A cleaning concentrate dilution ratio is the amount of concentrate you add per litre of water. For everyday cleaning use 10ml (1 capful) per litre of water (a 1:100 ratio) in a spray bottle, 10 to 20ml (1 to 2 capfuls) per litre of water for heavy grime, 20 to 30ml (2 to 3 capfuls) per mop bucket for floors, and a few drops neat on a cloth for stubborn spots.
The short answer: ratios by job
Most plant based cleaning concentrates are designed to be diluted heavily, which is the whole point: you buy a small bottle, add water at home, and skip paying to ship water around the country. The trick is matching the dose to the job. Too weak and you scrub twice. Too strong and you waste product and leave a residue that attracts dust. Here is the full chart, then the reasoning, the measuring tricks, and a per bottle dosing table underneath it.
These ratios reflect how the All in One Cleaner Concentrate is formulated, but the logic carries across most plant based, enzyme activated concentrates. Always check your own label first, because formulas differ in strength, and treat the figures here as a sensible starting point you can nudge up or down for your surface.
A note from the workshop floor: HomeKind was started by people who run a cleaning business, and the doses on this page are the ones a working cleaner reaches for in real homes, not numbers invented for a label. On the job you learn quickly that the win is rarely a stronger mix. It is the right dose, a minute of patience, and a clean cloth. That experience is baked into the ranges below.
The full dilution chart
This is the reference. Bookmark it, or screenshot it and keep it on your phone next to the laundry shelf. The ratio column expresses the same dose as a true dilution ratio, which is what a lot of people actually search for: 10ml (1 capful) in a litre of water is 1:100, and 20ml (2 capfuls) is 1:50.
| Job | Vessel | Per litre | As a ratio | In capfuls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday spray (benches, glass, mirrors, stainless) | Spray bottle | 10ml (1 capful) per litre of water | 1:100 | 1 capful per litre |
| Heavy grime (range hood, oven door, soap scum) | Spray bottle | 10 to 20ml (1 to 2 capfuls) per litre of water | 1:100 to 1:50 | 1 to 2 capfuls per litre |
| Floors (sealed tile, vinyl, sealed timber, laminate) | Mop bucket (around 5L) | 20 to 30ml (2 to 3 capfuls) per mop bucket | about 1:250 to 1:170 overall | 2 to 3 capfuls in the bucket |
| Spot treatment (stubborn marks, grout, sticky patches) | Damp cloth | A few drops neat on the cloth | undiluted | used sparingly |
| Soak (cookware, bins, sink overflow, oven racks) | Sink or tub of warm water | 10 to 20ml (1 to 2 capfuls) per litre of warm water | 1:100 to 1:50 | 1 to 2 capfuls per litre |
A quick note on the soak row: enzyme activated concentrates do their best work in warm (not boiling) water with a bit of dwell time. Very hot water can knock the enzymes about, so warm tap water and ten to twenty minutes of patience usually beats scalding water and scrubbing straight away. If you want the deeper version of that chemistry, see how enzyme activated cleaners work.
Why these numbers, not random guesses
Dilution ratios are not marketing rounding. They follow from how the cleaner works. A plant based surfactant (the part that lifts grease and lets water spread) only needs to be present above a certain concentration to do its job. Chemists call that threshold the critical micelle concentration. Below it the cleaner struggles to lift soil. Above it you are paying for surfactant that simply sits on the surface as residue, doing no extra cleaning. The useful band sits just past that threshold, which is exactly where the everyday ratio lands.
Everyday cleaning sits at the low end
Day to day mess is mostly light: fingerprints, splashes, dust held by a thin film of cooking oil. At 10ml (1 capful) per litre of water you have plenty of surfactant to release that film and wipe it away. This is also the band where a quality concentrate stays streak free on glass and mirrors, which matters because it means one bottle can replace a separate glass cleaner. The HomeKind concentrate is built to wipe off clear on glass at this everyday dilution, so the same spray that does your benches does your windows. There is more on the why behind that in our notes on streak free glass and mirror cleaning.
Heavy grime needs more surfactant, not more scrubbing
Baked grease and soap scum are thicker deposits, so you step up to 10 to 20ml (1 to 2 capfuls) per litre of water and, importantly, you give it dwell time. Spray, walk away for two to five minutes, then wipe. Letting the chemistry work is almost always more effective than doubling the dose. A professional cleaner does this constantly: the spray goes on the oven door and the shower screen first, the rest of the room gets done, and by the time you come back the deposit has softened and lifts with a single pass.
