It’s easy to achieve overkill in the seemingly endless effort of cleaning your house. This can be particularly true in areas where dirt and grime tend to accumulate, like the bathroom or the kitchen, and you’re tempted to bust out all the serious, harshest cleaning products to restore the state of your home. But maybe that’s not such a hot idea.
At Maid in Essex, we often see improperly mixed cleaning supplies causing more harm than good, both to the surface that’s being cleaned, but also to the homeowner. Keep in mind that mixing certain cleaning ingredients can lead to adverse, or even toxic reactions, and can harm you and your family. So read below to find the do’s and don’ts of cleaning supply mixing.
Do: Go east on the drain cleaner.
When you’ve got a clogged drain, things can get irritating pretty quickly, but you don’t want that to happen literally. Which is pretty much what happens when you pour too much drain cleaner down in one go.
Since most drain cleaning substances tend to be pretty strong, pouring too much of one can result in overkill, which in this particular case means the release of chlorine gas in the system, which may even lead to explosion.
Instead, if dealing with clogged drains, follow the product instructions, and don’t go overboard. If the problem persists, either try other products (baking soda can work well), or call a professional cleaning service.
Don’t: Mix bleach.
Bleach is a strong cleaning substance, as you no doubt know by now, and so you should resist any urge to mix it with other strong cleaning substances. One popular mix we keep seeing is bleach with rubbing alcohol, which is a massive don’t, since it produces chloroform, which is quite a notorious gas used to knock people out.
At the very least, exposure to chloroform can make you nauseous, or even lead to lost consciousness.
Similarly, you shouldn’t mix bleach with other ingredients, like ammonia or vinegar, which releases chloramine vapors, and can irritate your throat. Basically, don’t mix bleach with anything, and you should be good.
Don’t: Combine vinegar with hydrogen peroxide.
Speaking of vinegar, you’d be well-advised not to combine it with hydrogen peroxide, either. While both of these are highly successful cleaning substances and can be used in succession, when mixed together, they create a highly corrosive substance. This can cause serious damage to the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract, as well as harm furniture, or structures inside your home. So take your time with each ingredient, and keep them away from each other.
Do: Leave cleaning substances as such.
Really, what you should take away from this is that if a cleaning substance is mixed in a certain way or recommended for a particular type of dirt, then really you should just leave it as such.
These are strong substances we’re dealing with here, and they are more than capable of dealing with your mess on their own.