7 THINGS NOT TO CLEAN WITH VINEGAR

1. Granite or Marble.

Granite and marble are natural stones that are soft enough to be etched by vinegar’s acidity over time. Instead try a homemade cleaner that substitutes rubbing alcohol for the vinegar. To make your own granite cleaner combine 1¾ cups water, ¼ cup rubbing alcohol, and a small squirt of dish soap. Just plain old dish soap and water is a good choice too. And Quartz? I turned up some conflicting information on whether vinegar should be avoided on quartz but if you want to be better safe than sorry, use the rubbing alcohol mixture instead.

2. Hardwood Floors.

There’s also some conflicting information on cleaning hardwood floors with vinegar (and you can find plenty of hardwood floor cleaners on Pinterest that include vinegar). However I’ve decided to remain cautious and keep vinegar away from the original hardwood floors in my 1950’s era home that we’ve had restored and refinished. There are stories of vinegar dulling the finish and even warping the floors. I’ve always just used plain water (usually just a damp cloth on my swiffer) to clean my hardwood floors, however I’ll soon be testing a homemade floor cleaning idea I’ve found that uses some rubbing alcohol in the mixture, much like the solution for granite.