Cleaning Bathrooms

I sing the praises of Vinegar! I conducted an experiment with a few hard water remover cleaners, and vinegar. Vinegar won hands down. My solution... 1/2 vinegar 1/2 water, a bit of lemon juice to lesson the smell of vinegar but its not necessary. I put it in an industrial spray bottle. Spray it on and leave it for a while, longer for more intense areas, and less if not so built up. I even just clean the shower with it when I am in there because it is non-toxic:) I use strait vinegar in my dishwasher in the rinse aids place, in the laundry instead of fabric softener, when I mop and anything else I can think of, it is a great oder remover too. And the smell doesn't last but a few minutes. I love vinegar, there are so many good uses for it!
E.

V. E
Solumel and tub and tile would make that bathroom sparkling clean again, they have no toxins in them, this means you don't have to spray it on and walk out of the room, you can still breath when using these two.

Lime-away gets the hard water off. Works great! Just spray and leave on for a minute and scrub off...

Try Limeaway for water spots or rust looking spots. Also for wiping down things try the Mr Clean erasers, they are miracle workers on tile, hard surfaces. After she has cleaned with these products, pour full strengthn bleach (not much) in the toilet bowl, swish around and leave for 15 minutes. That can help too.
I have a old house, Limeaway really cleaned where there was water spots from a previous drip in the bathtub. It isn't expensive like $5 a bottle I believe.

Ditto the limeaway and CLR for the hard water spots. I would get the Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner (in the crook necked bottle for squirting under the rim - it's a blue gel type cleaner) Don't get Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner. It doesn't coat under the water as well as Clorox and they cost about the same anyway. I'm suggesting the cleaner rather than just bleach because it has bleach in it (make sure you get the kind with bleach) and the gel formula helps it stick all over the bowl, top an bottom of the water rather than just in the water. It has worked on the grimiest of toilets for me. After CLR or Limeaway on the hard water spots in the sink and tub, Softscrub (they have one with bleach also) and a scrubbing sponge will work wonders on the rest of the grime. Just be sure to rinse the CLR or Limeaway off completely first. Just those couple of cleaners and materials will be less than $10. Someone else mentioned glazing the tub. My mother in law did that recently and the tub looks brand new! It does get rather expensive, though. But if you can spare the money, you'll feel like you have a new bathroom. Same idea with the new toilet. But as long as it works, I think you can probably get it clean. Good luck!

We just bought a house with the same problem, and the only thing that works is Ring B Gone, made by MARC cleaners. You can just google it and probably locate where you might be able to purchase it. It works like magic - my mother-in-law brought some over and we put it in the rust stained toilet bowl, and within minutes the toilet looked brand new. Also worked on the shower doors, shower floor, and sinks to get the hard water crust off. You just can't let it sit very long or it will eat into the surfaces. Make sure you wear gloves when using.

It's so funny you are posting this---I get a lot of interesting tips from "How Clean Is Your House?" on BBC America and yesterday's program showed a really nasty tub/shower. They used a natural pumice stone to scrub off the hard water deposits and iron stains---they stressed the importance of it being a natural pumice stone so it wouldn't scratch the finish. I have also read you can use "Yellow Out" or "Iron Out" to clean the iron stains. Vinegar can also help with some iron deposits as well as soap scum and mildew. And one of the best soft scrub like concoctions I have used is homemade---1 pt. dishwashing soap with 2 pts. baking soda and if you need a little more scrubbing action you can use salt.

Hope this helps and keep us posted on what finally worked to get the bathroom clean.

Best wishes.

FYI---Bleach, like is in the Comet, makes iron stains impossible to get out.

My current favorite cleaning solution for hard water stains that never seem to end in our house is baking soda and vinegar. I ran out of toilet bowl cleaner and the toilet just looked aweful so I thought I'd try it. I'll never buy toilet bowl cleaner again! It came out so shiny and clean with just a swish of the brush. Just shake a good amount of baking soda into the bowl and then add about 1/3c. of vinegar. Let is sit a few minutes and the swish. I'm VERY wary of pumice stone as we had to replace both of our toilets when we moved into this house. The previous owner must have used it for everything and it took off most of the shiny surfaces leaving the porous surface vunerable, hard to clean and stinky because the goo just soaked in. We are going to have to replace the sinks next.

