Wednesday, October 17, 2012

I HATE cleaning our shower

Yah, who doesn't?  But I really detest it for 2 reasons.  First off, we have no fan or vent in our master bathroom, only a small window in the shower.  So when I blast the bleach cleaner everywhere, I get a major headache very quickly and can't stick around to put much manpower into scrubbing.  Secondly, we have a tile shower.  Guess what loves tile?  Mold and mildew.  Even more so when it's all damp and warm in there.




There is my sob story why my shower is always gross.  Recently I sent Matt to the store to get a strong cleaner for the tile.  He picked up this stuff -

Let me tell you.  This stuff is insane.  It's acid, so you have to be VERY, VERY, VERY careful with it.  It's so scary I don't want to use it by myself.  But Matt got ahold of our shower and went to town.  It was like night and day.  We had white grout and clean tile!

Fast forward a month later.  The tile in the center of the shower is still looking pretty good.  But the edges, ugh, so gross.  The mold has gotten pretty confident that I have been lazy and has returned with a vengeance.  I needed to tackle this problem and thought to use this cleaner for the mold.  WRONG.  Didn't work one bit.  So then I turned to Pinterest....

"Oh Pinterest Goddess, can you find me DIY solution to get rid of mold/mildew on tile, but without the God-awful smell of bleach?"  Lo and behold I find this site - Homemade Shower Cleaner for Mold

Basically, here is the recipe I tried - Formula 1: Mix 1/2 cup of baking soda, 1/3 cup of ammonia, 1/4 cup of white vinegar to 7 cups of water. Pour the solution into a spray bottle and shake it well. To clean, spray on, scrub with a scrub brush or toothbrush and then wipe off with a damp sponge. Do not use with bleach or toxic gasses can be released.



                               BEFORE (gross)                                           AFTER


Isn't that disgusting?  But back to the glorious after picture, it really only took a few squirts, maybe a minute to soak in and hardly any scrubbing needed to get the mold and soap scum off.  And you know what else is insane?  I just took these pictures 10 minutes ago and was so FREAKING pleased with the results that I stopped everything to blog about it.  Wow.