Shower tiles/grouting

[Roxie]

What do you use to clean the tile and grouting in a shower enclosure? The grouting is beginning to go a light brown.

Thank you for replying.

John

 

[Eric The Viking]

Bleach, with formic acid or lemon juice to get limescale off (either before or after). The light brown is algae/mould. In quantity it's black and not terribly good for you. Bleach should kill it and clean the surface but may not prevent its return.

 

[morturn]

Not a good idea to mix bleach and acid, it produces toxic gases called chloramines are produced. It can also produce chlorine gas.

 

[ColeyS1]

This is the stuff you need

Usually £5-£6 a bottle. Sorts on mouldy silicone aswell. Does leave the room smelling quite bleachy for a few hours. I lent mine to someone was all but ready to regrout his bathroom. Hes a bit of a fuss pot but even he was amazed by the results.

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[Eric The Viking]

Not a good idea to mix bleach and acid, it produces toxic gases called chloramines are produced. It can also produce chlorine gas.

Obviously you rinse well between them, otherwise one neutralizes the other, never mind the toxic gases.

Don't pee in a recently cleaned toilet, for the same reason

 

[sammy.se]

I use domestos thick, strong bleach - neat, onto a plastic washing up dish type brush.
Scrub on, leave for as long as you think necessary, then wipe off with a wet, clean cloth.
I usually leave it for 10 mins. Works a treat.

 

[RogerS]

Don't whatever you do try bleach to clean the grout on marble tiles.

 

[sunnybob]

And on the safety side.... if youre using bleach or stronger, wear eye protection because it will spatter from any brush you use.
Even the mould cleaning shop bought products will destroy eyeballs.

 

[Jasper42]

NO NONSENSE GROUT CLEANER 1LTR from screwfix, £4.99. Used it every now and then to keep the gouge clean and works

 

[Roxie]

Thank you all for your suggestions. Brush and Marigolds here we come.

John

 

[ColeyS1]

Must admit bleach and a brush would probably be the cheapest way. It's one of those jobs I know needs doing it's just finding the enthusiasm to get around to doing it. Spraying is probably the more idle approach lol.

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[Eric The Viking]

Don't whatever you do try bleach to clean the grout on marble tiles.

What's the issue?

I ask, because years ago, I had superb results using bleach to clean a Carrera marble overmantle* that had blue fountain pen ink spilled on it (someone knocked the bottle over on top!). The ink sank into the marble.

It is 30+ years ago, but IIRC, I made a pond using Plasticine and let a film of bleach sit on it for a few days - I didn't use very much, and I did test it first out of sight. I don't remember attempting to actually neutralise it, but just washing it off well afterwards. There was no damage from the bleach, and the piece was professionally polished afterwards: it came up beautifully.

But marble and acid - no way!

E.

*I think it really was Carrera - it was an early Victorian overmantle and worth a tricky restoration as it looked gorgeous when it was done. Someone had also fixed a double socket box to the front surface of one pillar, using Rawlplugs to hold the screws!.

 

[Rorschach]

This is the stuff you need

Usually £5-£6 a bottle. Sorts on mouldy silicone aswell. Does leave the room smelling quite bleachy for a few hours. I lent mine to someone was all but ready to regrout his bathroom. Hes a bit of a fuss pot but even he was amazed by the results.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Don't waste your money on this, it's just bleach on a fancy bottle.

 

[Rorschach]

Tesco thin bleach, 30p for 2 litres. Put it in a spray bottle and liberally spray the area. Repeat after 30 minutes. Leave for another 30 minutes or so and then rinse. Job done.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

[

But marble and acid - no way!

Interesting. Greece, being the land of marble, has marble monuments all over the place. Gravestones, war memorials, even window sills are marble. It's everywhere. When you want to clean it, you buy a bottle of strong hydrochloric acid from the supermarket (ask for marble cleaner) and spray liberally. Quite an exciting reaction follows - lots of fizzing, and then your marble looks brand new. I don't know if they do this with the Parthenon - you would think not...

(I should probably say YMMV, for lability purposes)

 

[Marineboy]

This is the stuff you need

Usually £5-£6 a bottle. Sorts on mouldy silicone aswell. Does leave the room smelling quite bleachy for a few hours. I lent mine to someone was all but ready to regrout his bathroom. Hes a bit of a fuss pot but even he was amazed by the results.

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Don't waste your money on this, it's just bleach on a fancy bottle.

My experience is that this stuff works much better than bleach and is worth the extra.

 

[Rorschach]

My experience is that this stuff works much better than bleach and is worth the extra.

It only works better because it is more concentrated, chemically it is identical though. It is also way more expensive. 2 or 3 applications of the cheap bleach will do the same job and since an application takes just seconds you can save your money for beer :lol:

If you really want more concentrated stuff then you can buy it much more cheaply than you can the HG spray either online or from a swimming pool supply shop.

 

[whiskywill]

Household bleach contains around 3-6% of sodium hypochlorite. Most of this stuff https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw= ... eName=GSTL contains 14-15%, so much more concentrated, but proportionally more expensive.

 

[disco_monkey79]

This is the stuff you need

Usually £5-£6 a bottle. Sorts on mouldy silicone aswell. Does leave the room smelling quite bleachy for a few hours. I lent mine to someone was all but ready to regrout his bathroom. Hes a bit of a fuss pot but even he was amazed by the results.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Don't waste your money on this, it's just bleach on a fancy bottle.

I always go for this product. Yes it's expensive and stinks, but it works. Being Mr Suspicious, I filled a spray bottle with supermarket thin bleach - no comparison. I note your comment about repeat applications of regular bleach, but what I like is that one hit does the job. I'd rather be woodworking.

Just my 2p's worth.

 

[disco_monkey79]

N.b. I didn't mean to sound like i doubted your word - i did the comparison test some months ago...