Cleaning wallpaper with bread, washing tiles with milk - the forgotten secrets of spring

Consider using skimmed milk to wash a tile floor or fresh white bread on your wallpaper, heritage experts confidently advise. But please don't take the advice of housekeepers who used potatoes to clean oil paints or Worcestershire sauce to polish silver.

As some people prepare for a spring cleaning, English Heritage, a charity that manages more than 400 historical monuments, buildings, and palaces, has revealed some of their best and worst historical cleaning tips.

There's a lot to learn from people who had no choice but to use what was available, says Amber Xavier-Rowe, the association's collections curator. "While I cannot recommend some of the strangest pieces of advice, the housekeepers of the past, despite their relatively little scientific knowledge, were often very familiar with their methods."

There are many cleaning techniques from the past that are difficult to recommend, such as: B. spraying damp tea leaves on the carpet before sweeping.

A good example, he says, is milk on a non-porous stone floor that was officially tested after conservation teams experimented on the floors of Brodsworth Hall, a Victorian country house near Doncaster, during the coronavirus shutdown.

Whole milk, skim milk, and skimmed milk were tested, the last of the three being above. "It's pretty subtle, but it's really cool and we'll probably be using it in the future," says Xavier-Rowe.

She describes applying milk as hand and knee labor, rubbed stone by stone rather than spilling it with a mop. "The other thing is, it doesn't smell or attract mold."

The cleaning of dirty wallpaper with white bread is also very impressive, he says. "It works even if it has to be fresh white bread, the stale bread would be too abrasive. I tried some sourdough and it was surprisingly effective. It is very sweet.

Xavier-Rowe said the UK heritage teams did not use the method themselves. "You get crumbs so it's not very convenient for us to be honest. But if you can't get what we're using, that's fine. All you have to do is vacuum the crumbs.

Other cleaning tips people can use include applying a soft chamois instead of glass cleaner to buff mirrors and rejuvenating waxed wood floors with a mixture of beeswax and turpentine.

Milk can be used to clean tile floors, with skimmed milk being particularly effective. Photography: Richard Lea-Hair / Englisches Erbe

But there are many cleaning techniques from the past that are hard to recommend, says Xavier-Rowe. For example, sprinkle damp tea leaves on your carpet before sweeping it.

Another questionable method that English Heritage does not recommend is cleaning oil paintings: rub a freshly cut potato slice dipped in cold water on the photo, wipe the foam with a damp sponge, finish with warm water and blot and buff it with a cloth. old silk scarf.

De même, n'utilisez pas de sel et de willow Worcestershire pour polir l'argent, ou le sel et le citron sur des casseroles en cuivre, and ne thought that you nettoyer la moisissure des peintures en les laissant directement à la lumière pouvez from the sun.

English Heritage posted a video showing some of the tips. It is run by its Victorian YouTube star Avis Crocombe, who played by historical artist Kathy Hipperson has become an Internet sensation over the past year, showing viewers how to cook dishes, including pickle ice cream and pigeon cakes. From Devonshire , a mixed lamb. and apples.

The advice comes as the UK heritage conservation teams continue to work on their annual top-down spring cleaning for the properties, which are due to reopen May 17th. This includes everything from cleaning silver and copper to washing chandeliers to lifting and rolling carpets. "There may not be any visitors, but the dust never stops," explains Xavier-Rowe. - Guardian

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