White vinegar is often considered the best, most inexpensive, and environmentally safe cleaner in your house. While this is true in many instances, there are some cleaning jobs where vinegar can damage surfaces and fail to clean well. Do not use vinegar to clean these items.
Unsealed Grout
The acid nature of vinegar can wear away unsealed grout over time. The thinned grout can fall out or become so thin that moisture passes through to loosen tiles or soak drywall–causing mold growth. You can use vinegar to clean sealed grout but make sure that your grout is sealed before you start scrubbing.
Wood Surfaces
Never use undiluted vinegar on wood furniture or floors. It can break down wax and other finishes, leave streaks, and make surfaces look dull. Even diluted vinegar solutions can harm finished wood over time.
Cleaning raw wood surfaces with vinegar–diluted or undiluted–before finishing them can cause the wood to swell. Vinegar is easily absorbed into unfinished wood.
Marble, Granite, and Ceramic Tile
Cleaning marble countertops with white vinegar causes a chemical reaction–leaving the marble pitted and causing other defects to appear on the surface. Vinegar burns and etches most stone surfaces like marble, granite, and limestone.
The acid in undiluted white vinegar can eat through grout and dissolve the finish on some floor tiles. Avoid using vinegar to clean up a floor spill.
Computer Screens and Phones
Vinegar can strip the protective coating from phone, computer, and television screens. It can damage the anti-glare coating–reducing visual clarity. Touch screens become less responsive. Using too much vinegar may allow it to get between the screen and the frame.
Washing Machines and Dishwashers
Running vinegar through washing machines and dishwashers once every month or two to descale them works well. (Make sure the machines are empty.) Using vinegar daily as a rinse agent eventually causes rubber gaskets to deteriorate. Vinegar mixing with salt in the dishwasher can discolor cutlery.
Anything Rubber
Rubber gaskets, O-rings, and hoses are present in many household appliances–refrigerators, mixers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, etc. Vinegar eats into rubber–causing deterioration, leaks, and disintegration. Keep vinegar away from rubber.
Broken Eggs
Dropping an egg onto the floor or countertop is annoying. Using vinegar to try to clean it up only makes things worse. Spraying vinegar on a broken egg causes it to thicken and harden–making cleanup even more difficult.
Stainless Steel
Regular exposure to vinegar acid can cause pitting and corrosion on stainless steel appliances, knives, and cookware. Vinegar also dulls knife edges.
Anything With Bleach
Mixing vinegar with bleach produces toxic chlorine gas. Inhaling chlorine gas causes nausea, a burning sensation in the eyes, nose, and throat, trouble breathing, and vomiting–among other effects. High enough concentrations cause death. Don’t mix the two products–ever.
