Dealing With A Dirty Shower
Our house is pretty old. It was built in 1983 and we have been remodeling off and on since we moved in. Our master shower is on our list of things to update. Someday we will gut the whole bathroom and redo it. But for now, it’s roomy and functional, if hideous. The grout is stained and has been cracking. We have patched it up but it is UGLY. My husband said the icky stuff might be the only thing holding the shower together…
I have been neglecting it for a while now, with the vague idea of doing some kind of blog post on amazing shower cleaners. Sure, it’s nasty, but this is for the greater good. Ahem.
I’m sure all of you have tried various cleaning methods that claim to be the easiest, fastest, bestest, no-scrub, environmentally friendly, chemical free, blah blah blah… So far, I have found that nothing is totally scrub free and nothing works on every single type of ickiness. Soap scum is not the same thing as hard water deposit. Mildew that has stained your grout won’t magically disappear without some chemical intervention. (By the way, technically EVERYTHING is chemicals, even water, vinegar, and essential oils, so that whole “chemical-free cleaning” concept is kind of silly.)
That said, I have a few things that have proven to be better than others in my house. The warm vinegar mixed with blue Dawn in a spray bottle and left to soak is pretty good at getting dirt, scum, and even some hard water deposits but you will still probably need to do some scrubbing. And it smells like vinegar, which my boys all hate.
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When it comes to the stained grout and caulk, chlorine bleach is my favorite option (gasp!). I like Clorox Gel Cleaner. I don’t use this very often because it smells kind of nasty and is not the best thing to have going into a septic tank, but in small amounts it’s fine. Hydrogen peroxide is milder and safer as it breaks down quickly into carbon dioxide and water. And it’s cheap! Put into a spray bottle and apply as needed to your stained areas. It needs to sit a while to work so you will need to reapply or soak paper towels in it and leave to dry.
For years I have been tempted by glowing commentaries on the joys of steam cleaners and finally got one about a year ago. I chose a HomeRight because it had good reviews on Amazon and sounded pretty versatile. I have cleaned several things with it so far, and here’s my honest unbiased review of it for cleaning a really ugly old dirty shower.
This photo shows everything included with the HomeRight Steam Cleaner:
My results: it works well for getting surface dirt and soap scum off your shower tile and grout. You still need to do some scrubbing. It doesn’t do much for hard water deposits on its own; spraying with vinegar before steam scrubbing would work better. I didn’t use vinegar this time for a couple of reasons, one, I wanted to see how well the steamer worked alone, and two, my husband was home and doesn’t like to smell vinegar.
It is hot steam (290 degrees) so it can sanitize without bleach, so that is a plus. One thing I was surprised about (though I shouldn’t have been) was how loud it is. High-pressure steam (55 psi) makes a lot of noise. My kids (who are essentially grown) run away when I am using the steam cleaner. My husband works from home so if he’s on a conference call I can’t use the cleaner in the kitchen; it’s way too loud even with his office door closed. If you get one, maybe consider ear protection if you have sensitive hearing.
You must use distilled water, as tap water will cause mineral build up and shorten the life of your steamer. It comes with several little cleaning attachments. You might want to order extras of the little nylon and brass brushes as they wear out plus if you are using a brush in the toilet you might want a different one for other things…I don’t use brushes on the toilet, just the jet nozzle.
For the shower, I started with the larger nylon brush and did some scrubbing on the heaviest grime, then switched to the squeegee and went over the walls, door, and floor. They include one little microfiber cloth but you need more than that. I used old towels to wipe up the dirty water.
Here are some before shots:
And the after…still in need of chemical intervention but better.
Some staining but way better!
The HomeRight Steamer is pretty versatile and I have used it on floors, stovetop, toilets, sinks, and counters and been happy with the results. Cleaning the oven–not so much. My oven was horrible though, so your results might be better, and I probably should have tried the little brass brush instead of nylon. A friend of mine borrowed it to remove wallpaper in her home and said it worked great. Wish I had had it back when we first got this house, because taking down the wallpaper here was a huge pain!
You should read the instructions thoroughly before using. Some things should NOT be cleaned with steam, including your dishwasher, refrigerator, and washing machine; you can damage plastic or rubber seals with the high heat.
I have yet to clean windows with it, but people say it’s fantastic. I’m hoping for some rain to settle our dust before cleaning the windows.
All told, I would definitely buy it again. What’s your best shower cleaning method or tip?