Introduction

There are thousands of home cleaning products that you can find at the supermarket. You can use them to clean your home or search for “cleaning services near me” and hire professionals to clean it for you. Homeowners often like to mix a few cleaning products to make them powerful. However, that may not be a wise choice. Let’s check out a few household cleaning products you should never mix.

The Products

6. Vinegar and baking soda – Both vinegar and baking soda are wonderful products that are often used in the kitchen and can also act as powerful cleaning agents. They are cheap household alternatives compared to those named brand cleaning agents you get at the store. While both vinegar and baking soda are powerful cleaning agents on their own, they don’t do a good job when mixed together. Baking soda is a base while vinegar is acidic in nature. So, when you mix them up you get mostly water and neutralized cleaning power.
7. Vinegar and hydrogen peroxide – Hydrogen peroxide is an excellent cleaning chemical that effectively cleans surfaces and gets turned into non-toxic oxygen and water. However, when you combine it with vinegar the reaction leads to the formation of peracetic acid. While peracetic acid is a strong sanitizer, it can also corrode wood and plastic surfaces in your home.
8. Vinegar and bleach – Vinegar can be a good deodorizer and sanitizing agent. On the other hand, bleach is a powerful disinfectant. However, when you mix them together, the acetic acid in the vinegar enables the formation of chloramine vapors from the bleach. Those vapors are extremely toxic and can cause temporary or permanent damage to your eyes and lungs.
9. Vinegar and castile soap – Combining vinegar with castile soap wouldn’t create a dangerous or toxic mixture. It isn’t similar to the behavior of bleach and acid when combined together. Castile soap is made from sodium hydroxide and olive oil. It’s a hard white or mottled soap that creates a chunky and oily mixture when combined with vinegar. The soap is a base while vinegar is acid. That’s why they neutralize each other.
10. Bleach and ammonia – Bleach and ammonia are common in many cleaning agents. However, make sure that you don’t mix them or products that use them together. It creates a reaction that releases toxic vapors. When inhaled those vapors can burn your throat, and the windpipe and deal heavy damage to your respiratory system.
11. Bleach and rubbing alcohol – Isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol and bleach combine to make some scary stuff. It creates chloroform that you see bad guys often use in movies. While you may not be knocked out, cleaning your home with this product is not recommended.
12. Bleach and toilet bowl cleaner – Toilet bowl cleaners are usually acidic in nature. When acids combine with bleach they create toxic chlorine-based vapors. It’s similar to the reaction that’s caused by mixing bleach and vinegar. It makes your eyes water, and you have trouble breathing.
13. Bleach and lemon juice – Commercially available acidic compounds aren’t the only things you should not mix with bleach. The naturally occurring acid in lemon juice can also create chlorine gas and other toxic vapors when combined with bleach. Make sure to keep all kinds of acidic products away from bleach.
14. Bleach and mildew stain remover – Similar to most other things listed above, mildew stain cleaners contain acid. By now, you know what happens when you combine bleach with an acid. Keep the mildew stain cleaner and bleach apart if you don’t want to have a burning or irritating feeling in your lungs, throat, eyes, and nose.
15. Bleach and dish detergents or over cleaners – Bleach is the default cleaning agent used in both domestic and commercial kitchens. However, if you’re using dedicated products for cleaning certain parts of the kitchen, you may want to think again before adding bleach into the mix.

For instance, when you mix bleach with the oven cleaner, it creates dangerous fumes. Those fumes can harm your organs and can even contaminate the food inside your kitchen. Similar horror stories may happen if you mix dish detergent with bleach. Many dish detergents have ammonia and that creates toxic gases when combined with bleach.

11. Drain cleaners – Dumping or pouring down drain cleaners into a clogged sink is very satisfying for some reason. However, when the clog doesn’t break down, people often go to the store to buy more powerful drain cleaners and pour them into the sink as well. That’s an awful plan. Different drain cleaners have different formulations, and some have bleach in them.

If you mix them with the wrong drain cleaner, they may create toxic chlorine fumes. If the reaction is violent enough, it may even cause an explosion. So, choose the same drain cleaner to pour into the sink if you don’t want to burn down your home or have authorities knocking on your door.

12. Disinfectants with detergents – Homeowners often mix detergents with powerful disinfectants to clean and disinfect their homes at the same time. Usually, there’s nothing wrong with it. However, if you mix something like a foaming cleanser with a disinfectant that contains quaternary ammonia, it neutralizes the disinfectant. Instead of getting double the cleansing power, you just rub some liquid on grimy surfaces.
13. Pesticides and water – When you clean around your home, you may be hit with a nasty and buggy surprise. No one likes to discover cockroach and spider breeding or nesting grounds in their home. That’s when you reach for the pesticide. Make sure that you don’t dilute that strong pesticide with water. Otherwise, it will create phosphine gas. It’s a deadly respiratory poison that can kill you along with the bugs.

Conclusion

Household cleaning products help you to clean several parts of your home efficiently. However, there are some products that should never be mixed. Sometimes, it neutralizes their efficacy, and other times it may cause a drastic reaction. You can always search for “cleaning services near me” and hire pros to get your home cleaned.