Seriously, how do I clean a bathroom?

[SneakretSanta]

I'm too embarrassed to ask anyone in RL especially my mother who will never let me hear the end of it but having grown up in forrin parts with servants etc I was domestically clueless upon leaving home. Four years and one small DS on I have just about mastered most basics but for some reason the bathroom continues to defeat me! I look like I just move dust and gunk from one surface to another! How many cloths should I use? Should the one for the loo be ceremonially burned binned after use? WHY can I not get rid of the sodding limescale no matter which products I buy? Why is the inside of the loo under the water always brown no matter how I religiously loo brush it daily? Is it normal to get through nearly a bottle of bleach every time and still look like I've made no sodding difference???

Argh.

Before someone asks why he doesn't do it, DP is also clueless as MIL decided early on he was a useless and disobedient child who would never learn so didn't bother showing him any domestic skills (and he's bloody lazy and doesn't notice or care if he lives in filth ).

HELP ME.

LOVE THIS QUESTION

I can do the floors, anti-bac the surfaces, dust etc BUT getting the grime off the bath is totally defeating me!

Viakal is my go to product for limescale/general bathroom grime.

If you repeatedly put the loo brush down the loo you can push the water away and get to the limescale/water deposits below the water line.

I've lived in a lot of grubby rentals!

I think the grime on the bath is something that only responds to something like Cif, something a bit gritty (but not gritty enough to scratch the bath).

I think if the inside of your loo is already stained with limescale, or if the surface is cracked, it is extremely difficult to remove the stains.

For the toilet, I use whatever toilet cleaner I have to hand, squirt it all up and around leave it to sit for a bit, then a good scrub with a clean toilet brush. Then flush the toilet and rinse the brush in the water as it is flushing, thereby ensuring that it goes back into the holder clean .

For the toilet seat. For day to day cleaning, I often just use some toilet paper with some disinfectant sprayed on, and clean the handle and seat etc. For a more in depth clean (which is often needed due to the poor aim of small boys learning to use a toilet) then I use some sort of cleaning product on a wee scourer sponge, like a dishwashing sponge and then throw it away afterwards. (I usually keep ones that I have used for washing the dishes and when they are past their best for dishwashing purposes they get relegated to loo cleaning and then binned). I also sometimes like to take my steam cleaner and blast all around the toilet seat and the bits where the seat is attached etc. It is stomach churning, because even when it looks clean, you often get a manky pool of water that smells like pee. Disgusting.

As for moving dirt from one surface to another. Sponges are a bit crap for this I find - they tend to gather up grime, hairs etc and just move them around. Microfibre cloths are much better for actually picking things up, plus they seem to dry the surface better when you wring them out. I would invest in loads of microfibre cloths and a bucket in the garage or shed or somewhere. When the cloth has been used, let it dry out, throw it in the bucket and when the cloths are all used, put the whole lot into the washing machine on the hottest wash, with some disinfectant in the fabric softener drawer, and you've got nice clean, disinfected cloths to start the whole thing over again. (I keep bathroom and kitchen cleaning cloths separate though - I'm not sure if that is actually necessary, since they are being disinfected and washed in really hot water, but it seems sensible.)

I know that is a bit of an essay, but you did say you really needed talked through it, so I took you at your word

Stop using bleach it doesn't remove limescale.

Use the big guns to give it a good deep clean. Get some cilet bang mouse and cover your bath, tiles and sink with it. Open a window and wear something around your mouth and nose though. Leave for a little while and go back in with a wet microfibre cloth and wipe tiles. Rinse cloth and wipe bath paying attention to taps around and underneath. Rinse and do sink. Inside and outside. Use shower attachment and rinse bath and sink if it'll reach. Use a dry microfibre cloth and buff dry tiles, then sink then bath ( paying attention to taps.)

Use some dilute flash in a bucket of hot water.. take the cloth you've just used to buff dry, dip it in the flash (wear gloves). Wash the top and body of the toilet including flush handle.. rinse back in bucket and wash the outside of the bowl including the back of the toilet and the outlet pipe. Rinse in bucket and wash lid, seat on top and underneath and then rim.

Take a loo brush and push the water around the U bend. Use a limescale gel and squirter under the rim and in where the water was. Leave for half an hour and go back and scrub under rim and dark bits. Then flush chain and while it's flushing do under the rim again and scrub bottom. Dry off whole toilet to a buff with dry cloth.

Before you go to bed plonk a couple of denture tablets in the toilet. Next day repeat the middle clean with the gel until limescale is gone.

To maintain I just have a squirt bottle with diluted Milton and spray the whole toilet each day and wipe with a dry cloth.

You don't need to use the cilet all the time.. bathroom cleaner and a cloth does after that.

