R1 to R9 is a colour-and-number shorthand for a hotel's core cleaning chemicals — one number per job, so housekeeping never mixes an acid toilet cleaner with a glass cleaner. It started with Diversey's Taski range and is now the standard most Indian hotels train staff on. Here's what each does, how to dilute it, and which ones a mid-size property actually needs.
The R1–R9 system at a glance
| Code | Job | Typical use | Dilution (concentrate:water) | We supply* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Bathroom cleaner + sanitiser | Tiles, taps, basins, urinals | 1:20 – 1:40 (neat on heavy scale) | Diversey R1 · K'triq K-1 Bathroom (500 ml/1 L/5 L) |
| R2 | Hard-surface / all-purpose | Floors, walls, general surfaces | 1:40 – 1:100 | Diversey R2 · K'triq K-2 Surface (1 L/5 L) |
| R3 | Glass cleaner | Mirrors, glass, windows | Ready-to-use / 1:10 | Diversey R3 · K'triq K-3 Glass (500 ml/1 L/5 L) |
| R4 | Furniture / maintenance polish | Wood, laminate | Ready-to-use | Diversey R4 — ask us |
| R5 | Air freshener | Rooms, washrooms | Ready-to-use | aroma-oil range + fresheners |
| R6 | Toilet bowl cleaner | Inside the WC pan | Ready-to-use, neat | Diversey R6 · K'triq K-6 Toilet (500 ml/5 L) |
| R7 | Floor cleaner / stripper | Heavy-duty floor wash | 1:20 – 1:60 | Diversey R7 · K'triq K-7/K-10 Floor (500 ml/5 L) |
| R8 | Kitchen degreaser | Hobs, hoods, tiles | 1:10 (heavy) – 1:40 (daily) | alkaline degreaser — ask us |
| R9 | Bathroom descaler | Hard-water scale, stubborn stains | neat, short contact | Diversey R9 · K'triq K-9 Bathroom (1 L/5 L) |
*R1–R9 is Diversey's own system (diversey.com) — we supply Diversey and the parallel K'triq coded range (K'triq K-11 adds carpet shampoo). Numbers vary slightly across brand charts, so always read the bottle, not just the number.
The three you'll use every single day
Be honest about it: a 30-room property runs on R1 (bathroom), R6 (toilet) and R2/R7 (floors). R3 glass is daily in the restaurant; R8 degreaser is daily in the kitchen. R4, R5 and R9 are as-needed, not bulk-buy. Don't let a rep sell you a full nine-cane rack if half of it will sit in the store expiring.
Dilution is where the money leaks
Concentrates are cheap per bucket only if staff dilute correctly. Neat pouring "to be safe" burns 2–4× the chemical and, on marble, etches the polish. Two rules that pay for themselves:
- R1 and R9 are acidic — keep them off marble and natural stone. Use a pH-neutral cleaner there (see our marble note on the housekeeping chemicals page).
- Give contact time. R6 in the bowl for 5–10 minutes beats scrubbing immediately with twice the product.
Pair it with colour-coding
The R-numbers only prevent chemical mix-ups; colour-coded cloths and mops prevent germ transfer between zones — red for toilets, blue for general surfaces, green for kitchen, yellow for washbasins. Run both systems together and a new housekeeping hire is productive on day one. (Our colour-coding guide covers this in full.)
A real example
A 40-key Corbett resort we supply runs two housekeeping trolleys, each carrying R1, R6, R3 and a neutral floor cleaner in labelled 750 ml dilution bottles, refilled from 5 L canes in the store. One 5 L cane of bathroom cleaner at 1:30 makes ~150 L of working solution — that's weeks of bathrooms, not days. Buying the concentrate and diluting on the trolley, instead of ready-to-use bottles, roughly halved their chemical spend.
What to do next
- Match the chemical to the surface, not the label hype — see our chemical range and per-surface picks.
- Standardise dilution bottles + a colour-coding chart for staff — housekeeping tools.
- Not sure which of the nine you actually need? Tell us your room count and surfaces and we'll spec the short list.