Anti-rust and degreasing spray: the spring cleaning recipe

Two problems, two recipes

Rust and grease are not treated with the same product, and that is the first mistake to avoid. Rust is an iron oxide: you need an acid to dissolve it. Grease is a fat: you need an alkali to saponify it. Mixing the two just makes them cancel each other out.

Hence two bottles, labelled and stored somewhere dry.

Recipe 1 · The anti-rust spray

For rust streaks on a patio, garden furniture, bluestone or outdoor fabrics.

• 1 L of warm water
• 2 tablespoons of oxalic acid

Pour the powder into the warm water and shake until fully dissolved. Spray onto the stain, leave for a few minutes without letting it dry, scrub with a brush, then rinse thoroughly. Rinsing is not optional: the acid residue would keep attacking the surface.

On weathered grey decking, the same solution brings back the colour of the wood. In that case, leave it for two hours and rinse off with a hose.

Recipe 2 · The degreasing spray

For the cooker hood, the griddle, the barbecue, grimy worktops.

• 500 ml of hot water
• 1 tablespoon of washing soda
• 1 teaspoon of black soap

Dissolve the washing soda in the hot water, add the black soap and shake gently to avoid foam. Spray, leave for ten minutes on baked-on grease, wipe with a sponge and rinse.

The test everyone skips

Before treating a large surface, try it on an inconspicuous area first: a corner of a paving slab under a plant pot, the back of a table leg. Some reconstituted stone and some exotic woods react badly to acids, and you only find out afterwards.

Storing and labelling

Both solutions keep for a few weeks in an opaque bottle, away from heat. Label them with the name and the date. An unidentified bottle in a garage is exactly what causes accidents at home, and nobody has ever recognised their own recipe six months later.

Never reuse a bottle from another product without rinsing and relabelling it, and above all never use a food or drink bottle.