issue is not arrested in time. The carpenter will tighten things back & it will take him no longer than a few of hours to do it – “quality” time well spent with your home I am sure.

2. The over enthusiastic scrubber: 

The maid under guidance from the super clean ma'am sometimes, in her enthusiasm, scrubs away the grouting along with the dirt. Grouting (for those not so enlightened) is the filler that’s put in between tiles/ granite slab or between the slab & the sink to fill the gap. The purpose is to (1) fill the gap aesthetically and (2) to prevent water leakage in wet places. A scrubbed off grouting is the single biggest kitchen killer known to man woman & child – it leads to water seepage from the sink, into the woodwork underneath leading to sure death. Also – the “artificial rain” in your bathroom due to the seeping ceiling is probably because of the over enthusiastic scrubber upstairs.

As you may have guessed already a scrubbed grouting has a simple solution – (1) Check for its absence on the floors (especially bathroom floors), between the kitchen slab & sink and where the slab meets the walls and (2) put the grouting back.

You can in fact do it on your own using white cement for the floor and silicone gel for the Kitchen

3. The “stuffed” drain pipe: 

Imagine yourself in the Kitchen drain pipe’s shoes….no, throat, and you will feel its bane. The spillage resulting from the choke also affects and spoils the woodwork around the drain. A monthly “drainex” down the drain (literally) will help avoid the quarterly choke providing respite to the woodwork around it.

4. Formal, Formal, Formal pest control: 

So many of us come under the spell of the humane (to the cockroaches) "herbal" pest control guy or are busy lining our homes with numerous “lakshman rekhas”. Trust me, nothing (with an underline) works better than a formal pest control treatment. Depending on the size of your place it costs between Rs. 3000 – 10000 annually and is worth every Rupee. 

The black “sand” that the cockroaches leave behind in your cabinets and drawers is their droppings – not only does it look messy, it also find its way into your utensils, cooking etc. etc.……you know where I am leading with this.  So fix it before it fixes you.

5. Lemonade & fizz for your bathroom fixtures: 

With use, you will find a frosty white film settling on your bathroom fittings. It’s a pretty stubborn piece of flab which, when attacked with regular cleaners, leads to the chrome itself getting damaged. The solution – a tiny yellow lemon. A scrub with lemon juice will melt away the film and bring the shine & smile back. If you are out of lemon then (this one is awesome…) use Coke…yes “Cocoa Cola” – in fact Coke works better than Pepsi for this one. A sure Thumbs up to Coke for winning "this" Cola war.

6. Corian Top - The 2 year itch:

If you have a Kitchen/ Breakfast Counter made with an Acrylic Solid Surface (called Corian in layman's terms) you may notice mild scratches on it within 2-3 of years of use. What a lot of folks do not know is that you can get the surface re-buffed (the guy who installed it will be able to it) this will make it looking as good as new.

That’s it from me for now but if YOU know any maintenance tips then please send them in a comment below and I will publish. Wish you all happy up-keeping.

Cheers

Nandita

PS: A large part of this article was written by me for the Elita Community magazine, Some of you may therefore have read it there already & sorry for the repeat.

The "What Material to use for the Kitchen Counter Top" Conundrum. How to decide between Granite, Marble, Corian, Quartz, Acrylic etc.

A number of folks have been inquiring on what material works best for the kitchen slab. This decision has lately become more complicated due to the different variety available in the market and whether the newer materials available suit our desi style of cooking & handling.

To answer this question lets look at each of the materials available and the pros & Cons of each

1. Good Old Granite:
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By far the most popular choice, and not without reason. Granite is more or less scratch & stain proof. The only draw back with Granite is the limitation on the colours & shades available. If you are ok with the Henry Ford philosophy of "You can choose any colour as long as its black" then this is the best material for you. One would argue that granite does come in other colours, however my personal view is that the other colours in granite do not give as good a finish & look compared to black granite or the other materials (below). Approx price range 100 - 700 per square foot (some imported one do cost the sky)

2. Corian:
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The most hotly debated material. By the way - did you know that while Corian is generally used as a family name for all types of acrylic solid surfaces for countertops it is actually  brand name owned by Du Pont (Much like how we assume the name "Surf " to mean any kind of washing powder). Acrylic countertops in Bangalore are available from Dupont (Corian), Merino (Hanex) & LG (Himacs). The great thing about Acrylic solid surface is that it can be shaped as per one's requirement, hence giving a lot of flexibility to the designer. Also the finishes & edges are clean & slick. The only thing that goes against Acrylic surfaces is that they are prone to scratches & stains....these can however be removed by "rebuffing" the surface. Contrary to usual belief, Acrylic Surfaces are extremely resistant to heat (do not melt). To prove this to myself I actually brought a small piece of the material home and experimented with all kinds of things. The poor piece of Acrylic (this one is Hanex) you see in the picture below has hosted

Acrylic Counter top Material/ Corian - Under Test

1. A hot pressure cooker right out of the flame
2. A kadhai fuming with hot oil and
3. Knife cuts from daily vegetable chopping

Well, except for the scratches, it did hold up to tell its story.

The other good thing about Acrylic is that it comes in a range of colours including Shocking white (my favourite). On the price front Acrylic will set you off by over Rupees 800 per square foot, so u need to have a strong heart and a loving husband to go with it.

Marble:
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Italian Marble Counter top

Apart from the Rajasthani White (Makarana) Marble you have Italian marble widely available in Bangalore. It comes in a variety of very rich colours. The challenge in using Marble is that (1) You need to buy the whole sheet - so if you don't do your maths right then you may end up wasting quite a bit  (2) Marble is brittle - you need a very good workman to cut & lay the sheet and (3) Not all types of Marble are stain & scratch resistance, hence you need to choose carefully. However if  "Managed" well Marble can give a very distinct look. For the record...I myself have used Marble in my kitchen (see the pic) and contrary to the popular belief that Marble is not suited for Kitchen Counter tops I kind of am satisfied with it. What you need to know however is that it does require a bit of maintenance and kindly use - not as much as a " Fill it, shut it, forget it" (remember the old Hero Honda ad) type like granite. Price Point - Rupees 350 psft and above.

Quartz - Artificial Stone:
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Quartz Kitchen Counter Top

This is a fairly new addition to the family of materials for counter tops. I was frankly a little skeptical before using this when one of my customers insisted but its been around one year (see the pic) and so far the customer is not complaining. I really would not mind using this again. Quartz stands good in all aspects such as scratch & stain resistance, easy workmanship, slick finishes & availability in a range of colours. Price Point - Rs 500 psft and above



There are other options available like Laminate on wood etc however I do not feel that these stand up the exacting standards for Indian cooking and these are definitely NOT Indian MAID Proof  :)

That's it for now I guess, that one was quite a marathon ...have not typed sooo much in a long time and to those of you who have had the patience of reading till this very line...a big thank you & hope this helps you in your own Marathon of home making. As always would welcome any bouquets & brickbats

Signing off

Nandita Manwani