Cleaning and maintenance of granite countertops make them a very hard material to deal with. They need to be sealed in order to be waterproof, they need to be cleaned regularly for stain removal, and so on. Here are some things you should remember when considering using Clorox wipes on your granite countertops.

What Does Clorox Contain?

You might have heard of Clorox, which is a very common bleaching agent and multi-purpose cleaner for the house. The main ingredient, as you can guess already, in Clorox is bleach. Bleach is a highly unstable chemical and it readily reacts with anything and everything. With stones, bleach can react with them and disintegrate the stone into nothing in no time at all.

Is It Safe To Use On Granite?

As you know that Clorox contains bleach, so it’s safe to say that it is not safe to use on granite. Bleach will completely destroy the material and it will have huge holes and crater-like shapes on the surface of the granite. Granite is a very delicate natural stone countertop material and it needs to be cleaned with gentle cleaners, not something like Clorox which has a lot of high-powered and reactive bleach in it.

If you put Clorox on top of granite, a fizzing reaction will immediately begin. This is the oxygen in the bleach reacting with the chemicals in granite and producing acid, which will melt the stone in a matter of minutes.

What Else Can Be Used?

Clorox or any other cleaner which contains bleach, citric acid, or any type of reactive and unstable material is not to be used on granite, otherwise, the material will be ruined and destroyed. What you can do, to clean granite or any other soft and natural stone is to make your own detergent solution.

You can simply do that by mixing together some lukewarm water with your favorite dish detergent or even hand wash. You can incorporate both of them in a spray bottle or a simple bottle and shake it up.

Once you have the cleaner ready, just spray it directly on the surface of the countertop and wipe it off and away with a wet washcloth. This is a perfect and gentle cleaner for your countertops.

Natural Stones And Harsh Chemicals

Natural stones are porous, which means that they have small entryways on their surface which can lead to the liquid or fluid deeper in the stone and this can ruin the stone’s composition from the inside.

This is why it is suggested that you seal natural stones if you are using them as countertops so that they can be waterproof and have good performance when they come in contact with water or any other fluid. Using harsh chemicals on an unsealed countertop will ruin and disintegrate the material in no time at all.

How To Disinfect Your Granite Countertops?

So, you can’t use Clorox or bleach on your expensive granite countertops, but you need to disinfect them. You can use pure isopropyl alcohol on the surface of the granite and it will do the same thing bleach does, other than ruining the countertops. Isopropyl alcohol is very safe for these natural stones and it can be used in their concentrated form to clean and disinfect the countertops.

You actually don’t want to dilute the isopropyl alcohol otherwise it will weaken the alcohol, cutting down its strength to almost 50%, and the disinfecting process will not be as effective.

How Often Should It Be Done?

You should try to clean your countertops daily before calling it a day in your kitchen. This will make the countertops look even cleaner and you won’t have to deep lean them every now and then. As for disinfecting kitchen countertops, it should be done daily or at least every other day, because you don’t want germs sitting around on your countertops.

Conclusion

There you have it! These things are important to remember especially when you are trying to clean your countertops. Clorox can be a harsh chemical so it needs to be used with care on granite. If you aren’t careful and use it on your granite countertop you would soon need a replacement. Ask granite countertop installers Potomac about best practices for maintenance and care when getting granite counters.