How to deep-clean your bathroom in 10 steps
Each and every room in your home needs regular deep cleaning. And this is even more important when it comes to the bathroom.
Your bathroom is most likely the dampest room in your home, and a hotspot of mould, germs and bacteria – all of which could have adverse health effects.
While deep cleaning a bathroom is not the easiest (or more enjoyable) activity in the world, it is definitely crucial and worth making a part of your routine chores. Not only because it needs to look sparkling clean and tidy, but because you want it to be hygienic as well.
Read on for a 10-step guide to deep cleaning your bathroom to make it as hassle-free as possible.
1) Declutter your bathroom
Most of us love to try on different bathing products and our bathrooms seem to be very busy holding out those different bottles of shampoo, body wash, face wash, etc on their counters. Whilst it may completely go unnoticed, over-storing things in a bathroom leads to clutter.
It is important to regularly keep a check on those counters to ensure that no empty bottles are lying in the cabinets. Whatever is unused in the bathrooms should be shown the way out.
2) Clean your bathroom tiles
Now this may seem like a job that may need some (or a lot) of elbow scrubbing since bathrooms are magnets to mildew and soapy stains. It is always good to give your tiles a nice scrubbing bath and wash them off with warm water with your showerheads to make those elegant bathroom tiles flourish again.
If those grout lines look like they’re renting space out to mould, vacate them with an effective cleaning tile agent and scrub them off. Doing this will instantly make your bathrooms look as good as new!
3) Clean the shower-head and bathtub with a cleaner
Shower-heads are the most tricky parts to clean when it comes to bathroom cleaning. You can’t just scrub them off and be done with it.
Shower-heads that have been left unattended during their lives need some serious attention. Their sprays may get clogged which may need to be soaked in solutions that can help them clean up and do the job better. When it comes to bathtubs, all you need is a good all-purpose cleaner if you’re a regular at cleaning or an acid-based cleaner if the cleaning hasn’t been done in a while.
4) Steer clear of the plugholes
Plugholes of the various sanitaryware need to be kept well maintained, else it may lead to some serious clogging and flooding (in most critical cases). To keep those drains free flowing, the most easy way out is to pour a cup full of baking soda followed by boiling water. This will help clear the grease and soap build up and will leave your bathrooms odour free.
5) Wipe any surfaces dry
The key to a clean bathroom is keeping the surfaces dry. All that deep cleaning will not do justice if the bathrooms don’t dry up well. No matter how great the ventilation in your bathroom may be, it will not be enough for a washed bathroom to be left to dry on its own. Even if it does dry, it is surely going to leave water stains on the cabinets and the vanity.
It is best to wipe down surfaces and keep your bathroom floor dry to have a bathroom that is fresh and odour free.
6) Clean the toilet bowl
This one is pretty simple if you keep your eerie quotient aside. All you need is a great toilet cleaner that you can spread all around the bowl and leave it on for at least 15-20 minutes. A good scrub followed by a couple flushes will do the trick and keep your toilet bowl sparkling clean and germ free!
7) Tidy up the vanity area
Spray that all purpose cleaner on the sink, faucets and countertops and wipe them clean with a wet cloth. If there is any soap buildup in the soap dish, scrub it off with a scrubber and wash it down. Use glass cleaners to clean the glass cabinet and mirror. For the rest of the open areas, a wet wipe is all it will need.
8) Keep your mirrors stain free
Our bathroom mirrors are usually placed near the sink for us to be able to see ourselves clearly when we are brushing, shaving or even when we are washing our faces.
This means that the mirrors are bound to get stained with watermarks or cream or even toothpaste marks. It is best to wipe them with plain water and a microfibre cloth. To add that extra sparkle, use a glass cleaner to wipe the mirror.
9) Clean the bathroom sink
The sink is the most used area, thanks to the multiple hand and face washes that we do every day. Scrub the sink with a nice cleaning agent, start with the faucets first so that you can leave them as is for a while before you wash them and then head to the body.
Use baking soda and hot water to unclog the drain and give the whole sink a nice warm bath after all of this is done to leave them sparkling clean.
10) Tackle limescale like a pro
A common mistake that we may end up making in the quest of really getting the best of our faucets would be to use harsh and abrasive cleaners on them. This will not only wash away the stains and germ build up but will also wash away the sheen and polish that the faucets have.
Bathrooms that have hard water supplied to them are going to be inevitable victims of limescale on faucets and the best way to tackle them would be to wrap around them a cloth that is soaked in vinegar and water (in equal parts) for a few hours.
Remove the cloth thereafter and rinse them well with water since any remains of vinegar will do the same harm to the faucets that an abrasive cleaner would do, hence it is important to wash them down well.
Keep your bathroom sparkling and hygienic
A lot of us may agree that sometimes to clear our mind off, all we need is a deep clean, either of our wardrobes or our bathrooms or even of ourselves. Whilst this may be therapeutic for some and dreadful for many, deep cleaning bathrooms should not be an option but a necessity that one needs to take very seriously, in order to maintain the sanctity and hygiene of the bathrooms.
Isha Tandon has worked within the architecture and interior design industry as a flooring consultant expert – specialising in tiles, stones, and terrazzo. She has worked with Orientbell Limited, a leading tile manufacturer in India, as a product development manager in the design team and has recently joined the marketing team as their digital content expert.
