Why most spring cleaning advice damages modern finishes
Spring cleaning advice was written, for the most part, before unlacquered brass, Zellige tile, Taj Mahal quartzite, and honed Calacatta marble were in half the new kitchens in America. The advice didn't update. The homes did.
That's why a checklist that worked fine in a 1998 kitchen will quietly dull a 2026 one. Vinegar etches natural stone. Steam warps hardwood sealed with a modern oil finish. Bleach breaks the sealant on grout, and then the grout stains for the next decade. Abrasive powders scratch matte black fixtures. Citrus cleaners strip the patina from unlacquered brass in a few passes.
None of this is rare. Most of the cleaning products in a typical American home are incompatible with at least one surface that home contains. Most cleaning advice online was written to rank for "spring cleaning hacks," not to protect what you actually paid for.
This challenge was built to fix that. It's organized by the materials that break, not by the rooms that don't care. Once you start it, the app identifies your surfaces, picks the right chemistry for each, and walks you through the sequence in the order that won't cause rework — or damage. You'll finish with every surface cleaner than it was this morning and none of them worse off in six months.