Cleaning an undermaintained bathroom is hard work and unavoidable hands-and-knees scrubbing; tubs, tile and grout, floors, and toilets, mirrors, countertops, and sinks. With these suggestions, you can start implementing bathroom cleaning maintenance that will minimize the deep cleaning you’ll need to do occasionally. All of these suggestions are keeping in mind professional housekeeping and plumbing advice, and opt for the safest and most natural but effective cleaning methods.
All Natural Monthly Drain Cleaning
Marthastewart.com offers this all natural drain cleaning method to keep your drains from draining slowly over time as build up occurs. Remove your sink’s stopper and as best you can, pour ½ cup baking soda into the drain, followed by ½ cup of white distilled vinegar. The mixture will foam and dissolve fatty acids and gunk. Let the mixture work its magic for 5 minutes, and then pour boiling water down the drain to force out the mixture and the unclogged material. Do this every month or two to maintain your pipes naturally!
Clear Shower Clogs and Shine Metal Fixtures
You’ll quickly realize that white vinegar is a miracle. This trick is one you may have already heard of! Pour some white vinegar into sandwich bags, spray some onto your metal shower and sink fixtures, and rubber band the bag over them as well. Let them sit for a few hours and they will deep clean your faucet and shower head for you! The vinegar will shine the metal gently, and actually loosen any mineral deposits and grime that has clogged the openings of your showerhead.
The Truth About Toilet Tablets
Professional plumbers say the only use for the fun, blue toilet tablets is for toilets in drug testing facilities (so that testees don’t dilate their urine with the water). Not only the blue tablets, but other tablet products put into your toilet and tank are known to quickly corrode your toilet’s important mechanisms and are made of a lot of harmful chemicals. Vinegar to the rescue! You can pour vinegar into your tank, and into the small tube part inside the back of the tank to put it to work cleaning not only your bowl, but the inner parts of the machine that is your toilet.
Shower Cleaning Machine
Some people swear by shower cleaning machines that suction cup to the inside of your shower. You can find a Scrubbing Bubbles machine in store or online at Amazon for under 20 dollars. If the machine is not your taste or you do not have an enclosed shower it works best in, you can kind of employ the same concept by keeping shower cleaner in your tub and spraying it down the walls after every use.
Minimize Mold and Moisture
A lot of the work that your bathroom requires over time is cleaning and disinfecting mold and mildew caused by a lack of ventilation. Installing a better ventilation system in bathrooms is often the first task set forth by homeowners during a renovation. Most ventilation is just not adequate enough to prevent mold completely. The best thing you can do is amplify the exposure of light in your bathroom, increase airflow such as through a window or installing a better system, and always keeping the fan on for a full 30 minutes or longer after you’ve showered.
