Removing Soap scum from Tile

Soap scum

I hate the way it looks and  hate how difficult it is to clean off my beautiful tile we put up the big bathroom remodel a couple of years ago.

I’ve tried many cleaners & nothing really does a good job besides my scrub brush and some elbow grease.

I like how vinegar does works on smells in my washer and how it takes hard water deposits off faucets but it is hard to get vinegar to stay on the tile walls long enough to clean the scum off.  So when I saw this idea on Pinterest I was very excited!

The link doesn’t go to a website but here are the instructions to clean tile.

Source: Uploaded by user via Kim on Pinterest

“Hot Vinegar and Dawn Soap! 1 cup of HOT Vinegar (microwave 1-2 min) and 1 cup of blue DAWN liquid soap. Shake into bottle and creates a gel that will clean your showers."

Well I had to give it a try so here are my results.

I was so excited to start I forgot to get a before picture on the faucet but here is a during and after.

It did a good job getting deposits off the faucets but truly they weren’t really built up as I’ve tried to wipe them down with vinegar every so often.

Here is a good close up of the tile.  The grout is supposed to be dark brown but it is a chalky grey.

A bit messy to apply but the Dawn is thick enough to cling to the tile and give the vinegar time to work.

I had to let the grout dry after rinsing to get a good picture and there was blue goo left so I headed to the kids bathroom in the basement(which I haven’t cleaned in ages—kids are in charge—yikes!)

Here is the worst tile before--very gray & chalky    

After cleaning—back to the original dark gray(YES!)

Now back upstairs after a couple hours of dry time.

Better in places.

As you can see I got mixed results.  Near the faucet I deliberately didn’t apply the solution to the left side so I could see if there was a difference.  So this solution does a good job but you have to be careful with your application to hit all the spots or come back and hit the ones that were missed.

I liked how easy this was to mix up and apply but I will be more careful and particular in my application next time around.

Removing hard water deposits

We have hard water.   It is just a fact of life.  We don’t have a water softener for various reasons but it creates problems with cleaning.

Things seem to get cemented on and I cannot “clean” them off with normal human effort. 

I had a “Duh!” moment yesterday.  I was looking at the spill catch underneath the water dispenser on the front of our refrigerator.  It was “GROSS” and I wasn’t looking forward to spending an hour scrubbing it with baking soda to get the discoloration and build up off of it.  However I couldn’t ignore it any more. 

Then I had a thought.  Steve used vinegar to clean out the humidifier that we use in the kids rooms when they are sick.  It seems to collect those hard water crystals super fast—probably the process it goes through to cause the water vapor.

So I went out to get the big jug of vinegar out of the garage.  I filled up the spill catch & walked away for a few minutes to do something.  When I returned—WOW!  I couldn’t believe it.  The scum was gone almost gone & I was kicking myself because I didn’t take a “before” picture.  Anyway you’ll have to take my word for it.

However there is one other place that was developing a bit of a sick look.  It is around the drain in our main bathroom—where I shower.  ICK!  I convinced Elizabeth to go and try out my cure for hard water deposits!  I went with camera in hand to check it out a few minutes later.  Here is what I found.

Kinda gross huh?

But after my magic(ha!) cure?  Here is what I had to look at.

Sometimes it is the small things in life that make me happy.  I don’t like using chemicals around the house so using something this simple just made my day!  Not to mention that vinegar is SO much cheaper than any other cleaner I have tried on yucky water deposits!

What other “homemade solutions” do you use?  Please share!

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Raising Homemakers

Picking Your Battles

I’ve been battling with the youngest male in my house.  For some reason he thinks that the floor around the laundry basket is a better place than IN the laundry basket. 

On the other hand he is getting his bed made, most days.  All his clean laundry is in the dresser & not on the floor.  All steps in the right direction.

We are still working on it.  I have pointed out how it would be easier to find his shoes if he would pick up his room.  He is doing a great job with all his other chores but the floor of his room is just a huge challenge. 

Now that I am mobile again I think we are going to spend 5 minutes in his room together each morning.  He is my social child.  He hugs me a kazillion times a day.  So if I make it a reward(time together) for him I think that will do the trick.  Then consequences if he cannot keep it picked up from there on out.  I am not going to clean it for him—that is a big temptation for me.  I will “help” but most of it will be me asking him “Where does that go? or Does that have a place?” 

Using a timer for just 5 minutes will keep us from getting sucked in to an all day cleaning session but we will make progress. 

How are you kids rooms?  Where is that tough spot for them to keep clean?  Maybe you should spend some time together working & making some progress!