Guides
Job-first explainers — which molecule for which stain, how to measure a patio, how to read an NPK bag — each one links into live teardowns.
Patio guide · Patio & exterior
Patio cleaners decoded: BAC, DDAC, bleach, acid and degreasers
Which patio bottle is which molecule? Benzalkonium, DDAC, hypochlorite, brick acid, metasilicate, strippers and a silane sealer — matched to DupeStack teardowns.
Patio guide · Patio & exterior
How much patio chemical do you need? Measure first
Convert a patio or drive into m², then into concentrate and water using DupeStack teardowns and the area estimator.
Lawn guide · Lawn & garden
Lawn and plant food labels decoded: NPK without the brand box
What 7-7-7, 5.3-7.5-10 and 12.5-25-25 actually mean, and which DupeStack teardowns match Growmore, Q4, Chempak and tomato feeds.
Wellness guide · Wellness & supplements
The wellness gummy tax — and why ‘detox’ drinks are usually dye and carbon
How TikTok gummies and charcoal/chlorophyll drinks mark up bulk actives, and which DupeStack teardowns show the food-supplement maths.
Pool guide · Pool & spa
Pool and spa basics: pH, chlorine and cyanuric acid without the brand kit
What Clearwater-style pH Plus, pH Minus, chlorine and CYA actually are — soda ash, dry acid, TCCA and stabiliser — with links to DupeStack teardowns.
Patio guide · Patio & exterior
BAC vs DDAC vs bleach on patios — which active for which stain?
Quat biocides, twin-chain DDAC and hypochlorite do different jobs on paving. When to use each — and what never to mix.
Patio guide · Patio & exterior
When to use a metasilicate degreaser on driveways
Oily concrete and traffic grime need an alkaline builder — not a patio biocide. How metasilicate differs from BAC, bleach and brick acid.
Wellness guide · Wellness & supplements
Magnesium glycinate vs Beam Dream — capsules, citrate and the cocoa tax
Beam sells flavoured sleep powder; Nutrition Geeks sells glycinate capsules. Which magnesium salt, which delivery, and what the bulk stack actually is.
Household guide · Household cleaning
Household acids and alkalis decoded — limescale, rust and never-mix rules
Citric, sulfamic, lactic, acetic, formic, oxalic and phosphoric for descaling and rust; how they differ from brick acid and caustic drain gel — with DupeStack teardown links.
Lawn guide · Lawn & garden
Weedkillers decoded: glyphosate vs triclopyr — paths, brambles and lawn
Pathclear RTU, Resolva Xpress pelargonic, Doff mecoprop-P, Weedol Lawn MCPA three-way, SBK brushwood killer and ferric slug bait use different actives. Match the molecule to the weed — and never swap without reading the label.
Household guide · Household cleaning
Drain and oven cleaners: sulphuric acid vs caustic soda — never swap blindly
One Shot drain acid, Mr Muscle caustic gel and Oven Pride cold oven cleaner are different hazards. Match the bottle to the pipe or enamel job.
Household guide · Household cleaning
Disinfectants decoded: bleach, Dettol and hand gel — hypochlorite vs PCMX vs IPA
Sodium hypochlorite, chloroxylenol and isopropanol do different jobs. Never mix Domestos, Dettol and Carex logic in one bucket.
Wellness guide · Wellness & supplements
Magnesium absorption decoded: transdermal sprays vs oral salts — and why bulk flakes beat branded oil
Magnesium chloride ‘oil’, bisglycinate capsules and citrate sleep powders are different salts and routes. Chemistry, elemental Mg maths, and the DupeStack teardowns that cut the brand tax.
Wellness guide · Wellness & supplements
Hydration science without the sachet tax — branded electrolytes vs DIY sodium and potassium
What LMNT-style high-sodium sachets actually contain, how sweat loses Na⁺ and K⁺, and the bulk salt maths versus £1+ per stick — with DupeStack teardown links.
Pool guide · Pool & spa
Pool shock, bromine, floc and algaecide — not the same tub
Cal-hypo shock, dichlor granules, MPS oxidiser, BCDMH bromine, alum floc, copper algicide and thiosulphate reducer are different salts. Match the job before you buy a spa-shop tub.
Lawn guide · Lawn & garden
Garden tonics decoded: seaweed, chelated iron, Epsom and rooting powder
Kelp extract, Fe-EDDHA, Epsom salts, IBA rooting powder and foliar soap are not NPK bags. Match the deficiency or the cutting — then buy the bulk salt, not the sachet.
Household guide · Household cleaning
Carpets and laundry stains: percarbonate vs machine surfactant
Vanish Oxi is sodium percarbonate. Vax Ultra+ is dilute SLES. Pink paste is an abrasive, not an oxygen bleach. Match the stain chemistry before you buy another scented bottle.
Lawn guide · Lawn & garden
Lawn moss vs a nitrogen green-up — ferrous sulphate is not sulphate of ammonia
Evergreen 4-in-1 and lawn sands use iron to blacken moss. Sulphate of ammonia is 21% N for colour. Do not treat a feed box as a moss killer — or a moss killer as Growmore.
Lawn guide · Lawn & garden
Garden pests and disease: fungicides vs insecticides — not weedkillers
Blackspot, mildew, greenfly and ant runs use different molecules. Match copper, sulphur, triazoles, pyrethroids, acetamiprid and oil sprays to the job — then buy the bulk active, not another rose bottle.
Wellness guide · Wellness & supplements
Wellness powders and sprays decoded — greens, sleep, collagen and oral mists
Greens scoops, sleep cocoa, collagen gummies versus powder, and vitamin D / magnesium sprays versus tablets. Food-supplement maths with DupeStack teardowns — not medicines.
Patio guide · Patio & exterior
Driveway oil stains: degreaser vs solvent vs absorbent
When alkaline builders (metasilicate, TKPP) lift traffic grime, when a hydrocarbon / citrus poultice helps, what never to mix — with KilrockPRO, Grimex and Lithofin OIL-EX teardowns.
Patio guide · Patio & exterior
Water-repellent, biocide or acid — which patio job needs which chemistry
A silane or siloxane impregnator, a quat biocide and brick acid solve different patio jobs. When to seal, when to kill algae, and when mineral haze actually wants hydrochloric acid.
Pool guide · Pool & spa
Phosphate remover and polyquat — not a shock, and not copper
Lanthanum chloride drops phosphate. A polymeric quat is a copper-free algicide. Neither replaces trichlor, dichlor or cal-hypo, and neither is alum floc.
Household guide · Household cleaning
Washing machines and dishwashers: Calgon, salt, citric and colour-run
Calgon zeolite vs citrate tabs, dishwasher salt, citric heater descale and dithionite colour-run are four jobs — match the molecule, not the aisle.
Patio guide · Patio & exterior
Driveway & TFR oil and grease: which solvent for which stain
Traffic film, dripped oil and tyre marks need different chemistry. Match 2-butoxyethanol TFR, alkaline degreasers and citrus solvents to the stain — linked to DupeStack teardowns.
Pool guide · Pool & spa
PHMB and bromine pool care: chlorine-free sanitising decoded
How polyhexanide (PHMB) and sodium bromide work as chlorine-free pool sanitisers — activation chemistry, compatibility rules, and links to DupeStack teardowns.