Many teachers do not notice, or do not understand, the chemistry going on in and around their homes and hence do not point it out to their students. Thus they miss out on an important motivating experience. This article gives a few random examples, most of them well within the understanding of students at key stages 3 and 4 (age 11-16). From fatbergs to hard water, from church gargoyles to lightning conductors, from bricks to rubbish bins, from hair treatments to autumn leaves, from kerbstones to street lights -- and a source of methanal you did not know about.