Cleaning by surface: what each finish tolerates

Find each surface's care sheet, keep acids, ammonia, steam, abrasives and bleach off the surfaces they harm, use a gentle default where the maker is unknown, tell cleaning from disinfecting, and put the work on a schedule.

1. What a cleaner does to a finish Understand

A home's surfaces are not one material with one cleaner. A sealed oak floor is wood under a plastic film. A gray plank floor is a printed layer under a clear wear layer. Marble is mostly calcium carbonate, which acid dissolves. Grout is cement, which acid also dissolves. A sofa fabric may be made to be cleaned with water, with solvent, or with neither. The cleaner that is right for one of these can damage the next, which is why this chapter is organized by surface, not by product.

Acids, alkalis and abrasives

The pH scale describes how acidic or alkaline a solution is. Penn State's integrated pest management program gives the short version: 7 is neutral, 6 or less is acid, and 8 or higher is alkaline (Penn State IPM, Green Cleaning handout). A pH-neutral cleaner is one near 7; makers of vinyl plank, linoleum and hardwood often ask for one by that name. Physical principle

New Mexico State University's extension guide to home cleaning products explains what each kind does. Acids remove mineral deposits, rust stains and hard-water deposits, and strong acids can etch surfaces, porcelain enamel included. Alkalis cut grease and oily soil. Abrasives scrub by scratching, and larger particles scratch harder (NMSU Extension, Selection and Use of Home Cleaning Products, G-304). An etch is a dull mark where an acid has dissolved the surface itself; it looks like a stain but nothing is sitting in it, so no cleaner removes it. Physical principle

Two rules in this table have agreement across sources and are this manual's defaults whatever the product. No acids on calcite stone or on cement grout: the Natural Stone Institute says products with lemon, vinegar or other acids may dull or etch calcareous stone (Natural Stone Institute, care and cleaning), and the Tile Council of North America says cement grout is dissolved by acids, as baking soda is by vinegar (TCNA, Cleaning Grout). No steam on wood floors: the National Wood Flooring Association says not to use wet mops or steam mops, which damage the finish and, over time, the wood (NWFA, Maintenance), and Bona and Shaw also say to keep steam off wood floors. Physical principle Calcite stone (also called calcareous stone) is stone made mainly of calcium carbonate: marble, limestone, travertine and some stones sold under other names.

Your maker's sheet first; the gentle default where the maker is unknown

A care sheet is the maker's own cleaning and maintenance instructions for a product, often a page on the maker's site or a sheet in the box. It decides what the surface takes, and it is usually what a warranty means by "maintained as instructed". Shaw's luxury vinyl warranty, for one, excludes damage from not following its maintenance instructions (the warranty is covered in Samples, ratings, labels and warranties). Product-specific Write where each sheet is saved in the care sheet column of the installed register.

Where you do not know the maker, or cannot find the sheet yet, this manual's default is the gentle default: This manual's convention

1. Remove dry soil first: vacuum, dry-mop or brush. Grit scratches finishes, and wet grit is a scouring paste.
2. Clean with a pH-neutral cleaner, or warm water with a little mild dish soap where the surface allows water.
3. Damp, not wet. Wring the mop or cloth until it does not drip, and do not let water stand at seams and edges.
4. Dry after. Wipe or let air move until no film of water is left.
5. Test a hidden spot before anything stronger than the above, and before any product you have not used on that surface.

The default is ours, built from what the makers' sheets have in common: the Natural Stone Institute's neutral cleaner, NWFA's dry or slightly damp cloth for spills (NWFA care sheet), Forbo's pH 6 to 8 for linoleum, COREtec's pH-neutral cleaner for rigid core, Cambria's warm water and mild soap. No maker publishes it as a rule for every surface, and a maker's sheet that allows more, or asks for less, overrides it. It leaves out two things on purpose: anything acidic, because of stone and grout, and steam, because of wood.

A hidden-spot test means trying a cleaner on a small area nobody sees (inside a closet, under an appliance, the back of a sofa skirt), waiting until it dries, and looking for a change in color, gloss or texture before using it where it shows. It is this manual's household version of the pre-test the cleaning trade teaches: IICRC's upholstery cleaning technician training lists pre-testing and problem prevention among its topics, and Sailrite's guide to upholstery cleaning codes says to pre-test every time (Sailrite, cleaning codes). This manual's convention Test it

2. Mixing, disinfecting and reading the label

Products not to mix

This is the one rule in the chapter about you rather than the surface. It is also why the gentle default uses one cleaner: the fewer products on a shelf, the fewer pairs that can meet. Cleaning-product safety in general (choosing a short set of products, reading labels, storage, ventilation and Poison Help) is covered in Learn First Home Basics: Cleaning products and how to use them safely. This chapter adds what each surface will take.

Cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting are different jobs

The EPA separates three things that cleaning aisles blur. Cleaning removes dirt and organic matter with soap or detergent. Sanitizing kills bacteria on a surface and is not meant to kill viruses. Disinfecting kills viruses and bacteria on a surface. Sanitizers and disinfectants are registered pesticides; plain cleaners are not regulated by the EPA unless they claim to sanitize or disinfect (EPA, disinfect, sanitize and clean). Convention

Two things follow for surfaces. First, most routine care in this chapter is cleaning. A floor that is vacuumed and damp-mopped is clean; nothing on its care sheet asks for it to be disinfected. Second, vinegar is a cleaner, not a disinfectant. NMSU's guide notes it may not be sold as one, because it is not registered with the EPA. Whether and when to disinfect a surface is your decision for your own reasons; this manual gives no health advice on it. What it can tell you is how to do it without harming the surface.

The label is the law, and the contact time is part of it

Every disinfectant label carries the statement that using the product in a way inconsistent with its labeling violates federal law; the EPA's own gloss is "the label is the law" (EPA, Introduction to Pesticide Labels). Read the label The EPA's six-step sheet gives the order to read one in: find the EPA registration number, read the directions, use sites and surface types, pre-clean if the label says so or the surface is visibly dirty, keep the surface wet for the contact time, wear gloves where directed, and store it closed and out of reach of children (EPA, 6 Steps for Safe and Effective Disinfectant Use).

The contact time is how long the surface has to stay visibly wet for the product to work as its label claims (EPA, Selected EPA-Registered Disinfectants). This is where disinfecting and surfaces collide. A disinfectant that has to sit wet for ten minutes is ten minutes of liquid on the surface, and the surface's maker may not allow that. Quartz makers differ on bleach, a wood floor's maker asks for a damp cloth, and an S-code fabric takes no water. So the order is: the surface maker's sheet first (does it allow disinfecting, and with what?), then a disinfectant whose label lists that surface type, then the label's directions. Product-specific

The Safer Choice label

Some cleaners carry the EPA's Safer Choice label. It is a voluntary program: the EPA reviews every chemical ingredient, whatever its percentage, against health and environmental criteria, checks performance, limits pH to reduce skin and eye irritation, and audits products yearly (EPA, Learn About the Safer Choice Label). The label says nothing about which surfaces a product suits. A Safer Choice floor cleaner can still be acidic enough to etch marble or the wrong product for an oiled floor. The surface maker's sheet still decides. Convention

3. Surface by surface

This section gives, for each surface, the routine the makers and associations agree on, what to keep off it, and the exception your own maker's sheet may make. The cleaning table holds the same lines in one filterable table, and every row there ends with the same note: your maker's care sheet overrides this line.

Wood floors

NWFA's consumer care sheet sets the routine: sweep or dust-mop, vacuum with the bare-floor setting, clean spills with a dry or slightly damp cloth, and use only cleaners the flooring maker, finish maker or contractor recommends, because the wrong product can damage the finish. Its live maintenance page asks for a cleaner made for the finish on the floor and says not to use wet or steam mops (NWFA, Maintenance). Shaw's hardwood page adds a neutral-pH flooring cleaner and no oil-based wax or polish (Shaw, Hardwood Care). Convention

Know the finish before you buy a cleaner. Bona's cleaners are for sealed or finished floors that are not waxed or oiled; oiled and waxed floors need other products (Bona's FAQ). Wood floors covers telling a surface finish from an oil or wax finish. Bona also says vinegar can break down a hardwood finish over time and lists vinegar, ammonia and bleach among the corrosive ingredients of homemade mixes. A dull floor is a recoat question, not a cleaner question: NWFA says dull floors can be renewed through recoating, which Stains, damage and older homes covers.

