Chemistry behind your Chemicals: Part 2 - How to Avoid Removing Finishes on Your Furnishings

 Does this mean that all you need for a detailed clean is to have an acid, a base, and water?

Well, yes and no, but mostly the latter. 

The problem arises when you’re tasked with cleaning something multiple times using only one of these two. You could take a very powerful acid and strong base and dilute them enough to clean most all surfaces. These chemicals might be formulated strong enough to destroy dirt and grime but may not be formulated to seal/replace/strengthen what it’s being used on. You could simply clean stainless steel with water and a copper brush. This would be a monumental waste of time, energy, and results. The copper brush could lightly scratch the steel if there are inconsistencies in the metal. The scratches are not appealing, and they allow metal surfaces to more easily accumulate dirt in the future. On the other hand, if you had used a proper stainless-steel cleaner, you could have just wiped off the grime or removed it with very little effort. Additionally, stainless steel cleaners are formulated specifically to improve the metal with concentrated mineral oil. This is inside cleaners that properly replenishes the steel and doesn’t allow dust/dirt to settle into the freshly cleaned metal. Likewise, wood cleaners are specially formulated to treat the wood after it is cleaned. These cleaners have chemicals that don’t allow mold to propagate in an environment normally suited for growth. Mold has to compete with other bacteria for energy, so it can easily spread after a fresh, wet clean that isn’t formulated to combat it. 

So while you can dilute stronger chemicals and get a good immediate result, the secondary results are not usually desirable. This does not mean that one can mix chemicals and acquire an effect, unless the person is a professional. Many chemicals mix and have a very toxic reaction. The most infamous among these reactions are ammonia and bleach, producing Chloramine (most commonly known as Mustard Gas). Further, even if one avoids making a toxic gas, they could actually end up dulling the effectiveness of the mixed cleaners. Because chemicals can have certain acidic AND basic properties, the reaction could be unpredictable. Even if someone were to know the basic pH of a chemical, after mixing the result could be totally different. If a very acidic pH 2 were to mix with a very basic pH 10, the result would be a less potent mess. Unless the desired reaction is a World War 2 simulation, I would never advise mixing chemicals.