Floors are about coverage, not strength
A mop bucket holds a lot of water, so the per litre figure looks small but the total is enough to cover a large area. Floors also do not get rinsed, so you deliberately keep the concentration modest to avoid a sticky film that shows every footprint. That is why 20 to 30ml (2 to 3 capfuls) in a roughly 5L bucket is the sweet spot rather than glugging it in. If anything, when in doubt go lighter on floors, because a film you can feel underfoot means you used too much, not too little.
Dosing by bottle size: the exact numbers
The chart above is per litre, but almost nobody mixes exactly one litre. Spray bottles are usually 500ml or 750ml, and a mop bucket is somewhere near 5L. So here is the same guidance scaled to the vessels you actually own, with the figures already worked out so you do not have to do the maths over the sink.
| Vessel | Everyday (10ml per litre) | Heavy grime (10 to 20ml per litre) |
|---|---|---|
| 500ml spray bottle | 5ml (half a capful) | 5 to 10ml (half to 1 capful) |
| 750ml spray bottle | about 7.5ml (three quarters of a capful) | about 7.5 to 15ml (three quarters to 1.5 capfuls) |
| 1L spray bottle | 10ml (1 capful) | 10 to 20ml (1 to 2 capfuls) |
| 5L mop bucket | not applicable, see floors | 20 to 30ml (2 to 3 capfuls) |
None of these need to be exact. Cleaning is forgiving, and being a little over or under will not change the result you can see. The point of the table is to stop you guessing wildly, not to turn your kitchen into a laboratory.
How to measure your dose
You do not need lab gear. The easiest measure is the cap on the bottle: one capful is 10ml, the everyday dose for a litre of water, and half a capful (5ml) suits the 500ml Starter Pack bottle. Here is how that lines up with the jobs.
| Measure | It holds | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Half a capful | 5ml | Everyday spray in the 500ml Starter Pack bottle |
| 1 capful | 10ml | Everyday spray in a litre of water |
| 1 to 2 capfuls | 10 to 20ml | Heavy grime in a litre of water |
| 2 to 3 capfuls | 20 to 30ml | A mop bucket of water for floors |
A measuring cup marked in ml works too if you prefer. Cleaning is forgiving, so a steady capful beats guessing by eye.
Step by step: mixing a fresh spray bottle
- Start with a clean, empty bottle. If it previously held a different cleaner, rinse it well first so the products do not interact.
- Add the water first, then the concentrate. Pouring concentrate into water (rather than the other way round) keeps foaming down and gives a more even mix.
- Measure your dose with the cap: half a capful (5ml) in the 500ml Starter Pack bottle, 1 capful (10ml) per litre for everyday cleaning, and 1 to 2 capfuls for heavy jobs.
- Cap it and turn it gently end over end a few times. Do not shake hard, because that just makes foam you then have to wait out.
- Label it (see the next section). Future you will not remember what is in there.
Use room temperature tap water for spray bottles. There is no benefit to using hot water in a spray bottle and it can warm the plastic unnecessarily. For the full walkthrough including bulk batches, see how to mix cleaning concentrate at home.
How to label a refilled spray bottle
This is the step almost everyone skips and later regrets. An unlabelled bottle of clear liquid is a small hazard and a daily annoyance. A good label takes thirty seconds and answers three questions: what is it, how strong, and when was it mixed.
A simple format that works:
- What: the product name and scent, for example All in One, Lemon Myrtle and Eucalyptus.
- Strength: the dilution, for example 10ml (1 capful) per litre of water, everyday.
- Mixed on: the date you filled it.
Write it on masking tape with a permanent marker, or use a waterproof sticker. Keep the label on the body of the bottle, not the trigger, because triggers get swapped between bottles. If a bottle lives where children or visitors might reach it, keep cleaners (diluted ones included) out of reach and clearly named, never decanted into a drink bottle. That last point matters more than any ratio on this page.
How long does a diluted bottle last
A well made plant based concentrate includes a gentle, food grade preservative system, which is why the concentrate itself keeps for a long time in the bottle. Once you dilute it with tap water, you have introduced whatever is in your water, so treat a mixed spray bottle as a use within a few weeks item rather than something that sits for a year. Mixing smaller batches more often is the cleaner habit. The dating on your label is what makes that easy to track.
Surface by surface: where to land in each range
The ratios cover the jobs, but a few surfaces deserve a word on where to sit within the range, because this is where a working cleaner adjusts by feel.