X posts. I use pink cloths for bathroom, green for kitchen and blue for general. Means you know what's been used for what which isn't that important since they all go in the washer together

That's a great idea, I might steal that!

It makes sense to me that if they have been washed on 90 degrees with disinfectant there probably isn't anything to be concerned about, but I think it's a psychological thing, rather than a practical thing

Pink for sink
Blue for Loo
And yellow for other things (can't remember the rhyme! )

My cleaner insists on Flash Bathroom Spray. I can see why, it does work.
I also agree with Vikal for lime scale removal. (I do do my own cleaning sometimes).

It is totally. .it keeps the head in order I think

I found soaking hard water/calcium build up/limescale in vinegar works great. But you have to let it soaked for a minute or more. (Make a spray bottle of vinegar and water and keep spraying it until it comes off easily)

tipnut.com/limescale/

If you have a steam cleaner, it's good for cleaning any tiles and hard surfaces. Never tried it on a plastic ie not ceramic bath.

There's a product called something like Limelite that's great for shifting limescale. It has a gizmo on the nozzle that means you can either use it as a spray (eg for tiles) or a mousse (eg for taps)

To answer your Q properly though... I think the answer is having the right products and doing little and often. Try to keep on top of the small things eg toothpaste in the basin and do a "deep clean" at least once a week (ours seems to need it every 5-6 days), doing something like

• gunk down toilet to soak
• any limescale products that need to soak
• bath / shower
• mirrors
• basin
• cupboard fronts
• loo
• floor

Re the gunk in the bath. I use my old body poufs (sp?!), abrasive enough to remove the crap but no chance of scratching the bath.

Fill an empty spray bottle with a 50:50 mix of white vinegar and washing up liquid, then add one teaspoon of salt and shake well before each use.. This is a cheap & effective way of cleaning shower screens, taps and mirrors.

Simply spray, leave then wipe down with the hard side of a sponge and rinse dry. Then use a soft rag to buff to a shine.

They work very well on a weeks worth of toothpaste in the sink too

Leave for 10 minutes.

1. Sweep away all dust/hair from floors and surfaces while the room is dry. Much easier.

1. Clean bath/shower. Scrub bath - there will be a tide mark you can't see but feel - it's soap and human grease. Rinse with HOT water after cleaning.

1. Clean sink. Scrub as above.

1. Clean tiles, woodwork etc. Don't scrub painted surfaces too hard as you'll damage the paintwork.

1. Clean mirror(s). Do not use soap. Use window cleaner, a CLEAN cloth and nothing else. No water or streaks will plague you.

1. Loo. Start from the top of the cistern. Rub everything down with disposable anti-bac wipes (can be bought for this exact purpose). Bin said wipes. Don't forget to clean the underside of the toilet seat. Pour bleach down the toilet. Scrub with brush.

1. Do floor. Steam mop is good.

1. Open window, leave to dry.

You need; basic bathroom cleaner, window cleaner, bleach, wipes, scourers, softer cloths for mirror and woodwork. Get a steam mop with lots of attachments for stubborn bits.

www.mumsnet.com/good-housekeeping

Using a daily shower spray and a squeegie on tiles and shower screen after each use helps stop mank from building up.

Cif cream for the bath with a washing up sponge. Works a treat.

I Hoover the tiled surfaces to get rid of most of the dust otherwise I just end up pushing dust around. Steam cleaners are great for freshening up grout and cleaning the hard to reach bits of the toilet.
I buy bathroom cleaning wipes which I wipe around every couple of days in between big cleans which helps keep on top of things

An E cloth glass cleaning set is great for shower cubicles and screens, mirrors and tiles, without the needs for tons of expensive cleaning products. I use bleach in the loo to kill germs and Flash bathroom everywhere else on a textured bathroom cleaning cloth. Blue e cloth to dry and polish off with smears or streaks. Start with the sink or shower, end with cleaning loo seat, put cloth cleaning cloth in hit wash.

I learned to clean hotel rooms when I was 15 (first job) so you spray the bathroom with whichever product you have, then you did the bedroom, this gave time for the product to work, cut through grime, toothpaste etc.

We had separate cleaning sponges for toilets and we dried off everything with towels, that is the buffing to a shine bit.

At home I do something similar, once a week I use a limescale remover on the sink/tiles and shower. Leave it to work. Empty the water out of the toilet bowl, get the last drops with a disposable sponge, put Harpic limescale remover down the toilet and use that same sponge to spread it around to get every bit. Leave it for 10 minutes and do the sponge bit again.

I have car detail towels that I use for cleaning, they get high temp wash when the bin becomes full. I like e-cloths for mirrors and glass.

If you are moving dust around, wet the cloth. I tend to use a cleaning cloth to clean and the towels to dry and buff. I also pre-dilute flash bathroom as I love the smell and then I don't have to rinse it off. It is in a spray bottle.