Anyone care to share their toilet cleaning routine with me?

[MumSecret]

It's a job I have never really got to grips with.

At the moment I use those toilet duck things that go on the end of a stick and then flush straight down the loo, but there must be a better way?

I don't really want to get involved in the world of toilet brushes, especially with a 2 year old around.

I am sure there are some toilet cleaning pros around here who can help me out

I wish i could help, there's a minging brown stain right on the bottom of mine in the pan, that was there before i moved in, goes away when bleached and physically scrubbed daily, but re-appears after 5 minutes of cleaning, even if no one's peed! It does my head in! I've tried everything, bleach, citric acid, dishwasher tabs, all toilety products, limelite, cillit bang, The nice maintenance guy even put some industrial cleaner on it, that he says gets rid of everything, but NO it's still bloody there!!!!!! It makes my toilet look so unclean that it actually makes my stomach turn, I even try to avoid letting people use my loo for fear of thinking it's dirty!

Would be really interested what people have to suggest x

i cant go near toilet brushes, think its horribly unhygienic but then thats just me! for the seat i tend to use anti-bacterial wipes followed by a good squirting of flash bathroom spray. Then i use bleach down the loo, let it sit for a few hours. I don't think i have any nasal hairs left after the wafting of years of bleach!

funny you should ask about toilet cleaning. during an advertisement break on tele earlier today there was a advert for harpic followed a minute later for another by domestos, and it occured to me if we are all perhaps getting a little bit obsessed with toilet germs. sure i like a clean loo but does anyone else really think its really essential to kill all germs off the face of the earth when cleaning the loo?

@mumsecret - everyday i give my loo a wipe with some of those parazone flushable wipes and a squirt of domestos bleach down the loo. leave it for an hour and flush. personally from the sounds of it the loo you have inherited may be past it's sell by date and would be worth getting a new one, especially if as it sounds you exhausted all avenues. i would be horrowed if i had to let guest you my loo if it was looking unclean.

@lucytails - yeah i think its important to keep on top of germs. its the main germ hotspot for me along with kitchen preparation surfaces, so i like to make sure that kill all germs 'off the face of the earth' lol. how often do you clean your loo then and what do you use out of interest? x

you don't need special wipes, they clog up sewage works. I spray toilet and lid and seat with bathroom spray every morning then wipe with scrunched up loo roll or kitchen towel. I then squirt down some eco- loo cleaner and leave it ( I do wash my hands afterwards!). I only use a little bleach once a week or so. However, I live in a soft water area and don't have to deal with limescale. Toilet germs are majorly over-rated as a source of illness, just wash your hands!

hi, stofstg - i clean my loo once a week with tesco loo cleaner and wipe over with bathroom spray. i do this about once a week. i just think sometimes that the whole killing germs in the toilet is just a gimmeck by cleaning companies. you walk down the cleaning aisle down supermarkets and half the aisle if for toilet cleaners/bleach/rim blocks/wipes aimed for toilet cleaning.

Use fly lady routine - every day (or when I think of it) - bit of loo cleaner - although she said it doesn't have to be could just be anything- run round with the loo brush (kept high up because of 16 month old) and leave it - and quick spurt of bath room cleaner and wipe round with a cloth - takes about 2 min and mean they stay nice and I don't have to do a big clean of the loos ever

I have to use a toilet brush or we get massive limescale build up.

I'll put some of that limescale harpic stuff down the toilet once a week overnight and scrub in the morning.

Every couple of days I wipe with a parozone flushable wipes.

@lucytails & movingandscared - well toilet germs do need to be taken care of. i just quickly found this:

www.addicare.co.uk/library/germ_animation/?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=400&width=571

1 germ to billions in 24 hours. also some of the germs down you get in toilets are really nasty. ecoli, salmonella, and other nasty sounding ones which have ridiculously long names which can cause sickness and tummy bugs. talking of all this toilet cleaning has reminded me i haven't actually cleaned the upstairs loo today...

mmmm i'm coming around to your thinking i guess lol. did you have fun cleaning your loo and all killing them nasty germs then? hehe

I like it to smell fresh and look clean but frankly i don't give a
monkeys how many germs live down there. Why does it matter?
Poster with the brown stain, have you tried spirit of salts?

Um, stofstg (and the other germ defeaters!), so do you spend a lot of time licking your loo then? The nasty germs are not going to leap out at you.

Excessive use of strong disinfectants is implicated in immune system problems, and in the development of resistant strains of germs. I'd class keeping the bowl into which you defecate sterile as excessive, personally.

ooo no haven't - i'll give that a go!

I'm thinking i may well have to buy a new suite tbh, it's fairly modern but looking a bit tired, was obviously never cleaned or looked after by previous inhabitants, i might treat myself to a complete new bathroom later in the year.

Fling limescale remover into bowl and up under rim.
Leave for a couple of hours.
Don gloves and wipe clean. Flush.

Seat and top get antibac wipes every other day.

Unfortunately, as it is my most hated job of all, I have to clean my 2 loos a minimum of once a day.

This is not because I am worried about germs etc, its because DS has a medical condition which causes him to shite at least 10 times a day. It splatters and sticks and is highly unpleasant, mostly for him but for me as well being the cleaner. Wasteful I know but I use a generous squirt of loo cleaner and a scourer and then chuck it out.

Aimeesmum I know what you mean about being embarrassed if someone wanted to use the loo and it is not looking its best but, as DS is now 6, I have overcome most of the blushes as nearly everyone knows about DS's condition.

I assume that my Wednesday and Thursday cleaners do the loos. No idea how, as I have never asked.

@GrottyPotPlant - yeah i know what you mean about strong inmune systems, but the toilet has always been a place i'm ocd about really, other than food preparation surfaces. same as my mum, and we all turned out fine. they're the only things i compulsively clean to be honest. the rest of the house is a tip lol.

@lucytails - yep. just put some domestos down the loo. i almost feel i can hear the germs scream like on those adverts when i squirt it around hehe.

Aimeesmum I expect what has happened is that there was previously a big buildup of limescale at the bottom of the loo, which you removed, but it took the porcelain glaze away with it. So now you have an unglazed bit which is permanently brown. I had the same problem (again thanks to previous minging residents) and have just replaced the suite.

ok stofstg you've talked me into it. i'll just go up after writing this and squirt some cleaner down loo. perhaps doing it your way and thinking of the germs screaming as i do it will somehow make it more exciting lol

ok stofstg done it. I didn't hear no screaming though lol. Gosh the things that get talked about on mumsnet eh!

Use a bog brush, try to push as much water as you can around the bend so-to-speak, so that the 'pan' is pretty much empty. Use a really good limescale remover and throroughly cover the whole area, leave it for a few mins (depends on product, what the porcelain is like etc etc ), then scrub like mad. Should shift the staining

We get a lot of limescale and none of the cleaners shift it no matter how I clean the loo so we now buy cheapo vinegar (13p in sanisbo) and pour it down the loo, leave overnight and flush in the morning. Shifts stubborn limescale.
As to cleaning..... 'green' loo cleaner dolloped in, under rim etc, leave for a bit, attack with loo brush, flush, clean seat etc with bathroom cleaner and special micro cloth (ie only used for loos)

If you have a hopelessly stained toilet pan you don't need a new suite, just replace the pan bit of the toilet!!! Quite an easy cheap job!

For those of you who don't use loo brushes, how do you get poo residues off the bowl?