Sonic Scrubber?

[Richard_C]

We live in a very hard water area and one if the jobs I hate is cleaning the grouting in the showers, around taps, plugholes and suchlike every few months. Yesterday I was in town and saw a "sonic scrubber", c £22, like a giant electric toothbrush. I see from their website that sonic is branding, its not sonic at all just fast oscillation, but if I belive the blurb on the box it's the answer to all my cleaning needs and more besides. A dream come true for all of us. Every home should have one. Life changing etc etc.

Or is it?

Anybody got one? Do you use it, or did you use it once or twice and then put it away forever in a dusty cupboard?

 

[Cobbs]

Maybe try your electric toothbrush on it first, see if it works, just make sure to use an old brush head (or your wife's...).

 

[heronviewer]

We had one similar - the grouting and sealant was quickly damaged.

 

[Spectric]

We live in a very hard water area and one if the jobs I hate is cleaning the grouting in the showers

You could fit a water softener, overtime they do pay for themselves because the hardwater is not good for boilers, washing machines and kettles plus no limescale buildup on shower heads and taps.

 

[NickDReed]

+1 for a water softener.

We had one installed a couple of years ago, not cheap, but worth it when you consider how much life the hard water would take off our appliances, boiler, water tank, taps etc.

Also, the shower screen looks miles better.

 

[RogerS]

We have a couple of those window wipers like this ...



and a small sponge cloth. At the end of the shower, a couple of minutes wiping the excess water from the tiles (Carerra marble) followed by the sponge removes all the water and so never a problem with limescale.

Plus all that up and down bending is good for the back

 

[AES]

We also have VERY hard water here. And domestic water softeners are NOT allowed ("bad for the environment")!!!!

for each tap, shower head, etc, I have a PAIR of units; one installed and one standing by. I need to change them over about every 6 to 8 weeks. The contaminated ones go straight into a "bath" (old plastic tub) full of de-chalker (freely available in our supermarkets, under such brand names as "Durgold". Don't know if available in UK, but very effective). After an overnight soak in that, all the removed items are rinsed off in cold water, allowed to dry, then stored ready for the next cycle in about 6 to 8 weeks time.

All that, plus using the above idea of a "window squeegee" to get water off the tiles in the shower and bath works quite well.

YES, the whole thing is a right PITA, but is an example of how my adopted country really does sometimes get their knickers in a wad over protecting the environment (OK, no water softeners saves tipping slat down the drian, but after a couple of uses, the above "Durgold" goes down the drain, and by the smell of it (I'm not sure what it is but it smells pretty powerful and clears the most stubborn of chalk deposits) I bet tipping that stuff down the drain does as much "damage" as salt from a water softener!