Bathrooms seem to be multiplying as fast as cane toads. The absolute minimum now appears to be two, master bedrooms must have an ensuite and larger homes have as many bathrooms as bedrooms. And let’s not forget the toilet and shower recess out by the pool! We want all of these to be immaculate. And not just for us; no one wants guests discovering a mouldy ceiling, dirty tiles or something worse in one of our many ablution centres. I’ve cleaned many a bathroom in my time! But I quite enjoy it because it’s a room designed to be cleaned. The surfaces are easy to access and leave a sparkle so I always feel a sense of satisfaction afterwards. Remember: always work from top to bottom.
| Incident: | ‘I’ve got a beautiful old marble vanity top. But the look of it is marred by some circles of rust that I can’t remove. It’s such a pity because the marble is so beautiful. Is there any way of removing them?’ |
| Solution: | Put a circle of bicarb over the rust mark, add vinegar and rub it off with a sponge. The rust stains were probably caused by the bottom of a hairspray can. Most cans are unsealed, and when they interact with water, they rust. One way to prevent this is to paint clear nail polish on the bottom of any cans that sit on the vanity. You could also keep a small wooden tray on your vanity for storing unsealed cans, or go old-fashioned and use doilies. |
Q: ‘We’ve got a problem with millipedes,’ says Helen. ‘They head for the bathroom and create a massive black mess.’
| Problem: | Millipedes in the bathroom. |
| What to use: | Oil of pennyroyal, cloth. |
| How to apply: | Put no more than than 2 drops of oil of pennyroyal on a cloth and wipe it over the areas where the millipedes crawl. Never use oil of pennyroyal if you or your pets are pregnant. |
Q: ‘I’ve got these little black flying bugs in my bathroom,’ reports Sam. ‘They gravitate towards the roof. Is there anything I can do?’
Has anyone shown you how to clean the toilet properly? I’ll assume ‘no’ was the answer to that question. This is my approach using bicarb and vinegar, but feel free to substitute the cleaning product of your choice.
| Tools: | Bicarb, sponges, vinegar, toilet brush. | |
| Technique: | 1. | Flush the toilet to wet the sides of the bowl. |
| 2. | Sprinkle bicarb over the inside of the bowl. | |
| 3. | Wipe the top of the cistern using the two-sponge technique with bicarb and vinegar. | |
| 4. | Wipe the top of the lid, under the lid, the top of the seat and under the seat using the same technique. | |
| 5. | Splash vinegar over the bicarb in the bowl, then use a toilet brush to scrub, including up and around the rim. | |
| 6. | Wipe the top of the rim with a sponge. | |
| 7. | Wash the sponge in hot water and wipe again. | |
| 8. | Flush. | |
| 9. | Rinse the sponge and wipe the outside of the toilet bowl right to the floor, including the plumbing at the back. | |
| 10. | Congratulations, you’re done! | |
If you have a young boy who’s having difficulty getting all his pee in the bowl, put a ping-pong ball at the bottom of the toilet and tell him to aim for it. The ping-pong ball won’t flush because it’s too light and you’ll be surprised at how much better his aim becomes.
| Problem: | Bad stains on the inside of the toilet bowl. |
| What to use: | Small plastic cup, bicarb, vinegar, nylon brush. |
| How to apply: | Turn the tap off at the cistern. Drain the bottom of the bowl with a small plastic cup. Then sprinkle bicarb over the bowl and splash some vinegar over the bicarb. Scrub with a nylon brush. Turn the water back on at the cistern. |
Q: ‘We’ve got orange rust stains on our toilet bowl from bore water,’ says Sue. ‘How can we remove them?’
| Problem: | Rust stains/hard-water fur. |
| What to use: | CLR, rubber gloves, mask. |
| How to apply: | Put half a cap of CLR into the cistern, leave it for an hour, then flush the toilet. This will help prevent the bowl staining as it cleans the fur out of the cistern. For heavy stains, clean the bowl with CLR but make sure you use rubber gloves and a mask. Note that CLR should only be used to remove staining and not as a regular cleaner. |
| Problem: | Urine smell. |
| What to use: | A lemon, ice-cream container, water; or vinegar, water. |
| How to apply: | Wash surfaces with the juice from half a lemon added to an ice-cream container of water. Alternatively, use vinegar and water. Lemon is preferable because it leaves a nice smell. It’s particularly important to wipe the pipes at the back of the toilet. |
| Problem: | Rubber beginning to perish. |
| What to use: | Salt, glycerine, talcum powder, cloth. |
| How to apply: | Rub the perish marks with salt, wipe over with glycerine and then sprinkle with talcum powder. When dry, remove the talcum powder with a cloth. If the rubber has perished too much, you’ll need to replace it. |
I grew up in a house with more girls than boys and we went through loads of toilet paper. If you have the same problem, squash the roll before you put it on the roller. This slows the spin down and stops little fingers making paper trails through the house.
