Material compatibility
The reason CleaningHQ answers questions about surfaces rather than about products. The same agent is the right answer and the wrong answer depending on what it lands on.
In detail
Compatibility is not a property of a cleaning product. It is a relationship between the product and the surface, and it exists because the mechanisms that remove soil are chemical reactions that do not distinguish targets. An acid dissolves calcium carbonate: that is what descales a kettle and what etches a marble worktop, and it is the same reaction in both cases. An alkali hydrolyses proteins: that is what lifts a food stain and what degrades a wool fibre. An oxidiser breaks the chromophores that carry colour: that is what removes a wine mark and what strips a garment's dye. In each pair the agent is not behaving differently — the surface is simply made of the same class of material as the soil. This is the single most useful generalisation in the subject, and it produces a working rule: before asking whether a cleaner is good, ask what it is chemically, and then ask whether the surface is made of anything in the same family. Where the answer is unknown, it stays unknown. CleaningHQ has no mechanism for inferring that an untested combination is fine, because there is no chemistry that would justify one.
Why
- Acetic acid (vinegar) is explained by Material compatibility
The single clearest case in the catalogue: one agent, one mechanism, opposite answers on a kettle and a worktop.
- Finished wood flooring is explained by Material compatibility
The clearest case after painted steel: the cleaner is chosen for the FINISH, and what the timber tolerates is irrelevant while the film is intact.
- Solution-dyed acrylic is explained by Material compatibility
Sources for this page
Sources
Care & Cleaning of Natural Stone
Natural Stone Institute · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That the same acidic substances which are effective cleaners elsewhere dull or etch calcareous stone, and that the recommended cleaner is chosen by stone class. (cleaninghq's interpretation of what it says)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Sprint 29 read all nine sections. Earlier sprints had read three: the siliceous-versus-calcareous classification, cleaning products, and sealing. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. Three sections of nine had been read and the source treated as complete. The unread six carry the whole preventive programme - coasters, trivets, non-treated dry mopping, slip-resistant mats, worn vacuum wheels, blot-don't-wipe - none of which the register held. They also answer a priority-1 row reading 'no route answers this yet': the authority's position on etch marks is that they are not a cleaning problem and need professional re-polishing. Two oddities are worth the record: dry 0000 steel wool is permitted on water rings, and efflorescence is removed dry because water makes it worse.
Best detergent to use when washing wool
The Woolmark Company · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That enzyme-containing detergents effective on protein stains are advised against for wool, a protein fibre. (cleaninghq's interpretation of what it says)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The detergent-selection guidance and its bleach and enzyme statements. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. CleaningHQ had recorded wool as bleach-sensitive with respect to CHLORINE bleach only, following the Sprint 1 verification target. Woolmark's position is wider, and the wool record, the oxygen-bleach agent record and the laundry relationships were all widened to advise against oxygen bleach on wool as well. Separately, because the page supplies no mechanism, CleaningHQ's keratin-hydrolysis explanation is now cited to this source as background only and rests on protein chemistry from elsewhere.
Last reviewed by a person on .