Vinyl, laminate, linoleum and cork

Vinyl plank, sheet vinyl and rigid core. Shaw's luxury vinyl page says to avoid abrasive cleaners, ammonia-based products, vinegar-based products and harsh chemicals, and to use walk-off mats without latex or rubber backings to reduce possible discoloration (Shaw, Luxury Vinyl Care). COREtec asks for a pH-neutral cleaner, no products with detergent, vinegar, wax, citrus or floor polish, and no steam mops unless approved for the specific product (COREtec, installation and maintenance). Mannington says latex-backed and coco-fiber mats will stain or damage its resilient floors. Product-specific The mat line is easy to miss: a rubber-backed mat can discolor the floor under it, and the mark may only show when the mat is lifted. If you have one on a vinyl floor whose maker forbids it, look under it now; Stains, damage and older homes covers what to do about a mark.

Laminate. Shaw says not to wash or wet-mop laminate with soap, water or any liquid cleaning product other than a laminate cleaner, and to avoid steel wool, abrasives and strong ammoniated or chlorinated cleaners (Shaw, Laminate Care). Mannington says not to flood its laminate, and not to wax, polish, sand or lacquer it. Laminate's core is wood fiber, and water that reaches it at a seam swells it, which is why every maker says some version of "barely damp".

Linoleum. Forbo's home care guide for Marmoleum asks for a cleaner between pH 6.0 and 8.0, diluted in unheated tap water, and says not to flood the floor (Forbo, Caring for Marmoleum at Home). A yellow cast on new linoleum is ambering, from the linseed oil; Forbo says it fades in light and is not a defect, so it is not a cleaning problem.

Cork. Wicanders says to vacuum or sweep, mop with little water, avoid strong abrasives and ammonia-based products, and not to use rubber or latex mats (Wicanders, cleaning cork floors). That is the only cork maker's page we found; no source we found gives a pH range for cork.

Carpet and rugs

The Carpet and Rug Institute's home routine: vacuum at least once a week, more in traffic paths; have carpet professionally deep cleaned every 12 to 18 months; and for spots, blot with a white cloth, do not scrub or brush, pretest, work from the edges to the center and rinse with clear water (CRI, Cleaning and Maintenance). For pet urine CRI says not to use a steam cleaner, because heat sets the stain and the smell. Some carpet warranties require cleaners carrying CRI's Seal of Approval, which tests cleaning products and equipment, not carpet (CRI, Seal of Approval). Read your carpet's warranty for that line. Product-specific

Area rugs follow their fiber and their maker. Kaleen says wool is prone to bleeding and staining, should be blotted with lukewarm water and sent to a professional for stubborn stains, that synthetic rugs tolerate household cleaners but not bleach, and that viscose is extremely sensitive to moisture (Kaleen, Rug Cleaning and Care). Carpet and rugs covers fibers and rug safety underfoot.

Tile and grout

Glazed tile itself takes most household cleaners. The grout between it decides what you can use. TCNA says cement grout is porous and absorbs stains, is dissolved by acids, and is better cleaned with alkaline cleaners than acid ones, rinsed afterward so they leave no sticky film; it also says not to use oil- or wax-based cleaners, which leave a film. Its suggested deep-clean method is to apply the cleaner, wet-vacuum the dirty water, rinse and vacuum again (TCNA, Cleaning Grout). Physical principle Grout is the joint filler between tiles; cement grout is the common kind, and epoxy and premixed grouts are others.

Premixed grouts carry their own limits. One maker's data sheet rules out acid-based or no-rinse cleaners and steam cleaning for its premixed grout (LATICRETE, pre-mixed grout data sheet). If you do not know which grout you have, treat it as cement grout. Stone tile follows the stone rules under counters below. Tile and grout covers grout types and sealing.

Counters

Natural stone. The Natural Stone Institute says to clean with a neutral cleaner, stone soap or a mild dishwashing detergent and warm water, rinse, dry, and change the rinse water often; scouring powders and creams may scratch. Calcite stone is sensitive to acids, and even siliceous stone (granite, quartzite) is not to get acidic cleaners as routine, because of trace acid-sensitive minerals. Rust removers and some toilet bowl cleaners can contain hydrofluoric acid, which NSI says attacks all stone, granite and quartzite included (NSI, care and cleaning). Keep those products out of the kitchen and away from a stone vanity. Physical principle Countertops covers telling calcite stone from siliceous stone and the home tests.

