It's possible you've never heard of Trisodium Phosphate, or TSP as it's referred to. But walk into a major hardware store with a tough cleaning problem, and likely this is the substance that will be handed to you.

TSP is a heavy duty cleaner that used to be used in dishwasher soap and laundry detergent until the negative impact of phosphates on the environment was discovered. Phosphate imbalance in the environment caused the overgrowth of algae that set off a ripple effect up the line--causing an imbalance in the environment that was serious enough to warrant it's regulation.

As a heavy-duty cleaner, it goes without saying that you DO need to have goggles and chemical gloves. Chemical gloves look like regular rubber dishwashing gloves but a little stiffer and much stronger. They are made to resist chemicals eating away at them. If using a TSP-bleach mixture, you'll also want to be in a well-ventilated area.

Most often, TSP is only recommended for your most serious cleaning problems. It's an extremely strong cleaner that is usually diluted (it depends on the product--check the instructions) and even then has the power to take the gloss off of your paint, floors and ceramic plus eat your grout if not handled as instructed. In fact, don't let it near your grout! It's strong enough that most often it is used in preparation for painting in lieu of sanding. Because it eats away that coating of the paint, it acts like a mild liquid sander. We just recently used this for our 140-year-old floor that had years of varnish and bowling wax on them. We found a liquid version of TSP that was already diluted and followed the recommendations for paint preparation on our floors. It worked wonderfully on our warped floors--that would have been a nightmare to sand.

We owned a home in a city that has some incredible lead paint guidelines for homeowners and landlords. One of the things their 40+ page document recommended was that if the lead paint in our home couldn't be abated, we should clean the lead paint weekly with TSP to remove the paint dust until abatement could occur. Of course, it didn't go on to explain that you couldn't just wipe down your home with TSP and NOT rinse it off. I believe they assumed you'd read that directions!

In cases of cleaning mildew, you can find TSP-bleach mixtures.

When used carefully, TSP is an excellent solution to some of the more serious cleaning issues. But used without following the instructions it has the power to damage the very things you are trying to save! This is one product where reading ALL of the instructions and warnings isn't just advised--it's necessary.