Help - any way back for this mouldy bath seal/grout?

[Fluttermummy]

I am so embarrassed that I have let it get to this state, but I’ve had several stressful years and the cleaning has taken a back seat 😣
I will try and attach a photo but basically the bath seal has lots of black mould and I think it is/has spread up the grout, which is quite orange. I realise there is no way back for the seal - did use that ‘magic’ stuff that worked for about a week, but not permanent. But what products do I need to sort out the grout? I’ve scrubbed it with Cif but it doesn’t fix it completely. I really want to blitz it, then get it re-sealed and then look after it. But is it too late now the mould is in the grout?

Have you tried leaving some bleach on it?

You'll never get all of that gone sorry. But it's not too terrible a job to pull it out and replace it.

Bleach will only kill the surface mould which means it will keep coming back. It needs to be fully replaced unfortunately.

You can scrub the orange off quite easily but I think the black mould will be impossible to get rid of, our shower is like that, I've tried all sorts.

I'm pretty sure that HG mould spray would work on that grout. It's sold in lots of places, including online.

"pro-kleen tile grout cleaner" from Amazon is about £12 and got our mould off. We used it to clean the grout (which it was spectacular at) but the sealant mould was an added bonus.

I bleach sealant round the bath every 8 weeks roughly. I soak toilet tissue in bleach, roll it up and stick it on for four to six hours then remove and rinse off.

Soak kitchen roll in bleach and leave it on the grout overnight. This will deal with the surface mould until you get chance to replace it.

Don't use loo roll, it's not robust enough

Try Cilit Bang black mould remover (purple bottle). Amazing stuff! It may not bring it back to like new but it will make a big difference based on my experience.

Google mould remover gel. Brilliant stuff.

Try HG mould remover spray, worked well for me on black mould and the browny orange stuff on the tiles. Sometimes needs 2applications

Cleaner here 😊 Cillit Bang mould and mildew remover would make a huge difference to the grout and the sealant. Spray on, leave for 5 minutes then scrub with a scrub daddy and rinse off. I would then place some make up remover pads along that sealant and pour neat bleach on it. Leave for 8 - 10 minutes.

As pp said, the sealant may be beyond repair but it's a relatively easy job to replace it.

You could take off the old sealant and replace with new sealant but be prepared for it to happen again 🤷🏻

HG Mould remover will get the vast majority off. It will need a couple of applications and it stinks to high heaven on bleach but it is brilliant stuff. Lots of videos on youtube showing you people using it and I have used it personally.

Put some bleach on an old toothbrush and rub the grouting. That'll clean it up.

The actual sealant needs taking out, then dry round the bath and then resealing (you can do it yourself using a youtube video)

The orange colour I believe comes from using soap. Try shower gel. Aldi do a reasonably scented family one for less than 50p but of course there’s all sorts of lovely others.

Your grout has got bad enough to need scraping out and redoing I’m afraid. Watch YouTube vids for expert advice.

After every shower use a cloth or window cleaning scraper thingy to wipe down the tiles & grouting. It’s a faff but does help.

Crack window open & shut door after showering.

I have the same problem, is it a DIY job? Happy to give it a go but don’t want to damage my shower.

Gosh, so many replies, thank you so much. I feel like I never made it to full adult in cleaning terms, I have no clue! Right, so sounds like I have a good go at cleaning the grout and seal (though the mould seems to be kind of under/inside the seal) with HG Mould or bleach, and see what happens. If it cleans up well I can try and re-seal as per YouTube. If it all comes back rapidly I need to rip all the tiles and bath out and start again? (Well not me personally clearly as I can’t even manage to clean properly!) The bathroom was new in in 2009 I think, so annoying, but then it does get heavy use with three of us and no other bathroom x

Grout - use a baby toothbrush and scrub this in: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everbuild-FWREVIVE-200ml-Forever-Reviver/dp/B007D7T1B2/ Don't use a grout pen, they are crap.

Sealant - Probably needs replacing, BUT for a cheap attempt try soaking a paper towel in vinegar and press the towelling up against the sealant. Leave for an hour (might need to do a few times).

No. Just as part of a regular clean you should clean the grouting with a toothbrush and a bleaching product. The grouting will stay clean if you do that.

The sealant itself can be removed easily and replaced. No need to get whole new bathroom.

We had quite a bit of sealant to do / redo at the base of our shower and around the bath and we paid a sealant guy to do it (didn’t know they exist!) and it’s a really professional job. I know others do it themselves but I didn’t want wobbly lines or any water leaking :)

@Dacadactyl I certainly don’t want a whole new bathroom, it would just be the bath/shower bit, but some posters seem to think I’ll never get the grouting rid of mould. So it’s a worst case scenario 😖

@Tryingtokeepcalmandcarryon a sealant guy? Wow maybe that might be good. My lovely partner did re-seal it some years ago but I guess either some mould was left or it has just re-populated. The rest of the room is fine thankfully.

I’d recommend to just rip it out and reseal it yourself, it’s easy to do - just get the stuff from Wickes

whatever happens I def need to start wiping it all down after every shower - I myst try and train the kids, as we all shower at diff times, not neatly one after the other!