Engineered quartz. Cambria asks for warm water, a soft cloth and mild soap if desired, and lists what not to use: abrasives, strong alkalis, acids and oxidizers, including bleach, oven cleaners, scouring powders and pads; it also says not to apply sealers or polishes (Cambria, Product Care). Wilsonart's quartz sheet also rules out bleach, oven cleaners and abrasive pads. Silestone's sheet allows diluted bleach for a few named stains if rinsed off. So the default for quartz is no bleach, and a reader whose sheet allows it follows the sheet. Product-specific

Solid surface, laminate and stainless. Corian's 2018 care bulletin allows soapy water or an ammonia-based cleaner and asks you to wipe the surface completely dry to prevent a hard-water film (Corian care bulletin). Formica asks for a damp non-abrasive cloth and mild detergent, and warns not to flood the laminate near seams, where water can swell the substrate (Formica, care and cleaning). For stainless steel, Euro Inox rules out chloride cleaners, hypochlorite bleach and steel wool, which leaves carbon steel that rusts; clean along the grain on brushed finishes (Euro Inox, Cleaning Architectural Stainless Steel).

Cabinets and hardware

Medallion's care guide asks for a damp cloth and then a dry one on wood doors, mild soap and water for grease, and no harsh detergents, abrasives or self-polishing waxes; it says not to hang damp towels on doors (Medallion, Cabinetry Care Guide). For thermofoil doors (a plastic film heat-formed over a fiberboard core) it adds no ammonia, no baking soda and no cleaner with a brush. Wolf says not to use bleach, ammonia or abrasives on its finishes, to keep oven cleaner off them, and to use a fresh cloth, because a dishcloth carries detergent and grease (Wolf, Care and Maintenance Guide). Product-specific

Faucet and hardware finishes vary by how the finish is made. Moen asks for mild dish soap, a rinse and a dry, and no lime-scale removers or green scouring pads (Moen, Faucet Finish Care). California Faucets rules out abrasives, ammonia and bleach on all its finishes, and vinegar on its uncoated "living" finishes (California Faucets, Finish Care). Cabinets and hardware covers identifying the finish.

Upholstery fabric

The cleaning code on the tag decides. Sailrite's reading of the common codes: W means a water-based cleaner (not the same as machine washable); S means solvent only; W/S means either, with pre-testing especially important; X means vacuum or light brushing only (Sailrite, cleaning codes). The codes are a convention set by each maker, not a federal standard. Convention NMSU's furnishings guide recommends vacuuming or brushing upholstery once a week and says not to remove zippered cushion covers to wash them, because they can shrink or change color (NMSU Extension, Care for Fabric Home Furnishings, G-402). Upholstery fabric covers each code and the makers that read X differently.

Leather and faux leather

The Furniture Industry Research Association says to vacuum leather with a soft brush, wipe spills with a moist cloth and mild soap, and not to use household detergents, wax, spray polish or abrasives (FIRA, leather types and maintenance). For aniline and semi-aniline leather, Carl Hansen says spot cleaning is not advisable, because it leaves blotches; wipe the whole surface instead (Carl Hansen, Leather Care). For polyurethane "faux leather", the Association for Contract Textiles says harsh cleaners, sanitizers and disinfectants can cause cracking and peeling that looks like age-related breakdown (ACT, Hydrolysis). Leather, faux leather and slipcovers covers telling the types apart.

4. A care schedule

Care sheets give intervals, but each gives them for one product, and nobody keeps a dozen sheets open on a Saturday. The care schedule puts every surface's routine on one list, grouped by how often: every week, every month, every year and every few years. The grouping is ours. This manual's convention Where a maker or association gives an interval, the item says whose it is; where none does, the item sits in the group that matches the reason for it.

The weekly group is the one that matters on a first pass. Removing grit weekly protects every hard finish in the home, and it is the item a care sheet is most likely to state. Your setup adds the items for your surfaces to the schedule; mark the ones that are not in your home as such. Beside each item, the "What my maker says" column takes the maker's own interval or method. Where it differs from the item, the maker wins, and the item is there to remind you to look.

Two items on the schedule are checks rather than cleaning. The stone water test (a few drops of water left for a few minutes; a dark spot means the stone is absorbing) tells you when a sealer is worth discussing; no source gives a calendar for it, and Countertops explains why the test beats the calendar. The humidity check is for wood: NWFA asks for 30 to 50 percent relative humidity year-round, and Wood floors covers what to do about it.