I suffer from asthma and proprietary sprays make me wheeze so I created this non-toxic bathroom air freshener. Fill a spray pack with water and add 2 drops of detergent and 5 drops of lavender oil. You can substitute other essential oils except those with high colouring levels, such as stone fruits. Eucalyptus oil should be used sparingly because it will mark painted surfaces. Spray as needed.
Taking a bath is one of life’s great luxuries. My Mother’s Day treat is taking a bath with a glass of champagne, my favourite book and no one bothering me.
Most baths are made of vitreous china although new ones are made of acrylic, fibreglass or polycarbonate. You may also encounter stainless-steel, metal or cast-iron baths. Use bicarb and vinegar to clean them or, if they’re very dirty, Gumption. An old pair of stockings rolled into a ball is great to clean with because it cuts through soap scum really well without scratching. Never use steel wool to clean baths or you’ll leave scratch marks.
If you have a cast-iron bath, don’t put hot water in first. Cast iron shrinks and expands at a different rate to the enamel covering and if the water is too hot you’ll get chips and cracks. Put a little cold water in cast-iron and polycarbonate baths first.
When cleaning the bath, clean the tiles above the bath first, then the taps, then the sides and bottom of the bath. Then rinse. Never use abrasives on polycarbonate baths. Use glycerine to remove stains.
| Problem: | Rust stains on the sink ring. |
| What to use: | Rubber gloves, CLR, cloth. |
| How to apply: | Put on rubber gloves then wipe CLR on the sink ring with a cloth. Wipe it off then rinse. |
| Problem: | Scratches in fibreglass. |
| What to use: | Glycerine, 2000-grade wet-and-dry. |
| How to apply: | Put glycerine on the wet-and-dry and rub over the scratch. |
At the press of a button, a bath is transformed into a bubbling comfort zone. Clean spa baths the same way as regular baths but look out for chalk deposits, body fat and skin cell build-up. Chalk deposits come about because soap and water is flushed backwards and forwards at different temperatures. Remove with vinegar and clean the nozzle regularly with CLR. After every couple of uses, run vinegar and water through the spa.
It might be OK to wear thongs in the shower at a caravan park but do you really want to do this in your own home? Keep the area clean with bicarb and vinegar. Sprinkle bicarb over the surfaces then splash some vinegar over the top and wipe with a sponge or brush. Then rinse with water. For vertical surfaces, have a tray with some bicarb in it and a bucket with vinegar in it and use two separate sponges. Begin with the bicarb sponge then press the vinegar sponge over the bicarb sponge and wipe. Then rinse with water. If you have particularly grimy surfaces, use Gumption. If you like fragrance, add a couple of drops of tea-tree oil, lavender oil or eucapytus oil to the rinse water. Don’t use eucalyptus oil on anything plastic or painted.
| Problem: | Soap scum build-up in soap holder. |
| What to use: | Old pair of stockings, warm water. |
| How to apply: | Scrub the soap scum with an old pair of stockings rolled into a ball and warm water. |
As a general rule, it’s best not to use abrasives or strong chemicals on any shower screens. If you have a glass shower screen, clean it with bicarb and vinegar like the rest of the shower. Some shower screens have nylon and wire in between two layers of glass, and problems occur because air cavities are created. This allows moisture to get in and causes either mould or glass cancer on the inside of the screen. It often looks as though you’ve got soap scum on the screen. I’ve seen this many times and unfortunately there’s not much you can do about it. You can alleviate the scratchiness with goanna oil, which you rub over the surface and edges. If you can’t live with the scratchiness, you’ll have to buy a new screen or get some glass-etching cream and make the clouds a feature. The other common type of shower screen is made of polycarbonate and should only be cleaned with vinegar.
