How to Clean a Bathroom (Properly)
Cleaning your bathroom might not be the most preferred task for any of us; but still, it is something we as a whole need to do sooner or later!
We put this thorough guide together for this very reason and hope that it helps you learn the most ideal approach to cleaning your bathroom, as well as potentially giving you a few tips to keep your bathroom clean and free from germs and bacteria for a long time.
Before we begin, we suggest that you get your hands on some gloves and some decent eye protection because safety must always be your top priority. You should also make sure that your bathroom is well ventilated, so it would help if you crack open a window or switch your bathroom exhaust fan on. Finally, you can’t clean without a decent bathroom or shower cleaner.
Preparing Your Bathroom For Cleaning
1. Tidying away your everyday bathroom items
Before you begin to clean your bathroom, the first thing you should do is remove any of the clutter which could hamper your cleaning. This can include things like bottles of shampoo, shower gel and any other bathroom accessories you might have in or around the bathtub.
You may also have a bath mat on the floor or towels on the towel rail. Any items that usually sit on your bathroom vanity or sink area like hand soap, mouthwash and so on – you get the point!
Tidying this stuff away will provide you with a nice clear space, free from obstructions, allowing you to fully focus on your cleaning without the worry of knocking anything over or getting it dirty.
2. Dealing with the Dust
You’ll also have to dust all your bathroom surfaces to eliminate any dust or dirt that may have built up over time. This can easily be completed with a quick wipe with some damp paper towel or j-cloth. When you’ve done this, you can sweep or vacuum up the dirt from the floor.
With any room, not just your bathroom, it’s essential to dust the surfaces before you clean. Otherwise, the dust that gathers can fly around the room and ruin all your hard work!
3. Let cleaning products sit on tougher areas
Lastly, to ensure that you make the best use of your time and energy, you should apply your cleaning products to all the areas that will need the most scrubbing. These will usually include your taps, shower, bathtub, sink and any other regions where build-up deposits have developed.
For the especially tough to clean areas of your bathroom, e.g. limescale deposits, we would suggest applying a white vinegar and water solution, mixing half of each in an equal concentration.
Time to Clean Your Bathroom
1. Wipe Down your Surfaces
Now that you have gotten now cleared and tidied your bathroom, it is now time to clean your bathroom surfaces! Here you’ll want to take a cleaning cloth or sponge and wipe down your racks, countertops and shelves with your favourite cleaning spray.
While cleaning your surfaces, we generally suggest starting from the highest point in your bathroom and working your way down. Cleaning in such a way means that, if any dirt and grime you’ve cleaned from higher areas fall down to lower surfaces, it is easier to clean them later.
When it comes to your shower glass panels or windows, you should aim to use an alternate cleaner and cloth (or squeegee) – if applicable.
2. Cleaning your Bathtub and Shower
As mentioned earlier, it may sometimes be best to apply your cleaning products to the taps and bathtub before you begin cleaning, allowing them enough time to eliminate most of the grime easily or at least loosen tough-to-clean grime a little. If you followed this step, you can use a damp cloth or sponge to clear away the grime and then rinse away with water.
If it has been a while since you last cleaned your bathtub, then you may need to put some elbow grease in – especially when scrubbing the taps! In the event that grime has deposited between your bathroom tiles, you will need to scrub here too. For this, you can use an old toothbrush or any other delicate brush, the tough side of the sponge will also work fine. Spray some cleaner (grout cleaner would be great) onto the grout and let it sit for around five to ten minutes or so. You would then be able to use your brush (ideally a grout brush) to scrub away the grime quite easily.
If you find that the grout has now become quite discoloured, it may be worth purchasing some grout whitener. Lastly, you want to make sure you give your shower head a good wipe as well. If it’s been a while since the last clean or it’s looking fairly dirty, it’d definitely be worth checking out our guide on cleaning your shower head.
3. Cleaning your Toilet
When cleaning your toilet, it is definitely advisable that you use a good pair of gloves and wipes only for the toilet. You will need to handle the toilet bowl first to make best use of your time. Take some toilet cleaner or bleach and pour it around the upper area of the toilet bowl, so that the cleaner can trickle down. Leave it to work for around 10 to 15 minutes or so.
Next, with the help of your toilet brush, start scrubbing the whole bowl, including the rim, until you have covered the whole surface. If you happen to have a tough layer of limescale in your toilet bowl, try some white vinegar. Simply pour the white vinegar around the whole bowl and leave it there for 3-4 hours, after that you can begin cleaning, and the limescale should begin to vanish.
Once you give your toilet a proper clean, it is very easy to maintain. I use toilet rim blocks to keep my toilet smelling clean and fresh each time it’s flushed. You can even get some cistern blocks to pop in the tank as well.
4. Don’t forget to clean the floor
After you have cleaned everything and everywhere else in your bathroom, the last task is to clean the floor. Depending on the type of floor you have, before you mop, you should sweep or vacuum the floor to eliminate any excess dirt present on the floor.
Once the floor has been swept or vacuumed, mix together your floor cleaning product of choice and some warm water into your mop bucket and dip the mop in. For best practice, ensure the mop isn’t too wet otherwise it will not clean properly and will only end up making your bathroom smell damp!
Once completed let the floor dry and you can pour away the dirty water into the toilet and flush it away. Finally, I will usually pick up any other bits of rubbish lying around and empty my bathroom bin.
How to keep your bathroom clean longterm
Now your bathroom that your bathroom is clean you need to try and keep it that way! Here are some quick tips to help maintain your bathroom, so you don’t have to keep doing hard deep cleans anymore:
- Little and often: Do small cleans here and there – don’t let it build up!
- Make it easier: there are so many great products that can make cleaning your bathroom easier and fairly automated. For example, I use a number of Method Bathroom Cleaning products like their shower mist which can be quickly applied after your shower and left to work its magic – no scrubbing needed.
- Get a bathroom exhaust fan: You can very easily prevent damp building up with a good bathroom extractor fan. Damp can be quite damaging to your walls too and also even your health.
- Stop leaving toothpaste marks: Dried toothpaste can be tough to clean later on so just quickly give your sink a rinse each time you brush your teeth.
- Change your bathroom bin more often: Bathroom bins are usually quite small and easy to change so just make sure to take it out when it starts getting full.
