Elbow grease cure for rusty jungle gym

[caption id="attachment_34394" align="alignright" width="405"] CHILD'S PLAY: A combination of steelwool and paraffin plus a lick of paint will have a jungle gym looking as good as new again[/caption]

I'VE MOVED from Johannesburg with my child's metal jungle gym which had no rust. In Port Elizabeth, the jungle gym has become riddled with rust to the extent that there is a hole at the bottom of the slide. Is there any way of removing the remaining rust and rust-proofing the jungle gym? – HM, Port Elizabeth.

You seem to have left it rather late, if there is already a hole at the bottom of the slide – I take it not on the sliding part! Removing the rust will involve some hard work, rubbing with steelwool and paraffin. Once you have removed the rust, you can consider painting with the marvellous product, Hammerite metal paint. The beauty of this paint is that it can be applied without the use of a primer or undercoat. In fact, the advertising material rather cleverly says, ''Why buy three tins when one will do?''

I am sending you the company's helpline number in case you would like to discuss the matter with them.

I use a good quality soap and have acquired a lot of little pieces. I was wondering whether I could easily recycle them into usable tablets? – WM, Port Elizabeth.

It is quite simple to do. Collect the pieces into a container and add a few drops of glycerine. Then steam in boiling water until the mixture is soft. The best way to do this is to put the container in a colander over the boiling water, with a lid on top.

Allow to cool so that you can handle it, and press the soap into a ball. From this you can shape the soap into whatever size tablets you want.

Another way is to add 500ml of boiling water to 500ml of minced soap slivers and mix it all together with one level teaspoon of borax (from the pharmacy). When thoroughly mixed, pour into a suitably shaped dish or box lined with a damp cloth. When cooled, cut into fairly large pieces. Soap shrinks considerably on drying out.

I have a urinal in the bathroom for my two young sons and me. The problem is that the U-bend is constantly being blocked by a build-up of uric acid crystals. I have to manually remove them as I am unable to find any cleaner or chemical that works. Google has answers but none seems to work. – DH, Port Elizabeth.

It seemed to me that the most likely source of an answer would be a company specialising in hygiene services to places where toilets are in continuous use. So I spoke to Melanie at Steiner Hygiene, based in North End. Not surprisingly, she knew all about the problem and they have a product to counter the build-up of uric acid. It is called Nu Sept, and is described as a bacteria-based product which "eats" at the "bad" bacteria. Harsh cleaning chemicals should not be used with this product. The dosage is 100ml per unit. The treatment can be maintained on a weekly basis by putting in 50ml per unit. Steiner also has a product called Toilet Bowl Cleaner which will help clean out the u-bend pipe. Melanie said you should not expect instant results from the initial dosage, which would take about three days for the bacterial action to take effect. - At Your Service, Gwen Bisseker