Q: ‘I find that my shower screen becomes streaky,’ says Kaye. ‘What do you suggest?’
| Problem: | Streaky shower screen. |
| What to use: | Methylated spirits, vinegar, water, cloth. |
| How to apply: | Mix 1 part methylated spirits with 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water. The amount you need depends on how big the screen is. Rub the mixture over the screen with a cloth. |
Constant moisture and poor ventilation make the shower curtain a prime candidate for mould. Whether it’s plastic or nylon, wash the curtain in the washing machine on the cool cycle once a fortnight. To prevent further mildew, add a drop of oil of cloves to the rinse water of the washing machine.
If the water in your shower head sprays in different directions, it’s likely you’ve got hard-water fur. If you can see little black prickly things coming out of the nozzle, that’s also hard-water fur. To get rid of it, use CLR. Mix CLR according to the directions on the packet in a bucket or old ice-cream container. Hold the container so that the shower head is completely immersed. Keep it there until the solution is absorbed. This should take a few minutes. Then turn on the shower: the black prickles will drop out and go down the drain. You can also unscrew the shower head and clean it inside the ice-cream container with CLR.
You always create a good impression if your taps are clean and shiny. Taps can be made of stainless steel, brass, copper, chrome or powder coated. The best way to clean them is with bicarb and vinegar, except powder-coated taps. Powder coating is a form of plastic that is heat sealed onto the surface of metal to colour it. It often comes in cream, white and black. Don’t use abrasives, just wash with soap and water. An old pair of stockings is the easiest way to clean taps. Wrap them around the tap and saw backwards and forwards.
Clean tiles once a week with bicarb and vinegar. Have one sponge with bicarb on it and the other with vinegar on it and put the vinegar-soaked sponge over the top of the bicarb-coated sponge, then wipe. The grout between the tiles is very porous and retains mildew. To clean it, use bicarb and vinegar and scrub with an old toothbrush. To inhibit mould, add a couple of drops of oil of cloves to the mixture. You should clean the grout every couple of months to avoid build-up.
There is another way to keep mould under control but you may baulk at this suggestion. Keep a couple of slugs! Slugs will happily eat mould. They sleep during the day so if you create a little house for them, you won’t step on them while showering!
When I learned that scuba divers keep their goggles clear by spitting into them, I tested this on the bathroom mirror and found that spit stops the mirror from fogging. Just spit onto a tissue and wipe it over the mirror. If this doesn’t appeal to you, write on the mirror with pure soap then polish vigorously with a slightly damp paper towel. I discovered this at the Easter Show where a man was selling ‘Magic Mirror Demisting Sticks’. They turned out to be just soap. Clean the mirror with methylated spirits and a paper towel.
Clean the hand basin and vanity with bicarb and vinegar. Sprinkle bicarb over the surface, then wipe with a vinegar-soaked sponge. Clean cupboards and shelving the same way. To prevent bottles breaking in your drawers, line them with a thin piece of foam rubber. This cushions any drops and makes cleaning the drawers easier.
| Problem: | Mildew on vanity cupboard. |
| What to use: | Salt, bucket, hot water, oil of cloves, sponge. |
| How to apply: | Dissolve 1 cup of salt in a bucket of hot water. Add 2 drops of oil of cloves. Wipe this on the inside of the vanity with a sponge. This will also help to keep insects away. |
Q: ‘I’ve got bath towels with tar-like marks on them,’ says Diane. ‘It’s just a strange black mess.’
| Problem: | Rubber on towels. |
| What to use: | Baby oil, dry-cleaning fluid, cotton ball; or Aerogard. |
| How to apply: | The black marks are probably decomposing rubber from the washing machine seals or plumbing. Soften the stain first with baby oil, then apply dry-cleaning fluid with a cotton ball. As an alternative, spray Aerogard directly onto the stain. Then wash normally. |
Moisture and poor ventilation are generally the reasons painted bathroom walls go mouldy. Leave the window open as much as possible and use ceiling vents. Each time you clean, add 2 drops of oil of cloves to your rinse water and wipe the walls. Oil of cloves will prevent mould growing and makes the walls easier to clean. It also has a nice fresh smell.
Q: ‘We’re repainting our bathroom walls,’ reports James. ‘At the moment, there’s quite a bit of mould on them. Is there anything we can use to stop the mould coming back once we’ve painted?’
| Problem: | Mould on painted walls. |
| What to use: | Hospital-grade bleach, bicarb, vinegar, sponge. |
| How to apply: | Because the mould is so severe, clean the surface twice with hospital-grade bleach. Then wipe bicarb and vinegar over the walls with a sponge before you paint them to neutralise the bleach. Also use a mould inhibitor such as oil of cloves or a proprietary product before and during the painting. |