clean-the-house.info

This is probably the most difficult part of the house cleaning process. While other rooms can be easily done with a vacuum cleaner and a dust cloth, in the bathroom you must use various cleaning products and ensure all the surfaces (most of them hard to reach) are dealt with.

It is extremely important that the bathroom cleaning is done on a regular basis. Do it once a month and you will not need more than half an hour every time. Do it once every two month, and besides the fact the bathroom will look really dirty, you might need three hours to deal with thinks like mildew, hard to scrub rust stains and other similar issues.

Strategy
There are a lot of surfaces in the bathroom that must be dealt with. The bathtub, the shower head, the stalls, the curtains, the sink, the floor. All of them require a different approach and maybe a different cleaning product. Before you start working, do a little planning. This is needed to ensure that working on a certain surface will not spoil the work already done. You want to proceed from top down and from the shower to the door. Eventually the last thing you will do is to mop the floor on your way out.

Cleaning products
The grocery store is filled with bathroom cleaning products. You must consider a couple of things

• The most expensive product is not necessarily the best. Many times some baking soda and vinegar, mixed with water, can do the job better than the leading cleaning product, even if the commercials deny this.
• There is no such a thing like a “do it all product”. You use something to clean the toilet and a different thing to clean the shower head, and the same applies for any other
• Read the instructions carefully. Some products can not be mixed. Some products require protective equipment (like gloves). Some products are designed to be used on certain surfaces and can’t be used on other (for example using abrasive powder on a marble counter top can damage it).

Shower and stalls
The shower is probably the most used equipment in the bathroom. Because of the way it is used, it will get dirt or rust stains, hard water residue, mildew.

The best thing to cut the cleaning time in half is prevention. Wipe the shower stalls and tiles every time after use and leave the door open for a good ventilation. This will prevent mildew accumulation and usually will cut the cleaning time in half.

If you see any mildew, spray the area with disinfectant, leave for some time and then rinse.

Apply spray cleaning product on the shower tiles, leave it for half an hour - an hour and then rinse with warm water. If you wipe the tiles every time after you use the shower, this should be a really simple procedure.

For shower stalls there are a lot of products available, however the same result can be obtained using water with vinegar.

The shower head can easily accumulate residue, especially if the water in your area is particularly hard. You can either use a more concentrated solution of vinegar in water, however for a faster result, get a specifically designed product from your grocery store. Be careful: these products are extremely dangerous, you should wear gloves and handle with care.

Every time during cleaning inspect the grout. If there are areas where the grout breaks away, make sure you repair it immediately. If the water gets to the dry wall, most likely this will lead to mold and then the damage will require much more resources (including money) to fix.

Shower curtain
Shower curtains are prone to mildew accumulation. Some of them are washable in a regular washing machine, some don’t. Every time you wash the curtains, inspect for mildew. If you see any, apply disinfectant spray and let it stand for a while, before continuing the cleaning.

Bathtub
Bathtubs are usually made of porcelain on metallic support (either steel for new ones or cast iron for older ones). Most of the newly built homes have fiberglass based bathtubs. They are very easy to install, cheaper than the metal based models but they will not last as much as the other ones.

Bathtubs usually accumulate hard water residue and rust stain. Also you must remove every time the hair from the strainer in order to prevent clogging.

Never use abrasive powder to clean a bathtub, as you can scratch it. Use non abrasive liquid cleanser. Wait a little after applying it and rinse with warm water. Tough hard water or rust stains can be removed with a nylon pad. However, clean the bathroom often and you will avoid bathtub residue.

Clean the faucet the same way it is done for the sink, please see below.

Mirror
The mirror gets dirty from the water droplets and from touching. Normally you should not touch the mirror, however most of the time it is installed on the bathroom cabinet and this is accessed all the time.

Use any window cleaning product and all the stains should go away in no time. Or if you prefer, use water with vinegar and wipe this with a crumpled newspaper sheet.

Faucet
The faucet accumulates stains from the various bathroom products used like soap, toothpaste and from hard water. The surfaces are difficult to reach using regular cleaning pads. The best approach is to use liquid spray cleaner and then a tooth brush. Either spray the cleaner on the faucet and clean with the toothbrush, or for harder spots dip the toothbrush in the cleaner directly. Hard water stains can be cleaned using water and vinegar.

Sink
Clean the sink using liquid spray cleaner and a regular cleaning pad, the one with two sides, one with a scrubbing pad and the other one with a sponge. Most of the stains will go away by gently rubbing with the soft side (the sponge), however for tougher stains use the scrubbing side and maybe sprinkle some baking soda. This is probably one of the most exposed areas in the bathroom, however it is also the easiest one to maintain.

Counter top
Marble counter tops can be cleaned using steel wool although this should be handled with care to avoid scratches. Plastic counter tops can only be cleaned using the same cleaning pad used for the sink. This cleaning pad can be used on marble counter tops as well skipping the steel wool. Baking soda can be sprinkled to help removing tougher stains.

Toilet
Cleaning the toilet is for sure the most dreaded part of the cleaning process. Done right and often, though, it becomes a simple process.

You need a long handle brush. You can either get a regular or a disposable one. The disposable brushes usually contain cleaners and this makes the job easier, however you can do a very good job with a regular brush as well.

Various chemical products for toilet cleaning help you finish the job much faster. Make sure though you don’t mix the products without carefully reading the instructions. Particularly, ammonia based products should not be mixed with chlorine based products. Also, toilet cleaning products should not be used for cleaning other parts of the bathroom. Whatever you use, make sure you wear gloves and operate with care.

In some cases, it is possible to have some rust or hard water stains that might not go away. You can use very fine steel wool or sand paper, but please be very very careful as you might scratch the bowl in the process. Most of the time, cleaning the toilet often enough helps avoiding this situation.

Floor
If you got to the floor, you are almost done. You can use a mop or directly with a cleaning pad dipped in floor cleaning solution. Clean the floor on your way out, then leave the door open for half an hour and wait until the floor is dry.

Ensure you pay attention to areas more difficult to reach, especially around the toilet bowl.

At the end, you have a spotless bathroom. Congratulations!!!