Your Recipe: Dish Soap All-Purpose and Degreaser Spray

Your Recipe: Dish Soap All-Purpose and Degreaser Spray

Dish soap works because of surfactants: molecules that grab grease on one end and water on the other, so oily film lifts off and rinses away. That makes a small amount of soap in warm water better than vinegar for stovetops, range hoods, cabinet fronts and greasy counters. A good starting point is 1/4 teaspoon per cup of warm water (1 teaspoon per quart), the spot-cleaning ratio that carpet makers Shaw Floors and the Carpet and Rug Institute publish. For stubborn grease you can go up to about 1 teaspoon per cup, the mild hand-dish-detergent solution Cornell uses. More soap does not clean better: Shaw says leftover detergent turns sticky and re-soils quickly, and the Natural Stone Institute warns that too much soap leaves a film and streaks.

Where not to use it: do not soak unsealed wood or wood-laminate joints (the National Wood Flooring Association warns against wet and steam mops on finished wood), avoid it as a hands-free spray on electronics, and rinse it off food-contact surfaces like cutting boards. A soap film left on glossy tile can look cloudy, so wipe with a damp cloth of plain water afterward. Dish soap cleans but is not sold as a disinfectant, so it will not stand in for one. Skip it for laundry stripping, dishwashers and any machine that is not designed for suds, since foam can overflow or damage the machine.

The never-mix rules matter even with something this mild. The CDC says never to mix household bleach or any disinfectant with any other cleaner, so do not add bleach to dish soap, and never add ammonia. Skip vinegar 'boosts' too: with true soaps such as castile, vinegar produces a curdled residue, and mixing products rarely improves cleaning anyway. Label the bottle 'Dish soap + water, wipe and rinse' with the date, keep it in a bottle that never held another cleaner, and store it capped away from kids and pets. Make small batches rather than keeping a bottle for months.

If a soap mix ever ends up combined with bleach or another cleaner and you smell something sharp, leave the room and ventilate. If a mix goes wrong, leave the room and get fresh air right away, open windows, keep kids and pets out, and call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 (US, America's Poison Centers). Call 911 for trouble breathing, chest pain, or if someone collapses. To make it, pour warm water into the bottle first, then add the soap so it does not foam up. Swirl rather than shake. Spray, let it sit briefly on greasy spots, wipe, and follow with a clean damp cloth. Use the dish soap calculator below to scale the recipe for a bucket or a stronger degreasing mix.

Source: Carpet and Rug Institute, Simple Stain Removal Tips and Tricks; Shaw Floors, Carpet Care and Maintenance; Cornell Cooperative Extension, Removing Stains at Home; Natural Stone Institute, consumer guidance on cleaning natural stone; National Wood Flooring Association, Maintenance; CDC, Cleaning and Disinfecting with Bleach. Note: soap concentration varies by brand; confirm on your bottle's label.

General household-cleaning guidance, not medical or professional advice. The label on your product always wins; never mix cleaning products. For a poisoning emergency call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 (US), or 911 if someone has trouble breathing.

How Dish soap all-purpose and degreaser compares

* Illustrative starting amounts and notes, rounded -- use the calculators below for your exact numbers, and always check your product label.