Help cleaning shower - ideas??
 

Hi all:

We have a roman tile shower in a light colored swirly tile with a taupe grout. I'd love to hear how others clean their showers. We rinse after every use, but still are plagued with mold. I clean it with a bleach product but still get the mold. Plus how do you keep the walls bright and shiny?

home depot...purple industrial cleaner

First----Always, always, always run the fan. If you don't do it while showering, be sure to do it for at least 15-20 minutes afterwards.

Second -- I bought a mop that has a mop on one side and a scrfub brush on the back side. Spray the entire shower wall and floor with the Clorox cleaner and "mop" down the walls and floor. If you have some stubborn spots, flip the mop over and use the brush side. Rinse well and you're done. Oh yeah, be sure to run the fan while you're using the Clorox cleaner stuff. It's pretty potent.

We also have a hand-held shower head in addition to the standard issue. That helps with the rinsing.

We use Kaboom for the tiles and Clorox clean up for the grout. Works fine. Also squeege the tiles after showering

After you get it clean let it dry and put a grout sealer; available at most stores (Home Depot). If you use a squeegee after showering this will get most water off tile and let exhaust fan support drying. We sealed after closing and have had no problems.

Hi,
The best enemy is mold is a dry place. I cannot use clorox and similar products because of allergy and mold is a plague. The best solution i find is to truly "dry" the area. It seems hard work, but I literally go after the area and dry with a cloth. The fan by itself does not dry it fast enough, but is useful also. Sometimes I left the window a bit open to help the air dry process. It sounds tedious, but it works -- spot clean.

We too had the grout sealed beore moving in. We use the fan during and after showering and we squeege the water off the walls and floor. Have had no problems since April.

Has anyone tried a steam cleaner? We just bought one but haven't tried it yet.

Wow that looks like a lot of work! I think you might have to reshower after you finish cleaning the roman shower. That was the one thing I wanted to get when I buy this month, but I am rethinking it , lol....:undecided:

It is alot of work taking care of those roman showers. I'm thinking if I get the grout sealed it will help.

Have roman shower and did not seal grout. Have absolutely no mold problems. We run the exhaust fan while showering and allow it to run an additional 20 minutes after. The shower is cleaned regularly, but nothing special is used. Once you finally get the mold problem settled, you MUST run the fan...and let it run another 20 minutes when you're done.

This is not a DAILY regimen. I thought the OP asked for ideas on how to clean the shower, which is not necessarily done every day. For the daily cleaning, using a towel or squeegie, to dry the walls and floor after showering will work just fine.

I agree with getdul981. Daily drying will prevent mold from forming. We have had a Roman shower for 7 years and we run the fan during and after showering. We squeegie the walls and floor, then towel dry walls and floor. We have never had any mold on the walls whatsoever and have never sealer the grout. If we see the redish deposit on the floor grout which you get from water, we spray with a 50-50 bleach/water mix, let sit for 30 minutes, then flush with fresh water. That happens maybe every 3 months max.

Thanks for all of the tips. I have lots of great ideas to work with now.
:wave:

Cleaning Roman shower
 

We use vinegar, which was recommended for tile cleaning at our walk-through with the builder. I'm also sensitive to bleach, as someone else mentioned, and vinegar works wonders as a disinfectant!

We keep a spray bottle of 50/50 vinegar + water on the shower bench. We wipe down the shower walls, soap dish, and floor with a large towel after each use, plus always run the fan. We've lived here only 2 months, and so far no mold odor or problem

Good luck!

Solar tubes!
 

We have the exact same shower with the exact same colors. The BEST thing we ever did was install a solar tube. We have never had any mildew at all. We still get the usual soap scum but never any mildew. We also have the builder grade fan..Anyone ever install a better/powerful exhaust fan? That is the next thing we are thinking of installing...

I use soft scrub and a brush about once per week on the floor and walls. After I am finished with that, I bought a spray bottle and have a mixture of clorox and water and spray they entire shower down. Not a problem keeping that funky mold away.

I love the idea of a solar tube!! Never would have thought of that. It's such a dark place and that would be fantastic! Do you remember the cost to do that?

We have a roman shower, run the fan and have not done anything to seal the grout. Every couple of weeks, a little mold will show up on the grout. A few sprays of Mold Armor (available at Publix), let it sit 5 minutes, rinse and the mold is gone. No scrubbing needed.

