Solvents and polymers
A solvent cannot tell a soil from a surface made of similar stuff. Most modern surfaces are polymers, which is what makes this the commonest way to ruin one.
In detail
Solvents work on the principle that like dissolves like: an organic solvent lifts an oily, organic soil because the two are chemically compatible. The difficulty is that a great many surfaces in a modern home are also organic polymers — acrylic baths, laminate wear layers, the resin binding an engineered stone worktop, paint and lacquer films, the latex bonding a carpet's backings, and the coatings on plastics and screens. A solvent has no way of distinguishing the polymer it was meant to remove from the polymer it is standing on, so the same property that makes it effective makes it destructive a few centimetres away. This is why the restriction appears in almost every care sheet here with no mechanism attached — the acrylic bath, the quartz worktop, the mirror backing, the plated tap. The carpet case is the most instructive because the damage is invisible: solvent reaching the backing damages the latex holding the two backings together, a structural failure under a surface that still looks clean. Contact time and quantity matter more here than concentration, which is why solvent goes onto a cloth and never onto the surface.
Why
- Finished leather is explained by Solvents and polymers
The guide's own reason for its prohibition list: modern leather finishes are WATER-BASED, and the products it excludes attack the finish rather than the hide.
- Expanded polystyrene (helmet foam) is explained by Solvents and polymers
Sources for this page
Sources
Spot Solver: spot and spill removal procedures
The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That solvent must never be poured directly onto carpet or allowed to reach the backing, because it can damage the latex that holds the primary and secondary backings together. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Sprints 5-10 read fifteen entries stain by stain. Sprint 30 enumerated the database from the publisher's own spot-solver sitemap — 296 entries — and read 134 more, chosen by open demand and by soil class rather than alphabetically, plus the generic 'Unknown' entry. 135 of 296 entries now read. Supports the claim as stated.
KALLISTA (Kohler Co.) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That solvents must not be used on acrylic, plated, PVD and powder-coated finishes because they can damage the surface. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The sections on nickel silver and chrome; brushed nickel, gunmetal and matte black; PVD finishes; acrylic, cast mineral and cast stone; acrylic baths with airjets; and cast-iron baths. Supports the claim as stated.
Care and Maintenance: Caesarstone Surfaces
Caesarstone Ltd. · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That paint removers and strippers and products containing trichloroethane or methylene chloride must not be used on engineered quartz. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The prohibited-products list and the accidental-exposure instruction. Supports the claim as stated.
Glass Technical Paper FB06-05: Proper Procedures for Cleaning Flat Glass Mirrors
National Glass Association (NGA), Mirror Division, 2019 · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That solvents are not used on mirrors because they attack the edges and the backing. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — 'Care and Cleaning of Mirrors', the numbered recommendations 1 to 8. Supports the claim as stated.
Last reviewed by a person on .