Paste for wall-papers.

A few careful owners of tenements for the poor require corrosive sublimate, or mercuric chloride, to be added to the paste used for putting on papers. This, being very poisonous, prevents vermin from burrowing under the paper, and eating the paste, as they are fond of doing; and, being one of the most powerful antiseptics known, it preserves the paste from decomposition. A very small quantity of the corrosive sublimate, well mixed with a pailful of paste, is sufficient for both these purposes; and, not being volatile at ordinary temperatures, it does not appear to have any injurious influence on the air of the room.

In cleaning paint and paper it is desirable to know something of the character of the paint or paper to be treated. Size or fresco color cannot be touched with water, which would leave indelible spots; but it can be cleaned with bread crumbs. Stale bread must be used, as fresh bread would stick to the surface; and the crust must be carefully cut off, so that there may be no hard particles to scratch the paint. The remainder is then broken up, and rubbed over the paint with the hands. The crumbs, as they fall on the floor, may be caught in a paper and used over again, but, as soon as they begin to dry and harden, they must be thrown away, so that the paint may not be scratched. With care, fresco color can be very well cleaned in this way. Wall-papers may be cleaned in the same manner, even where the colors are very delicate. With the plain dyed or ingrain papers, generally classed together as cartridge-paper, Indian meal may be used instead of bread crumbs, but it has no advantage over the bread crumbs, except in being cheaper.

Cleaning paint and paper.

Oil paint should be capable of being washed with soap and water, but the success of the washing depends on the way in which it is done, as well as on the character of the paint. Flatted paint, in which the last coat is mixed partially or wholly with turpentine, is very delicate, and is not only easily soiled, but is washed with great difficulty. The indispensable requisite of success in washing such paint is never to allow soapy water to dry on the surface, as it will make ineffaceable streaks in doing so. It is necessary, therefore, in washing, to apply the water, mixed with good soap, or some mild alkali, such as soda, or saleratus, or ammonia, or pearline, with a sponge, followed immediately by a soft cloth, with which all trace of the water must be wiped off, before it has time to dry, even at the edges. In this way even a flatted surface can be successfully cleaned; and, although stippled, or "egg-shell," or "china-gloss " surfaces are much less delicate than those made with turpentine, it is desirable, even with them, to wipe off the washing water before it begins to dry. Gritty materials, such as pumice-stone soap, "sapolio," or sand soap, should not be used in cleaning paint if it can be avoided. Some spots and stains, undoubtedly, cannot be removed without their aid; but they take off the paint, as well as the stain, and, after a few applications, the wood or plastering is left bare.

Washing oil paint.

Varnished surfaces should, in general, never be washed. The best varnishes are nearly waterproof; but, even with them, washing dims the surface; and, with inferior varnishes, water causes white or yellow spots. It is, therefore, safest, in all cases, to use only a dampened cloth for cleaning, with or without soap, according to the character of the dirt to be removed, rubbing the varnish at once perfectly dry. Woodwork finished in wax bears washing better than a varnished surface; for, although water immediately turns the wax white, rubbing with a hot woollen cloth will restore it; or, if the wax has been nearly washed off, a little fresh wax, applied to the bare spot, will make it look as well as ever.

Painted or varnished woodwork and plastering, both inside and outside, are liable to defects, which may sometimes be remedied without doing the work over. Considering first outside woodwork, it will often be observed that the paint, especially on the sunny side of a house, is disposed to blister. This may result from using inferior paint, containing too little white lead or yellow ochre to make it cling to the wood; or, even where good materials have been used, it may occur in consequence of painting over woodwork not thoroughly dried, or superficially moistened from rain, or from frost. As the paint is comparatively impervious to moisture, the vapors from any water that may be enclosed under it, not being able to escape, expand, and push up in blisters the coating under which they are imprisoned. For this reason it is best, in making contracts for a new house, to require the builder to put only two coats of paint on the outside. Although two coats of paint make a rather thin coating on new wood, the very thinness of the coating gives an opportunity for moisture underneath to evaporate, without throwing off the paint; and when the house is two or three years old, and the woodwork has become thoroughly dried, a third coat can be put on, with the prospect that it will remain in place; while, if three coats are put on at the beginning, before thorough seasoning of the wood, the thick covering so formed is very likely to blister.

Cleaning varnished surfaces.

Defects in paint.

Blisters.

When blisters have once formed, little or nothing can be done except to leave them until the time comes for sandpapering them off, and repainting. If they are few in number, the bare places which they leave can be retouched before putting on the final coat, so that all may be covered equally; but, if they are very numerous, nothing but burning or sandpapering the paint entirely off will restore a smooth surface.

Similar retouching is necessary, even with good paint, where rain and snow have worn the paint off the most exposed points, before the work can be evenly covered; and, where the house has been neglected, and the paint is much worn, it is often cheaper to apply two entire coats, without retouching, than to retouch extensively, in the hope of making a single coat answer.