Commercial Cleaning Chemicals: How to Choose, Dilute and Store Them

We stock 265 cleaning chemicals, and the most common purchasing mistake is not choosing the wrong product — it is buying the right product in the wrong format and then over-dosing it. Dilution is where the money and the safety risk both sit.

Start here: buy concentrate, dose it properly, and label it

Buy cleaning chemicals as concentrates and dilute to a measured ratio, because cost per litre of working solution drives consumable spend. Choose by soil type and surface rather than by brand, dose with a measuring system rather than by eye, and label every decanted bottle.

The gap between a well-run chemical store and a poorly run one is rarely the products. It is whether anyone knows what is in the spray bottle on the trolley, and whether dosing is measured or estimated.

Prices are Freshway catalogue prices as at 16 September 2026 and are subject to change. Confirm the current price, and whether GST applies, before quoting.

Choose by soil type, not by product name

Chemical ranges are organised by soil and surface, and the naming can obscure that. The four categories that cover most commercial work:

Getting the category right matters more than the brand, because applying an acidic product to the wrong surface causes damage that no amount of correct dilution will prevent. Likewise, mixing an acidic and an alkaline product in the same bottle is how the most common chemical incidents happen.

What concentrate actually costs

Read those prices against a dilution ratio and the picture changes completely. A 5 litre concentrate diluted 1:20 produces 100 litres of working solution. The same work done with ready-to-use bottles bought at retail prices costs several times more, which is the entire argument for concentrates — provided the dilution is actually measured.

Dosing: the part that gets skipped

Over-dosing is the most common hidden overspend in chemical supply, and it causes three problems at once: cost, residue and slip risk.

• Cost. Dosing at double strength halves the number of working litres per container.
• Residue. Surplus detergent stays on the floor or surface and attracts soil, so the area looks worse sooner. Streaky floors and sticky surfaces are almost always a dosing problem rather than a product problem.
• Slip risk. Excess surfactant leaves a film that becomes genuinely slippery when damp.

The practical fix is a fixed measuring device at the dilution point — a dispensing system, a measuring cup permanently attached to the container, or pre-measured pods where the product supports it. Estimating by eye drifts upward over time and nobody notices.

Labelling and storage

Decanting into unlabelled spray bottles is the most common compliance gap we see on site visits. It creates two separate risks: staff cannot tell what they are using, and if someone is affected by a chemical there is no way to identify it quickly.

1. Label every decanted container with the product name and the dilution, not just the colour of the bottle.
2. Keep safety data sheets accessible and current. We publish ours openly at Freshway safety data sheets, with the Agar and Actichem sets separately.
3. Never decant into a food or drink container, and never mix two products in one bottle.
4. Store concentrates separately from working solutions, and keep the store ventilated.

The SafeWork NSW guidance on hazardous chemicals sets out the labelling and storage duties that apply to a workplace, and it is worth checking against your own chemical store once a year.

Building a chemical range for a site

A workable commercial chemical range is smaller than most chemical catalogues suggest. Five products cover the overwhelming majority of work, and adding beyond that should be justified by a specific soil or surface that the core five cannot handle.

1. Neutral floor cleaner — the daily product, for all routine floor work.
2. Multipurpose or neutral surface cleaner — spray-and-wipe across general surfaces, also used as the base for glass work at a weaker dilution.
3. Alkaline degreaser — kitchens, workshops, and any fat or oil soil.
4. Acidic descaler or bathroom cleaner — mineral scale, sanitary ware, and tile or grout where a safe acid is appropriate.
5. Disinfectant — for surfaces the site requires to be disinfected, used at the contact time the label specifies.

Consolidating onto five products has three effects: staff learn five sets of dilution ratios rather than twenty, the store becomes legible, and the safety data sheet pack stays manageable. Where a site has a specialist requirement — a specific floor finish, a food-contact surface, or an odour problem — that is the point to add a sixth product, not before.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best cleaning solution to use in a pressure washer?

Use a detergent formulated for pressure washing and compatible with your machine’s injector or foam lance, diluted to the manufacturer’s ratio. Household detergents are not suitable: they foam heavily, which reduces cleaning efficiency, and some cause seal damage in the pump. Karcher and similar brands publish the specific products for their machines.

Should I buy concentrate or ready-to-use chemicals?

Concentrate, almost always. A 5 litre concentrate diluted 1:20 yields 100 litres of working solution, which is several times more economical than ready-to-use bottles. The only cases for ready-to-use are where dilution cannot be controlled on site, or where a single site uses very little.

How do I work out the dilution ratio?

The ratio is on the product label or the safety data sheet. In practice, measure the working solution you need, divide by the total parts in the ratio, and that gives the concentrate volume. Keep a measuring device at the dilution point rather than estimating.

Why do my floors look streaky after mopping?

Usually over-dosing rather than a product fault. Surplus detergent leaves a residue that dries in streaks and attracts soil. Reduce the dose first, and check that the mop head is not leaving too much solution behind.

Do I need safety data sheets for cleaning chemicals?

Yes, if you employ staff who handle them. SDS documentation should be current and accessible to the people using the products, not just held in an office file. We publish ours openly so they can be retrieved on site.

References

• SafeWork NSW — hazardous chemicals, labelling and storage duties.