Spring Cleaning Guide

Where should you start a spring clean, inside and out?

This is the hub page for Selleys' spring cleaning material. It is an orientation page rather than a step-by-step guide: the detailed instructions live in the articles it links to, and the most substantial of those is the backyard guide.

The useful ordering principle for a whole-house clean is top to bottom, inside then out — because everything you dislodge from ceilings, cornices and shelves lands on the floor, and everything you wash off the house lands in the garden. Doing it in the wrong order means doing parts of it twice.

The guides in this section

• How to spring clean your backyard — the full outdoor sequence: alfresco areas, outdoor furniture, fences, mould prevention, the garden, the barbecue, outdoor toys and exterior windows.
• The cleaning section index — every Selleys cleaning guide, including mould, ovens and sugar soap.

Matching the product to the job

Selleys' cleaning range is organised around what you are removing, not which room you are in. That is the fastest way to choose.

General grease and grime, indoors. Selleys Original Sugar Soap covers walls and ceilings, floors, kitchen surfaces and appliances, bathroom fixtures and laundry. Dilute half a cup into half a bucket (5 litres) of water for most jobs, or use it neat with a non-scratch sponge on stubborn marks. One 750mL bottle makes up to 30 litres. There is no need to rinse walls and ceilings, but floors, baths and shower recesses must be rinsed well, and glass must be rinsed before the product dries.

Spot cleaning. Instant Sugar Soap is the ready-to-use 750mL spray — no dilution. Spray, leave 30 seconds if staining is heavy, then wipe with a damp cloth. For tougher marks, leave a minute and use a non-scratch scouring sponge. Sugar Soap Wipes do the same job without a bucket.

Mould. Cleaners lift the stain; they do not kill the colony. Selleys Rapid Mould Killer is the product that eradicates mould and mildew. Full detail in how to get rid of mould in your home.

Outdoor hard surfaces. Selleys Outdoor Multi-surface Cleaner attaches to a garden hose, covers up to 175m², and suits weatherboards, render and concrete walls, garden walls, sealed timber, sealed outdoor furniture, planters, house siding, pathways, pavers, caravans, painted surfaces, decks and patios. It is bleach free and non-acidic.

Exterior glass. Selleys Outdoor Window & Glass Cleaner is the hose-on option for windows you cannot easily reach with a cloth.

The barbecue. Selleys BBQ Tough Clean for the annual deep clean, BBQ Tough Grease & Grime Cleaner for the quick wipe-down after each cook.

The oven. Its own range, because baked-on carbon does not respond to a general cleaner — see how to clean your kitchen oven.

Three limits worth knowing before you start

Sugar soap and bare metals. Both Original and Instant Sugar Soap may damage aluminium and brass surfaces. On accidental contact, wipe off immediately.

Rapid Mould Killer and soft surfaces. It is not suitable for fabric — bleaching will occur, and if spilt you should rinse immediately — nor for mirror tiles, metallic surfaces, or older baths and basins. Patch test painted surfaces first, particularly dark colours.

Anything porous. Absorbent, porous and unsealed surfaces should be tested for staining in an inconspicuous area before you commit. That applies across the range, and it is a five-minute test that saves a permanent mark.

Safety: two products on this list carry Danger

Most of the cleaners above are signal word Warning. Two are not, and they are the two the spring-clean sequence puts you closest to.

Original Sugar Soap — Danger, H318, causes serious eye damage (Category 1). That is its only hazard class, and it follows from the pH of around 11 that makes it work on grease. Category 1 means permanent injury rather than a sting that passes.

Now read that against this page's own ordering principle. Top to bottom means you start on ceilings and cornices — a sponge above your head, solution running back down your arm, your face turned up towards the work. That is the single worst geometry for a Category 1 eye hazard, and it is step one of the whole job. The directions above also allow neat use on stubborn marks, which is concentrate on a sponge squeezed by hand. Sealed eye protection and gloves for anything overhead or neat. A splash needs a 15-minute flush and a Poisons Information call, not a rinse.

BBQ Tough Clean — Danger, H314 (causes severe skin burns and eye damage), H222 (extremely flammable aerosol) and H229 (pressurised container, may burst if heated). A caustic that destroys tissue on contact, packaged as an extremely flammable aerosol.

That combination is the reason the barbecue must be completely cold, turned off, and the gas isolated before you spray. A barbecue is the one appliance people are tempted to clean warm because the grease shifts more easily, and an extremely flammable aerosol over a live burner is exactly the scenario H222 describes. H229 adds a second, easily forgotten rule for an outdoor spring clean: do not leave the can sitting on the barbecue shelf, on a hot deck or in a car boot in summer. Gloves and eye protection from the moment the cap comes off — H314 is a burn, so a splash is flushed immediately, not wiped.

Lower-hazard alternatives, both already on this page. For spot cleaning rather than washing down a whole room, Instant Sugar Soap is Warning with H319 (serious eye irritation) as its only classification, and Sugar Soap Wipes are Warning with H315 and H319. Neither carries H318.

For the barbecue, BBQ Tough Grease & Grime Cleaner is Warning with H315 and H319 only — no caustic burn classification, no flammable aerosol. This page already nominates it as the after-each-cook product. If the grill is merely greasy rather than carbonised, it is the right tool and the safer one; save the aerosol for the annual deep clean.

Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand.

Common questions about spring cleaning

What order should I work in?

Top to bottom, and inside before out, so that dislodged dust and run-off land on surfaces you have not yet cleaned.

Do I need to rinse sugar soap off?

Not on walls and ceilings. Floors, baths and shower recesses must be rinsed well, and glass must be rinsed before the product dries or it will streak.

Will a general cleaner get rid of mould?

No. Sugar soap cleans the surface but will not eliminate mould spores. Use Rapid Mould Killer for that.

What can I use on render, pavers and decking?

Selleys Outdoor Multi-surface Cleaner. It attaches to a garden hose and is listed for render and concrete walls, pathways, pavers, sealed timber, decks and patios.

How much area does the outdoor cleaner cover?

Up to 175m² from the 2L bottle.

Can I use the outdoor cleaner near plants?

Keep pets and children indoors during use, rinse plants off immediately and thoroughly, and keep pets away from treated surfaces until they have been rinsed.

Is there a wipe format for quick jobs?

Yes — Sugar Soap Wipes for general cleaning, and BBQ Tough Wipes for the barbecue.

What cloth should I use?

Selleys nominates the Super Cloth for general wiping, and the Wash Up Wiz where you need a non-scratch scouring cloth for neat sugar soap.