How to Clean Almost Anything
The right order, the right dwell time, and the chemistry for the surface in front of you.
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Cleaning methods · room by room and surface by surface
Almost every cleaning job fails for the same three reasons: the wrong sequence, the wrong dwell time, or the wrong chemical for the surface. This page groups the guides by where the work happens, so you can find the surface in front of you instead of scrolling an archive.
- 29 step-by-step guides
- 300+ cleaning products in stock
- 5 areas covered
Kitchens and food areas
In a kitchen, cleaning is done top-down and hot-first: extraction, then cooking surfaces, then benches, then floors.
The order matters because grease travels upward and falls back down. Clean the extraction first and you are not re-cleaning the bench you just finished. Most of these jobs are decided by dwell time rather than by how hard you scrub, and oven cleaners in particular punish anyone who skips the gloves or the ventilation.
Oven
How to Clean an Oven (Including the Racks)
The full job, including the racks.
Oven
Easy Off Oven Cleaner: How to Use It on a Commercial Range
Using a caustic cleaner on a commercial range safely.
Oven
How to Clean Oven Glass Door (Including Between the Panes)
The glass, including between the panes.
Extraction
How to Clean a Rangehood Filter Without Damaging It
The filter, without wrecking the mesh.
Extraction
How to Clean an Exhaust Fan Without Removing the Duct
Without pulling the duct apart.
Fridge
How to Clean a Fridge Properly and Stop the Smell
Cleaning it properly and stopping the smell.
Microwave
How to Clean a Microwave (Inside and Out)
Inside and out, without scratching.
BBQ
How to Clean a BBQ Without Wrecking the Plate
Without damaging the plate.
Dishwasher
How to Clean a Dishwasher Without Damaging It
The machine that cleans, cleaned.
Dishwasher
How to Clean a Dishwasher Filter (and Why It Matters)
The filter, and why it matters more than the cycle.
Bathrooms and washrooms
Washrooms are a dwell-time job: apply, let the acid or disinfectant work, then agitate. Scrubbing first wastes both the chemical and your shoulder.
Hard water is the recurring problem in most Australian washrooms, and limescale needs acid where soap scum needs surfactant. Mixing the two approaches blindly is how surfaces get etched, and it is also how people end up combining chemicals that should never meet.
Whole room
How to Clean a Bathroom in the Right Order
The order that stops you re-cleaning.
Limescale
How to Remove Limescale from a Toilet Bowl and Cistern
Bowl and cistern, without etching the glaze.
Fixtures
How to Clean a Shower Head and Unblock the Jets
Unblocking the jets properly.
Glass
How to Clean Shower Screen Glass Properly
Soap scum rather than limescale.
Fixtures
How to Clean a Toilet Brush (and Where to Keep It)
And where it should actually live.
Glass, windows and finishes
Streaks are a technique problem, not a product problem, and on glass the product choice is mostly about what is in it.
Ammonia-free matters on tinted film and on some plastics, and it matters for indoor air in enclosed spaces. Above ground level the decision shifts from chemistry to access, and that is where the safety planning belongs.
Products
Glass Cleaner for Professional Window Cleaning: CRL, Sprayway and When to Use Ammonia-Free
CRL, Sprayway, and when ammonia-free is required.
Kit
Window Cleaning Supplies: What a Professional Kit Actually Contains
What a working kit contains.
Kit
Must-Have Window Cleaning Tools and equipment for Professional Cleaners
Tools and equipment for professional cleaners.
Access
High Window and Overhead Cleaning: Poles, Extensions and Safety
Poles, extensions and the safety side.
Products
Eco Preferable Window Cleaning
Lower-impact options that still work.
Finishes
How to Clean Stainless Steel and Keep the Grain
Keeping the grain, not polishing it out.
Finishes
How to Clean Venetian Blinds (Without Removing Them)
Without taking them down.
Hard surfaces and exteriors
On masonry and concrete, pressure is the tool of last resort: chemistry first, then flow, then pressure.
Brick, render and concrete all have a tolerance limit, and exceeding it shows up as etching, blown mortar or a permanently visible stripe. Oil and graffiti need a different approach again, because both can be driven further into the surface by the wrong first move.
Masonry
How to Clean Brick Without Damaging the Mortar
Without damaging the mortar.
Concrete
How to Clean Concrete Without Etching the Surface
Without etching the surface.
Stains
How to Remove Oil Stains from Concrete
Oil, before it sets into the slab.
Stains
How to Remove Graffiti from Brick, Render and Metal
From brick, render and metal.
Drains
How to Clean a Drain: Enzyme, Caustic or Jet?
Enzyme, caustic or jet — choosing properly.
Machines, vehicles and everything else
Cleaning the machine that does the cleaning is part of the schedule, not an extra.
Washing machines, vehicles and interiors all share the same failure mode: too much water, left in place. The technique is almost always less liquid, more mechanical action, and a proper dry.
Shop by the surface you are cleaning
Chemicals, cloths, tools and machines for every surface on this page, from oven cleaner to masonry treatment.
Browse cleaning chemicalsTools & janitorialFrequently asked questions
What order should I clean a room in?
Top down and dry before wet: extraction and high surfaces first, then benches and fixtures, then floors last. Cleaning floors first means cleaning them twice.
Why do my windows streak?
Usually too much product, a dirty squeegee or working in direct sun. Use less liquid, change the water, and clean glass out of direct sunlight where possible.
Is bleach or an acid better for limescale?
Acid removes mineral scale, bleach does not. Bleach is for disinfection. They must never be combined, and neither should be used on a surface it is not specified for.
Do I need to rinse after cleaning?
Where the label says to, yes. Residue left on food-contact surfaces or on floors attracts new soil, and on some surfaces it is a compliance issue rather than an aesthetic one.