Ask the Builder: A Magic All-Purpose Cleaner

Tough baked-on, caramelized grease in pots and pans softens like butter when soaked in this solution.

This side-by-side slate floor comparison should convince you the tiny pile of powdered oxygen bleach is your best all-purpose cleaner. Tim Carter/Tribune Content Agency

Do you struggle and work too hard to get things clean around your home? A plethora of cleaning products assaults you at the grocery store and in TV commercials. I’ve tried many of them, but 30 years ago I was lucky enough to discover the best all-purpose cleaner while doing research for a deck sealer column.

I happened to ask this question while meeting with a chemist, “Does it clean anything else?” The “it” I was asking about was oxygen bleach.