How do I safely store chemicals and paint at home?

Household chemical accidents are overwhelmingly about two things: something being in the wrong bottle, and two things being stored next to each other that should never meet.

Safety

Step by step

1. Never decant into a food or drinks container.The single most important rule here. An unlabelled squash bottle of white spirit is how children are poisoned. Original container, original label, always.
2. Separate the incompatibles.Bleach away from acids and ammonia — that includes many limescale removers, some drain cleaners and some glass cleaners. Different shelves at minimum, ideally different cupboards.
3. Keep flammables away from ignition.White spirit, thinners, aerosols, adhesives, petrol, barbecue lighting fluid. Not in a cupboard with the boiler, not near a pilot light, not next to a tumble dryer.
4. Put fuel and gas cylinders outside.Petrol for a mower and any LPG cylinder belong in a ventilated outbuilding, never in the house or an integral garage with a door into the house.
5. Store high or locked where children or pets are about.Above adult head height, or a cupboard lock. Under the sink is the traditional place and the worst one — it is exactly where a toddler explores.
6. Give paint frost-free storage.Water-based paint is destroyed by freezing and cannot be remixed. An unheated shed in winter is where most leftover paint dies. Somewhere cool, dry and indoors.
7. Keep containers upright and check them.Once a year, look for rust, bulging, perished seals and unreadable labels. Anything you cannot identify goes to hazardous waste rather than back on the shelf.
8. Provide ventilation.A sealed cupboard concentrates solvent vapour. A vented cupboard or an outbuilding with an airbrick is much better for anything giving off fumes.
9. Contain spills before they happen.A shallow plastic tray under the shelf costs very little and turns a leaking container into a contained puddle instead of a floor to decontaminate.
10. Handle oily rags separately.Rags with linseed, danish or tung oil generate heat as they cure and have started fires. Spread them flat outdoors to dry or seal them in a metal container.
11. Keep quantities small.Buy what the job needs. Most household chemical storage problems are really a hoarding problem, and old products degrade.
12. Know the disposal routes.Solvent-based paint, thinners, pesticides and fuel are hazardous waste for a household waste site. Never down a drain, never in a household bin.

Tips

• Original container, original label. If you remember one thing from this, that is it.
• Get bleach and limescale remover onto different shelves today — it takes a minute and it is the pairing that actually hurts people.
• A cheap plastic tray under the shelf turns a leak into a contained mess.

Common mistakes

• Decanting chemicals into drinks bottles — It removes the hazard information and puts a poison in the shape people associate with something safe. It is a leading cause of accidental poisoning in children.
• Storing solvents in the boiler cupboard — It is warm and has an ignition source. Flammable vapour is heavier than air and pools at floor level, exactly where a pilot light sits.

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