The bathroom is the one room in a home that endures the most wear and tear. Depending on the size of your household, and whether you have one bathroom or more, it is often in constant use.
Hot water, mold, mildew and soap residue build up over time, and it can be tricky to keep it spotless.
I am forever giving my own bathroom a cleaning blitz, only to find the next day it needs cleaning again. However, to help me with my cleaning routine, tackling the grime to give more shine, I’ve been researching the best bathroom cleaning gadgets.
Apart from reducing the time it takes to do the chores, these bathroom tools will help transform your lackluster bathroom into something that resembles a spa-like sanctuary. You’ll just have to find the time to relax and enjoy it.
1. Battling tile grout
I know what a bug-bear cleaning grout between tiles can be. Apart from a build-up of soap residue, heat and humidity can cause mold and mildew to form, which is particularly tough to shift.
With this in mind, when I updated my bathroom, I opted for large rectangular bathroom tiles to reduce the area of grout to clean. However, despite what I thought was a genius idea, I still struggled to shift the muck.
One of my cleaning tricks is using a manual toothbrush — purely dedicated to the task — to clean between the tiles, but it is arduous. To save time and shift the grime, I’ve discovered a power scrubbing device that resembles an electric toothbrush.
Rubbermaid’s Reveal Power Scrubber ($19 @ Amazon) has a multi-purpose head, is cordless and runs on batteries. Apart from cleaning grout, I’ll use it to scrub away mold that forms around my windowsills in winter when condensation builds. Although simple, it’s a brilliant tool for cleaning tight spaces, which can often be an issue in a bathroom.
However, if you’d prefer a multi-purpose tool, Laura Mountford, cleaning guru @lauracleanaholic, recommends an Electric Spin Scrubber with interchangeable heads ($35 @ Amazon). She says, “It also has a long handle, so it’s perfect for those tricky spots you might struggle to reach.”
Apart from cleaning your bathroom tiles, it can also be used to clean your toilet and bathtub.
2. Blitzing a shower screen
Keeping a shower screen sparkling clean can be an uphill struggle in a family home, although the task can be tough, even if there are only one or two in your household. Plus, the challenge is more difficult if you live in a hard water area and don’t have a water softener.
Shower screens are constantly bombarded with water, leaving calcium and magnesium deposits behind. Once the water dries, a chalky deposit remains, known as limescale. Apart from finding ways to prevent limescale in your shower, it’s good to know the best way to remove it. But, on top of the limescale, you’ll also find leftover residue from soap, which adds to the cloudy appearance.
I often use a microfiber cloth to clean my shower screen, which helps to bring back the shine, but when the dirt calls out for a deeper clean, I favor a window vac. What’s more, it’s a gadget that can be used elsewhere around your home to clean your windows, mirrors, and tiles.
The best part is that a window vac will save you time, giving you back extra minutes for an extra-long soak in your new spa-like bathroom.
It’s worth giving Karcher’s WV 1 Plus Window Vac a go ($67 @ Home Depot). The handheld appliance will remove water and the cleaning solution with a streak-free finish, all in a super-quick time. It does all the harder work for you, so you no longer have to spend time scrubbing at the glass surface.
3. Steam clean your toilet
With so much water in the bathroom already causing damage, you may be reluctant to use a tool that introduces even more water. However, a steam cleaner is a perfect way to deep clean your home, and that includes the bathroom.
Mountford is a fan and says in an Instagram post, “Steaming is a really effective, inexpensive and natural way to deep clean your home. The steam blasts away dirt, gets into all the hard to reach places killing bacteria.”
For this reason, it’s an ideal tool to clean the toilet and reach into all the crevices, especially where the seat hinges adjoin the pan — an area I find toughest to clean.
Steam can also be directed at the lid, seat, bowl rim, and tank to give them a thorough clean, although be mindful to work from the top down; if not, you’re at risk of creating dirt where you’ve already cleaned.
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