Now that life is readjusting back to ‘normal’, our lives are busier than ever.
With this in mind, many of us may turn to TikTok to look for ‘hacks’ that help us save time on our housework and DIY projects. However, did you know that many of these tips are actually dangerous?
To help differentiate between the helpful and harmful, MattressNextDay has dissected the credibility of the most popular TikTok DIY and housework hacks.
7 Dangerous TikTok Hacks You Shouldn’t Follow
Dangerous Tick Tock Home Hacks – Painted floor tiles go patchy and can become a health hazard.
Whilst painted floor tiles may look pretty, the paint is often not durable enough to handle the natural wear and tear of being walked on. This will make it patchy, and potentially creating chips that people could trip over. You are likely to have to replace the entire floor.
Dangerous Tick Tock Home Hacks – Mixing cleaning products together can cause chemical burns.
On TikTok, many cleaning influencers suggest that you mix certain cleaning products together to intensify the cleaning power, however, this is dangerous:
- Bleach + vinegar = chlorine gas (causes coughing, breathing problems, and burning watery eyes)
- Bleach + ammonia = chloramine (causes coughing, breathing problems, and burning watery eyes)
- Bleach + rubbing alcohol = chloroform (shortness of breath, irritation of nose and throat. Acute inhalation can cause nausea, vomiting, dizziness and drowsiness)
Dangerous Tick Tock Home Hacks – Laundry stripping can cause permanent dye loss on your bedsheets.
Laundry stripping is the method that involves soaking your bedding in Borax, Arm and Hammer baking soda and laundry powder to remove stubborn dirt. However, these strong chemicals can cause permanent dye loss on your sheets and make them harder.
Dangerous Tick Tock Home Hacks – Painting your kitchen worktops can harbour germs that can contaminate your food.
A lot of worktops are made from laminate meaning that the paint won’t bond to the surface as it is designed to be impervious. Minor bumps will cause chips that bacteria can get into, where you are prepping food.
Dangerous Tick Tock Home Hacks – Using an air freshener to clean your radiator can result in a dire.
Another TikTok ‘hack’ features someone spraying a Fabulousa air freshener inside their radiators, pushing the dust out to clean it whilst the fresh, clean smell lingers. However, the label on the bottle states that you should ‘keep away from heat, hot surfaces, sparks, open flames’ which applies to radiators and can, in the worst-case scenario, cause a fire.
Dangerous Tick Tock Home Hacks – Using a drill to clean your bathtub could damage it.
A big trend on TikTok features attaching a sponge or cleaning utensil to your drill, lathering it in a cleaning product and turning it on to dig deep into the crevices of grout, bathtubs and more. However, the strong force could chip or damage your bath or grouting, or not holding it properly could result in an injury to yourself.
Dangerous Tick Tock Home Hacks – Ironing your sheets whilst they’re on the bed can burn you or your mattress.
Mrs Hinch fans made this a popular hack; however, you should never iron your sheets whilst they’re on the bed as heat can permanently damage memory foam and latex mattresses – or you as it’s not a totally flat surface to iron on so you could fall. Instead, you should use a crease release spray or some watered down fabric softener whilst your sheets are on the bed.