At one
house the owner came in to ask if I could help identify a stain in the
garage. We went out to the garage as he
told me how he noticed a little puddle of oil on the floor on Sunday and he
thought he got it all but now it was back.
I looked up. On the rafters above
his puddle of oil was a box marked OIL.
He stored his turkey frying oil where most people store the artificial
Christmas tree and lights.
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| www.ehow.com how to clean oil on garage floor |
He forgot, or
didn’t know, that hot air rises. He had
placed the box in the hottest spot in the garage. The box was soaked with oil from the exploded
plastic container inside. We put down a
tarp before moving the box. That was a
good thing because the minute he touched it, the thing broke into a river of
peanut oil. After we got the box and jug
of what was left of the oil in a trash bag, it was time to scrub a capful of
laundry detergent across the tarp to break down the oil and hose it into the
lawn. I mentioned he might want to check
the top of his wife’s car for any more “puddles” of oil!
I gotta
tell you he wasn't the only turkey oil disaster I've cleaned up! You also cannot store two or more boxes of
turkey oil on top of each other in a garage in Florida in a position that
catches the setting sun through a window for more than two years!
The plastic jugs the oil comes in are meant
to last from the plant to the store and then to your home. The seams are the cheapest possible to allow
for a profit. They are not meant to
stand up to extreme heat or cold. They
actually come with instructions printed in them, such as do not freeze, do not
store near heat, etc. They are not meant
to last beyond the urge to fry your first turkey and they don’t.
Shampoo
bottles and bottles of moisturizing body wash that are designed to be stored
upside down are another kind of threat.
I had a homeowner who had me in while she was pregnant because she couldn't bend in the middle. She
specifically asked me to look for any mold or mildew because she was suffering
allergic symptoms. She told me she had actually moved to this house because of
mold in the home they had lived in for only a few months. I found the mold and mildew.
It was in her husband’s body wash
bottle. Stored upside down as the
printing was upright and the cap is on the bottom for easy pouring, the bottle
was set on a shelf in the shower. Most
of these moisturizing washes have oils or animal fats in them; the caps catch
the water in the shower and provide food and the perfect damp conditions for
mold and mildew to grow. This particular
bottle cap was dark. The husband came
home, took his shower and never opened the bottle at eye level to see the dark
strings of yuck growing. He just squeezed
and rinsed and hugged his wife till she was sick. I showed it to her and she cried. They had sold her dream house and moved while
she was pregnant. It was both a relief
and a jab in the heart because she realized all the angry calls to the mold specialist
and the insurance companies were unjust.
Then there was the clean house. I had a homeowner that cleaned before I got
there and cleaned along with me as I worked.
The house was spotless when we finished.
She was a minimalist. There was
no clutter for dust to rest upon. Even the
cans of food in the pantry were neat, straight and one of each.
The danger here? There were no stores of emergency
supplies. She could not tolerate more
than one of anything. The home was a
magazine photo shoot waiting to happen. Like storing oil in extreme heat, any extreme habit or quaint personality character can spell danger or even disaster. She is very nice and very neat with no room in her life for storing or gathering or prepping. I will miss her after the crunch!
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