Cleaning bathroom tiles?

[mandyballantyne]

Hi All,

Ok so I know it is not food related but I wonder if any of you have any tips for cleaning and keeping clean the grout and sealants in the bathroom?

I scrub and scrub but still get mildew etc. Tried the grout pens etc but they just cover up the mess.

There must be something out there that does the trick??

Thanks, Mandy

[SueA]

I have the same problem Mandy & last year I gave up & scraped it all out with a Stanley knife & re-grouted with supposedly waterproof & mould resistant grout.It's back again though so it didn't last very long!I've been using a mould remover spray called W5 from Lidl which helps a little bit but you still have to scrub. I've been told it's because of bad ventilation but I always leave the door open & open the window if it's steamy & have a ventilation grate/air brick in the wall so don't know what else to try.

[mandyballantyne]

Thanks SueA,

I have tried a lot of sprays but not the one from Lidl, I will try that one thanks.

You would think there would be a way of cleaning them and I tried the re-grouting too but as you say it just comes back!

So much for mildew resistant!

Mandy

[SueA]

I did find a really good spray once years ago in Tesco but I can't remember the name of it & they stopped selling it. It was very good but don't know what was in it as it was lethal, you had to open the windows wide & leave the room for 10 mins whilst it worked & then rinse it off being careful not to get it on you, not very environmentally friendly but I was desperate!

[mandyballantyne]

I think that sounds about right, you would need industrial stregnth chemicals!!

There must be a simple home made way to clean maybe I will experiment with bicarbonate, lemon, vinager etc And try not to make anything too toxic, but I am desperate

[SueA]

Might try that myself Mandy, bicarb does work on lots of things ( I use it on teaspoons which I've left in the tea too long!) & those two ladies off the T.V. (Aggie & Kim?) always seem to claim white vinegar cleans everything!

[mandyballantyne]

White vinegar? Will buy some tonight and give it a go, probably put me in the mood for chips though

Thanks, Mandy

[TPeers]

Well if you have been scrubbing the tiles for ages you will have been working hard.... so you could justify the chips surely!

[TPeers]

Try this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/tv_and_ra...js.shtml?tiles

[Alice]

I can't vouch for it Mandy but I've heard a steam cleaner works and no chemicals required. Maybe some other Grape has tried it.

[mandyballantyne]

Thanks for the link TPeers, baking soda and lemon sounds worth a try.

Alice, I will also try a steamer if I can find someone to borrow one off initialy.

Guess what I am doing this weekend!

Mandy

[terrier]

Did anyone else see a strange effect on that BBC link? When I looked at the bathroom diagram it was inside out. I had to stare at it long and hard to see what it was and even then it kept flipping backwards and forwards.
An old standby is sugar soap. I use it for cleaning just about every hard surface in the house.

[Alison]

Some of the specially adapted mould sprays contain some really nasty things, they are a lot easier to use but you don't want to inhale or get them on your clothes. Stick to a good hard and regular scrub and you can't go wrong. Good exercise too!

[witch-1]

Steaming works a treat on the tiles - the grout not so easy. The only problem with a steamer (I have one) is getting it out and using it. Its the size of a small hoover. Time consuming but no scrubbing as such - gets rid of limescale (the bane of my life).

In our last bathroom we got rid of tiles - in the shower area we had laminate walls and then had the walls replastered - half in shiplap wood and the other half painted. Worked a treat.... not sure why we have tiles again in this bathroom! I hate them.

My sister after cleaning her tiles polishes them with wax! She says it keeps the cleaning down by half. I've not tried it myself.

Jan
x

[mandyballantyne]

Thanks everyone,

Some great ideas. I hate using ready made shop sprays way too many chemicals. I do scrub the tiles everyweek but just can't seem to shift the build up of mildew.

I only have tiles in the shower cubical so it can be akward to get into all the corners.

I will be tring all of your suggestions over the coming weeks to see which works best!

Thanks again, Mandy