Glass and mirrors
The everyday 10ml (1 capful) per litre of water is all glass needs. Glass shows everything, so the right dose plus a clean, dry microfibre to finish is what gives you that streak free wipe off. If you see streaking, the usual culprit is a dirty cloth or too much product, not too little.
Stainless steel
Everyday dilution is right, and the finishing move matters more than the dose. Wipe along the grain of the steel, then buff dry. Stainless shows water marks if it air dries, so the dry buff is what makes it gleam, regardless of ratio.
Sealed stone and benchtops
Sealed stone benchtops handle the everyday dilution comfortably. The key word is sealed. Keep the dwell time short and wipe rather than letting puddles sit, which is good practice on any benchtop you prepare food on.
Tiles and grout
Walls and splashbacks take the everyday spray. Grout that has gone grey is a spot job: a few drops closer to neat on a damp cloth or an old toothbrush, a couple of minutes to dwell, then a scrub and rinse.
How far does one litre of concentrate actually go
This is where dilution stops being fiddly and starts being the reason you bother. At an everyday dose, a single litre of concentrate makes a large number of spray bottles. At the everyday 10ml (1 capful) per litre of water, one 1L bottle of the HomeKind concentrate makes up to 100 one litre spray bottles, which is the difference between paying for water and paying for cleaner.
Worked the other way: if a ready to use supermarket spray costs somewhere around 4 to 7 dollars, and your concentrate makes the equivalent number of bottles for a fraction of that, each made up bottle lands at about 40c on a single $39.99 bottle, 35c on the two bottle pack and 33c on the three bottle pack. The exact figure depends on your dilution and your bottle size, so treat that as a derived range rather than a promise, but the direction is not subtle. Diluting at home is dramatically cheaper per spray, and it cuts the number of single use plastic bottles you bring home, because you refill the same bottle again and again. We break the maths down further in our look at the cost savings of cleaning concentrates.
When a dilution ratio is not the right fix
Honesty matters more than upselling, so here are the cases where adjusting your ratio will not help and could hurt.
Unsealed natural stone
If your benchtop or floor is unsealed marble, limestone or another acid sensitive stone, the issue is not dilution. Acidic ingredients (even gentle plant derived acids) can etch these surfaces. A concentrate that is safe on sealed stone may not be the right choice on raw, porous stone, so check your surface before you mix anything.
Disinfection
Cleaning and disinfecting are different jobs. A general cleaner lifts soil and most everyday grime, but if you specifically need to kill germs (after raw meat, during illness), you want a product that states it sanitises and you follow that product's contact time. Cranking up the dilution of a general cleaner does not turn it into a disinfectant.
Drains, ovens that need stripping, and rust
Very specific heavy jobs sometimes need a purpose product. A blocked drain, a badly carbonised oven, or active rust are not dilution problems. Use the concentrate for the cleaning it is built for and do not expect a stronger mix to substitute for the right tool.
Septic and greywater systems
This one is the opposite of a warning: if you are on a septic tank or you reuse greywater on the garden, the concern is usually what is in the cleaner, not how much water you add. A concentrate that is septic and greywater safe, like the HomeKind formula, lets you dilute and use it normally without worrying about harsh residues going down the line. For the detail, see our notes on septic and greywater safe cleaning. Always still avoid pouring neat concentrate of anything down a drain in volume.
Scent does not change the ratio
A common question: do different scents dilute differently? With a well made range, the answer is no. The HomeKind concentrate comes in two scents right now, Lemon Myrtle + Eucalyptus and Mandarin Peel + Rosemary, with Peppermint + Pine Needle and Fragrance Free back soon, and they all share the same base formula. So every ratio on this page applies identically whichever scent you pick, and the Fragrance Free version, back soon, is there for anyone sensitive to essential oils or simply not wanting a scent in the room. If you order a bundle and mix scents, you can label each refill by scent and still trust the same dose across all of them.
A simple routine that uses the whole chart
Put it together and a normal clean uses three dilutions without any fuss. You keep one everyday spray for benches, glass and stainless. You mix a stronger spray only when you hit a heavy job. And you dose the mop bucket for the floors. Spot jobs get a few drops neat on a cloth. That is the entire system, and it is why one small bottle of concentrate quietly replaces the row of single purpose cleaners under most sinks.
The HomeKind All in One Cleaner Concentrate is in stock now. If you want the deeper background on the formula, the enzyme blend and the full surface list, the complete Australian guide to the concentrate is the place to start.
