The renovation is done, the dust sheets come off, and the instinct is to attack every surface with the most powerful cleaner under the sink. That instinct is exactly how brand-new finishes get ruined in week one. Here's the single most useful thing to understand: most of what makes a cleaner feel “strong” is acid — and acid is precisely what your new stone, metal and grout cannot take.

The one rule that covers most of it

When in doubt, reach for a pH-neutral cleaner. Neutral means it's neither acidic nor strongly alkaline — it lifts dirt without attacking the material underneath. It's the safe default for almost every surface in a freshly renovated home.

“Strong” is not a feature. On a new finish, strong usually just means permanent damage, faster.

“Can I use an acidic cleaner on…?”

This is the question we field most, so here it is, surface by surface.

Your hinges and metal hardware — no

Hinges, runners, handles, tap bodies and the brackets you never see are plated or coated metal. Acidic cleaners — and many “limescale” or “rust” removers — strip and corrode that finish, leaving dull patches, pitting and eventually rust. Wipe hardware with a damp cloth and a drop of neutral cleaner, then dry it. Never soak it, and never spray acid anywhere near a hinge.

Your floor — almost always no

This one depends on the material, and getting it wrong is expensive:

  • Natural stone (marble, granite, terrazzo): never acid. Acid etches stone — it eats a dull, rough mark into the polish that no scrubbing brings back. A splash of lemon, vinegar or a descaling cleaner is enough to leave a permanent watermark.
  • Cement grout lines: acid eats into cement grout whatever the tile is — weakening it and washing the colour out. So even a tough porcelain floor is damaged at the joints by an acidic wash.
  • Porcelain, homogeneous and sintered stone tiles: the tile face itself tolerates more, but the grout between them doesn't — so the floor as a whole still wants neutral cleaning.

The honest summary: there is almost no home floor where a routine acidic wash is a good idea.

Your toilet bowl — the one place, carefully

The ceramic glaze inside a WC bowl is one of the few surfaces actually built to take a mild acidic descaler — which is why most toilet-bowl cleaners are mildly acidic, to dissolve the limescale and mineral staining a bowl naturally collects. Fine. But keep it inside the bowl. The same cleaner that's safe on the glaze will corrode the chrome flush plate, etch a stone vanity top, and degrade the grout on the floor. Apply it to the bowl, don't let it splash, and don't reach for it as a general bathroom spray.

A quick cheat sheet

  • Neutral pH cleaner — your everyday default. Safe on stone, tile, glass, hardware, most things.
  • Mild acidic descaler — toilet-bowl interior only (and glass shower screens if the maker allows). Keep it off metal, stone and grout.
  • Bleach / strong alkaline — for disinfecting; dilute, rinse, and keep off metal and stone, which it dulls over time.
  • Abrasive scouring powders / steel wool — never on glossy tile, stone, glass or hardware; they leave a haze of fine scratches.

First-clean notes

  • A cement or grout haze on new tiles is normal — let your contractor remove it with the correct product, not a random acid you bought.
  • Seal natural stone before you live on it, and re-seal as advised. Sealing buys you time against spills; it does not make stone acid-proof.
  • Test any new product on a hidden corner first. Thirty seconds of caution beats a permanent mark.

The bottom line

A freshly renovated home is mostly cared for with a soft cloth, warm water and a neutral cleaner. Save the acid for the inside of the toilet bowl, keep it off everything else, and the finishes you just paid for will still look new years from now.