Try using Coca Cola. Probably any cola type soda would work, the stuff in the soda is supposed to take out stains in the toilet so it might work. (really makes you want to drink the stuff now, right? lol) Anyway, you pour the cola in and let it sit for a few minutes and scrub and flush. It would at least be a cheaper resolution if it works! If not, your are out a can of soda. Also, maybe a paste of baking soda and water? Slap it on the yellowed areas and let it sit for a half hour or so. That might work. I have used that pretty successfully on my stained crockpot inserts anyway. They were hints in a book by Joey Green - he does all these household hints using everyday type products. I have it around here somewhere (probably in my boxes of books in the basement...) if I can figure out where it is I'll send you a update if there were any other hints applicable to what you are looking for. Good luck!

Try a "soft scrub" product. There are numerous brands, but they work better than anything else I have personally used, some of which have been mentioned.

I second, third etc.. Didn't how many PP mentioned Vinegar- Heated vinegar sprayed on to remove hard water build-up.

the only thing that's taken out the orange for me is a liquid oxyclean in the laundry section

I use Limeaway and a scraper to clean hard water spots just be caretul not to get to deep with the scraper and once I get it cleaned up do this about every two months to keep it clean.

I love Tub & Tile soap scum and hard water spot remover! You can use it diluted for general cleaning or full strength to get rid of the hard water spots. In addition, Tub & Tile uses natural ingredients so it's safer for your family, while other products like CLR and Lime Away are highly toxic. Tub & Tile is also highly concentrated so it takes 6 bottles of Lime Away to equal one of Tub & Tile, so it is much more cost effective. Let me know if you are interested, and I'll tell you about the store I get it from.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

I love to use CLR on my showers and sinks. It might help to let it sit for a while. Scrub, rinse, more CLR, scrub, rinse... It really gets the hard water off... I had no idea, but happened to look at the price of a toilet @ Lowes one day, and they cost around $60. That might not be a lot more than buying a lot of different chemicals to try. Just a thought if you're able to replace the thing on your own.
My husband accidentally left bleach soaking in our toilet a long time one day and it did a wonder on the ring. I always thought it would make the toilet grimy, but the ring was gone so I'm a convert!

pumice stone is awesome at getting rid of the hard water spots and getting into the porcelin. It is my biggest secret for mt toliet and sink.
good luck

Try a pumice stone...they are fairly cheap. It will take a lot of elbow work though, but it does a real good job.

When we sold our old house we had the tub reglazed for under $200. We were so impressed we wished we had done it earlier so we could have enjoyed it before the new owners.

Try baking soda mixes with hydrogen peroxide on the grout. Have you tried Mineral/Rust removers?

R.

V.,

Has she tried vinegar solutions? Straight vinegar does wonders from what I've heard. Also I bought this terrificly strong version of Mr. Clean. I found it in the discarded discounted cart at my local grocery store. The bottle is pink and purple and I think it has the word BAM on it. IT is terrific for cleaning the tough stuff... My husband used the last of it on our fireplace window. Now our fireplace looks like an open hearth, but it isn't!

Good luck.

V. W.

Mr Clean Magic Eraser!!! Get the Extra Strong ones!! They work like a charm especially on tubs and soap scum... give it a try, cheap fix and if it doesn't work, then still useful for other areas of the house...

Try the MR Clean Magic erasers

Dearest V., you might want to try what is called Awesome-it cost $1.00 for 20 fl. oz and $3.00 for 64 fl. oz at any Family Dollar Store or you may purchase I believe the 20 oz at any Dollar Tree Store. It has helped me in the old trailer that I have now and it also works well on the grease that you find in a kitchen that has not been well taken care of. You may also find other cleaning products that may help you at the Dollar Tree Store. Most have the same amount of ingrediants as the expensive name brand products. I pray this helps at least a little. God bless

I used a magic eraser on some of the hard water stains in our bathtub, and they came off. Good luck!

Get Insight Unlimited's "Reliance" mild acid cleanser. It is far more concentrated than anything, like Limeaway, sold in the grocery store, and should eat some of the horrible lime deposits and crud left behind. I believe you can get it at insightllc.net.