6. See it: Maya's weekly routine and Harold's bathroom See it

• Natural Stone Institute, care and cleaning: calcite and siliceous stone, cleaners to avoid, and the hydrofluoric acid warning.
• TCNA, Cleaning Grout: why vinegar and grout react, and the clean, vacuum, rinse method.
• NWFA, Maintenance: the wood floor routine and the no-steam rule.
• EPA, disinfect, sanitize and clean: the three terms and contact time, in one short page.

7. Practice: the care sheets and the cupboard Practice

Minimum: every surface in one room listed on the installed register with its care sheet found or marked missing, the cleaning table's "never" column checked against what you own, and one weekly item per surface on the care schedule. Time: about an hour for one room; add a day or two if you must ask a landlord or seller for a care sheet. Materials: the products under your sink and in the cleaning cupboard, your phone for photos of labels, the installed register, the cleaning table and the care schedule (or paper).

1. Walk the room and list each surface. Floor, counters, tile, cabinet doors, upholstery, leather. Write each as a row on the installed register; write "unknown" for a maker you cannot find yet.
2. Find each care sheet. Look for the maker's name on spare boxes, receipts, the underside of furniture or a tag; search the maker's site for "care" or "maintenance". In a rental, ask the landlord in writing for the floor's maker and line. Write where each sheet is saved.
3. Mark what each surface should not get. On the cleaning table, find each surface's row and add anything its own sheet adds or allows.
4. Turn out the cupboard. Read each product's label for acids (vinegar, citric, lactic, hydrochloric or "lime-scale" claims), ammonia, bleach (sodium hypochlorite) and abrasives. Photograph each label. Match each product to the surfaces it may go on and the ones it may not.
5. Separate what should not meet. Put bleach on a different shelf from ammonia and acid products.
6. Set the weekly items. On the care schedule, mark which items are in your home and write what your maker says beside each.

8. Your home Your home

9. Check your work Check your work

Criteria

• Does every surface in the room have a row on the installed register, with its care sheet's location or "missing, asked on (date)"?
• For each surface, can you say what it should not get, and does the answer come from its own sheet where you have one?
• Has every product under the sink been matched to the surfaces it may and may not go on?
• Are bleach, ammonia products and acid products stored apart?
• Does the care schedule have one weekly item per surface, with the maker's interval written beside it where the maker gives one?

Worked example

Maya's installed register has the floor, with the maker named in the landlord's email and the care sheet saved, and the sofa, with "S" and the maker unknown. Her cleaning table row for the floor names ammonia, vinegar and rubber-backed mats, from the sheet. The vinegar spray is off the floor routine, and the ammonia glass cleaner is kept for glass. Her schedule has three weekly items. It passes. It does not settle whether the mat has marked the floor, or what the landlord's warranty requires; both are written as open, with who settles them.

Common mistakes

• Using a "natural" cleaner everywhere. Vinegar and lemon are acids. They etch calcite stone and dissolve cement grout whatever the bottle says.
• Treating one maker's rule as the material's rule. One laminate line takes steam and another does not; the line decides.
• Disinfecting as routine cleaning. Most surfaces need cleaning. A disinfectant's contact time is long wet exposure the surface's maker may not allow.
• Forgetting what is under the mat. A rubber- or latex-backed mat on a vinyl floor whose maker forbids it can discolor the floor out of sight.
• Using a product and then another on the same spot. Bleach followed by an acid cleaner, unrinsed, is a mix.

What is still unresolved

What to do about a stain, etch or mark that cleaning has not moved is covered in Stains, damage and older homes. Whether a floor or counter can be refinished, resealed or repaired is a question for the maker and a refinisher or restorer. What a warranty requires in the way of products is in the warranty, which Samples, ratings, labels and warranties teaches you to read. When to disinfect for health reasons is outside this manual.

10. Knowledge check and scenario

Checklist

• The care schedule has a weekly item for each surface, and the cleaning table's "never" column has been checked against what is under the sink.
• Each surface is on the installed register with its care sheet's location, or a note that I asked for it.
• Bleach is stored apart from ammonia and acid products.
• I looked under every mat on a vinyl, linoleum or cork floor.
• I ran a hidden-spot test on a new cleaner and read one disinfectant label in full. (Go deeper; optional)