When it comes to cleaning, there are few things worse than a bathroom. They are notorious for being damp, dirty, and smelly. Let’s not even get onto the subject of public toilets. As a result, most people avoid cleaning their bathroom – which is part of the problem. To help readers get over their phobia, we are going to share some of our top tips and tricks for a sparkling clean bathroom. Keep reading to find out what they are.
Get Prepared
Before you can start cleaning your bathroom, you need to be ready with all the right equipment and products. For starters, you will need a toilet brush, clean cloth, sponge, dustpan and brush, rubber gloves, microfibre cloth, and grout brush. Make sure to wear proper protective equipment, such as chemical-resistant nitrile gloves and even a mask, to avoid irritation and injuries from harsh cleaning products.
Regarding cleaning products, you will want to purchase some bathroom disinfectants, glass cleaners, and bleach. Eco-friendly alternatives to bleach include vinegar, baking soda, and lemons. Once you have all your equipment and products, you can begin to prepare the bathroom for cleaning. Remove any unnecessary items from the room, so they don’t clutter the surfaces and prevent you from cleaning them. This includes shampoo bottles, toilet paper, toothbrushes, and razors.
Remove Dust
Most people associate the bathroom with dampness, not dust. But this area can get just as dusty as the rest of the house. So, before you start cleaning, you ought to wipe the surfaces down with a duster. This will remove most of the particles, making it easier to clean the bathroom more effectively.
After doing so, you should then sweep the room with your dustpan and brush. To prevent you from breathing in any dust particles, make sure to crack open a window or turn on the air ventilator.
Bleach the Toilet
Before you begin cleaning the rest of the bathroom, we suggest bleaching your toilet. This gives the bleach some time to do its magic, so everything is disinfected when you next go to flush the toilet.
It is also a good idea to put your toilet brush’s head in the basin at the same time because this means it will be sanitized the next time somebody goes to use it. Like we mentioned before, feel free to use an eco-friendlier alternative to bleach. This is just as effective.
Clear the Plug Holes
Just like clogged garbage disposal in the kitchen sink, a shower plug hole and faucet plug hole can become blocked in the bathroom. These are notoriously difficult to clear. However, plug holes cannot be left to sort themselves out. Your bathroom might develop a strange odor and your shower or sink may never properly drain, which could potentially cause a flood.
Luckily, there are several ways to unblock the plug holes in your bathroom. These techniques are like the ones you would use for clogged garbage disposal. You might, for example, use a plunger or the baking soda and vinegar tactic. If worst comes to worst, you may need to call a professional plumber. To prevent your plug holes from clogging, avoid getting your hair down the drain. Dirt and soap scum can also have an impact.
Spray the Surfaces
Most people don’t realize that cleaning products need to sit on a surface for around 15 minutes before they can effectively remove dirt and bacteria. That’s why you should first spray down all the surfaces, wait a bit, and then get to work on wiping and scrubbing everything. With your chosen bathroom disinfectant, generously spray everything from the sink and toilet seat to the bathtub and shower walls.
Get to Wiping
It is finally time to get on with the dirty work. Fill up your sink with some hot soapy water. This will serve as your cleaning station, where you wring out cloths and rinse the sponges as you clean. Don’t miss out on this step! It is important to keep your equipment clean because otherwise, you will be spreading bacteria throughout the room.
Anyway, back to business. When wiping the surfaces, make sure to get all the nooks and crannies. Nobody ever thinks to clean underneath the sink or behind the tap, but filth can still accumulate in these spots. Pay attention to the touchpoints in your bathroom when wiping down. Touchpoints are things that multiple people will come into contact with and possibly spread bacteria onto. These include the water taps, toilet flush, and door handle.
Don’t Forget the Mirror
The vast majority of bathrooms have a mirror in them. Though you wouldn’t expect this to get particularly dirty, you still need to pay attention to it. When brushing our teeth and spitting our toothpaste out, the droplets can sometimes splatter up and hit the mirror.
Even worse, when using tooth floss, we can accidentally fling out old pieces of food or saliva, splattering the mirror once again. So, yeah. They need to be cleaned. Spray some of your window and glass cleaner onto the mirror and allow it to sit for a few moments, then wipe the product away with a microfibre cloth.
Onto the Toilet
After cleaning your sink and counter area, it is time to move onto the toilet. For this step, make sure to use a new cloth that is specially designated for your toilet. Reiterating what we said before, a cloth can carry residual bacteria. If you clean the rest of the bathroom with the rag you used on the toilet, then you could inadvertently be making things a lot less hygienic.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. When cleaning the toilet, you need to clean all the surfaces. This includes going underneath the seat, behind the lid, and around the main body of the toilet. It might be a bit gross but doing this regularly will make cleaning much easier in the future.
Wiping the Bathtub
The bathtub is relatively easy to clean, though some elbow grease might be involved. Soap scum tends to accumulate around the edges, so make sure to spray this with a disinfectant and scrub your cloth back and forth until you feel no resistance. Grease from our skin, hair from our bodies, and dirt from our feet are the main culprits in a dirty bathtub. After wiping the whole area, rinse everything down the drain.
The Dreaded Shower
Cleaning the shower is no fun. It is hard work and takes a long time. But alas, somebody has to do it. When scrubbing out the tiles, a toothbrush and really get into the crevices. Don’t forget about the shower head and its cable, either. These can get covered in limescale if you are not careful. We also suggest using a toothbrush around the taps to remove any deep-rooted mold.
Finishing Up
All the hard work is done. Now, you can do the easy bits. Clean all your cloth before storing them away and put any dirty bathmats, shower curtains, or towels into the wash. Then, you can pull out your mop and clean away any residual dirt on the floor. If your bathroom has tiled flooring, then you can use a similar technique to the one in the shower to clean the grouts.
Follow our advice and maintaining your bathroom’s cleanliness should become much easier soon enough. So, what are you waiting for? Get that toilet looking spick and span!