Yes, they were running a special about buying two, so , we put one large in the kitchen and one large one in the shower. Total cost for both was 1000.00 Installed and they do warranty against any roof leaks! We used the SolarGuys..... it really does help, truly!! We have never had mildew of any kind in that shower...Good luck.

we are adding a 30" ceiling fan to master bathroom with roman shower but we have no idea if this will help the mold problem
have a neighbor that added a fan and wife thought it would be a good idea.

I think the reference to use a fan is to a build in exhaust fan in the bathroom.

We have had good luck with Ka-Boom. I do a section of shower every so often, by spraying tiles, and then brushing. Tiles come out nice and shiny and clean. Usually you can tell if soap scum on tiles, by rubbing hand on the tile. Tilex is good for any mold in shower. Actually we don't have much mold to speak of, but probably because we have a water softner. (That helps soap scum from sticking to wall) Two months ago, I re caulked the bottom of shower, just so I don't have any problems. Hand held shower head helps with rinsing

Are you saying that the grout is not sealed at closing? You seal yourself before you move in?

We have a roman shower and use scrubbing bubbles automatic mist after every shower. It hangs on the shower and you push a button after you shower. We have never had any mold. They are available at Publix and Walmart and other places. I never use bleach because it is so hard on the tiles. Even on ceramic floors in difficult areas I use vinegar because it does no damage and works well.

Regular shower cleaning
 

We have just a standard acrylic (I think) shower - I used to use the Scrubbing Bubbles daily shower cleaner, but eventually the paint right above the shower head started bubbling. Plus that stuff was expensive!

Now we use a sprayer bottle with daily shower cleaner, except I make my own and refill as needed (swapping with the one in the guest bath). For a 32 oz bottle - 1/2 c. alcohol, 1/2 c. hydrogen peroxide, 2 tsp. dishwasher spot preventer, 6 drops Dawn liquid dish detergent, and water to fill bottle.

Still clean the shower about once a month with Tilex or Scrub Free or something similar.

Works for me.

squeegie and vinegar
 

After getting most of the water off with a squeegie, i spray down the walls and floor with full-strength white vinegar. No chemicals... better for the environment, much cheaper than chemical sprays, and NO MOLD,no mildew... You get used to smell, which doesn't linger too long...:pepper2:

Having just had my orientation to the air conditioning system, I wonder if your house is too humid in general? My AC has a humidity detector and will run the air extra time if humidity is over 60% in the house.

We have pretty much the same setup. We wipe down the shower daily after each use with a towel. Wiping the walls, floors, and fixtures. Yes it is more work and takes maybe 2 minutes. Well worth it. We also use about twice per week Scrub free with OxiClean while in the shower. Spray down the walls and let it wash down. Once per week I take the Oreck steam cleaner while doing the tile floors to the shower walls and floor. (About 2 minutes again) Our shower looks like it has never been used. We did not seal the grout.

However, IF you need to clean the mold that you have, I have used X14 in the spray bottle. You can get it at home Depot, or a hardware store. Runs about %6 a bottle. Works WONDERS! I used it on a home I refurbished with the showers AWFUL with black mold. Also used on the white eaves of one of our homes with a northern exposure. Comes completely clean! I will have to use it on these eves since I can see homes facing north have the discoloration too.
Be careful, VERY powerful and you do not want to inhale it. Keep a window open. But you will like it for all mold issues.

I've used bleach, vinegar and a variety of other products but discovered Tea Tree Oil is the best...not just for cleaning but staving off mildew/mold. You can purchase a bottle at Walmart for about $6.00...it's in the vitamin section. You can apply it straight or...I add it to a spray bottle, two tablespoons to a cup of water. Look it up on the Internet. Lots of uses for it and it works wonders. My whole neighborhood is using it not just to combat mildew but a mixture of alcohol, water and tea tree oil does a wonderful streak-free job on glass, mirrors and glass-topped tables. Good luck!

I spray with Clean Shower after each use, and in between use Clorox Cleanup and never had any mold.

I love Arm & Hammer's Clean Shower. Use it every time after you shower -- no more soap scum and no mold that I've seen.

Could anyone make a recommendation for someone to do the grout sealing? We'd like to get that done before moving in later this month. Thanks.

Muratic acid, open windows and turn fan on, use a mask. No scrubbing, put it in a spray bottle, spray, let it fizz up, cleans both grout and tile. Do no use but 4x a year as it does eat the grout, but it is a mild acid