Room by Room by Antoinette: Bathroom

Bathrooms are notorious for having the most sparkly things in them: tiles, enamel, porcelain, glass, mirrors, and stainless steel.

They also deal with the biggest enemies of shine on a daily basis: lime scale and soap scum. No wonder our clients find this the toughest room in their house to clean and subsequently the one with the biggest ‘wow’ when we come in and make it sparkle again. So here’s my basic step by step guide on how to clean your bathroom top to toe:

Before we get started let me go on a small rant about cloths, you’ll find I do this a lot. Using a good set of cloths will halve your cleaning time and leave a sparkling finish with minimal effort. I recommend having 4 Mircofibre cloths on hand at the beginning for all you bathroom cleaning needs:

• Cloth 1: This is the duster, which will then end up being the wet one once rinsed
• Cloth 2: This one is dry but will get progressively wetter and dirtier as you go along
• Cloth 3: This one should be done dry and lint free and kept that way
• Cloth 4: This one is a specialist polishing cloth, also left bone dry and lint free

Step 1: Get things going!

Some things take a bit of time to get going so let’s get the first things soaking before we launch ourselves into the scrubbing: Soak toilet with cleaning solution, preferably one that will deal with lime scale like popping in a toilet cleaning tablet into the bowl.  Leave the toilet brush soaking in the toilet pan while cleaning the rest of the bathroom so it too is getting a bit of a clean.

Then it’s all about clutter and dust riddance: Remove dustbins and any other portable items and place them outside the bathroom door. Dust all the surfaces with Cloth 1 like the shelves and window sills and as well as anything on them like ornaments and products. Hoover the floor, before any water activity to ensure that none of the dust starts sticking to things.

Spray glass and chrome with lime scale remover so that can be left doing its work while you start dealing with all the other items. Lime scale can be a huge problem in London homes and other hard water areas, hear my tips about this here.

Step 2: The shower and/or bath

Lay a healthy sheen of surface cleaner on all grimy surfaces. Use your scourer for getting rid of all the grime, or for really lime scale infested areas you might want to get out a toothbrush or grout scrubber, ensuring the surface is tough enough to take it. After this you can scrub round with wet Cloth 1, focusing on all the chrome fittings, rinsing off as you go. Use the squeegee to scrape the excess water from the glass. The final touch is the 2 part Mircofibre rub down – let the shine begin:  Cloth 2 to remove any excess liquid and then Cloth 3 to polish the glass and chrome fittings. Lastly return all the bath/shower paraphernalia to where it came from, having wiped it all down with Cloth 1.

Step 3: The toilet

This is the last job cloth 1 will need to do: Rinse the cloth out well so there’s no excess water dripping everywhere, use your antibacterial spray and clean the top of the toilet pedestal, being sure to give the flush mechanism a good wipe.  Fold the cloth in half and use a fresh side to wipe down the top of the toilet lid. Fold the cloth in half again and set aside. Now use 3 sheets of folded toilet paper and anti-bacterial spray to wipe down the space behind the toilet seat, the toilet side of the toilet lid, the upper and lower side of the toilet seat, the chrome fittings of the toilet seat and the top lip of the toilet basin. The order is important: moving from the cleanest to the dirtiest parts of your loo to avoid cross contamination.

With the seat the the lid lifted, use the toilet brush to thoroughly scrub the inside of the toilet basin being sure to get underneath the rim and also as far into the u-bend as you can. Flush the toilet, rinsing the toilet brush under the stream.

Finally use trusty Cloth 2 and anti-bac spray to wipe the wall or tiles behind the toilet and outside of the pedestal.

Step 4: Mirror, mirror on the wall…

Even at this late stage Cloth 3 should look like it’s barely left the drawer so can be on the mirror with a small squirt of glass cleaner to limit the streaks.

Use the pristine Cloth 4 glass polisher to get that sparkly streak free finish and use the same cloth to finish the shower screen glass and all of the tabs and other chrome fittings. Step back and admire the dazzle.

Step 5: The sink

You’ve probably been using your sink to rinse your cloths and sponge and store all the wet things as you’ve been going along so now is the time to start clearing up the mess and give the sink a squirt with your all-purpose spray, scrub round with the scourer, Cloth 2 and 3, not forgetting the splash back tiles and pedestal.

Step 6: The towel rail

Use Cloth 2 to remove dust and dirt from the towel rail and give it a polish with Cloth 3 to finish. Fold towels beautifully for the that Just Helpers Finish!

Step 7: The floor

Assuming you have a tiled bathroom floor you can now crack on with the final task, get some extra hot water, mop, bucket & floor cleaner making sure you work into all the easily neglected areas like round the toilet and in the corners where the grime usually gathers. Open a window and leave to dry.

Step 8: Return everything to normality

Empty the dustbin and spray and wipe the inside and outside, polishing where necessary and then wipe down any other portable fittings that were removed at the beginning. Wait for the floor to dry, replace all items and pat yourself on the back for a good job done!

Step 9: Reflect

Sit down and have a cup of tea, think to yourself, ‘I’m never going through all that again’ and get in touch to book your Helper to do it for you!