Mixing it up with Bleach

When I was in the Marine Corps we had to clean, clean, clean all the time. It's what got me into the cleaning business. But when I was in boot camp one of my fellow recruits was taken to the hospital because he mixed bleach with ammonia. Boy did we get a big lecture after that.

When you mix bleach with ammonia you get a very dangerous gas. That's easy, don't mix bleach with ammonia and you should be alright. Right? Well, it's not always that easy. Bleach (sodium hypochlorite or calcium hypochlorite) is found as an ingredient in some household cleaners other than the bleach you might have in the laundry room. And it's the same way with Ammonia. Ammonia is found in glass cleaners, some interior and exterior paints, and -- drum roll please -- urine. So when you're cleaning our the kitty's litter box or the diaper pail you might want to stay away from bleach. And if you are cleaning your shower you might be tempted to use window cleaner (ammonia?) for the shower door and tile cleaner (bleach?) for the tiles. This can get you into trouble. If you are cleaning your shower, first do the tiles, rinse the shower out, then clean the door.

Or better yet, use a non-chlorine bleach (I usually look for one that uses hydrogen peroxide) or other green alternatives for your tile cleaner and your glass cleaner. Hydrogen peroxide can help you keep mold away. For scrubbing the tile and grout you can just use some baking soda and water. If you need more power to get the grout clean you can spray some vinegar before scrubbing with the baking soda (but be careful because vinegar is acidic and can eat away at the caulking around your tub/shower and it might eat away at your grout too). You can buy baking soda in bulk for cleaning (but don't bake with the bulk stuff as it's not food grade).

A little Bon Ami might also do a nice job on the tile, but you might not want to use it on the shower door as it may scratch glass. There's some controversy about the scratching. Bon Ami has feldspar which has a Moh's hardness of 6 which is the same as glass. But I think it's a good cleaner and I like to use it when I need a little more scrubbing power than baking soda can give.