How to whiten a bath at home, clean rust and remove limescale?

Snow-white plumbing gives the bathroom a cozy and even festive look. How to clean the bath at home? Indeed, unfortunately, pristine whiteness dims very quickly. Often we use the bath not only for its intended purpose, but also for other purposes: washing, washing large items, bathing animals and so on. How to clean the old bath and how to whiten the surface so that it shines with the same cleanliness? To do this, there are many household chemicals sold in stores, and you can also resort to using simple compounds that are always at hand - soda, acetic acid and the like.

But before you begin to clean the surface of stubborn dirt, you need to determine the type of pollution. Some cleaning products cope with almost all problems, while others are used only for certain types of plaque - for example, lime.

Why is the bathtub dirty?

The surface of the bath is contaminated for various reasons. Here are the main ones.

• Simple raid. This is the kind of dirt that forms when washing. It is particles of skin and skin secretions mixed with a soapy solution. It is very easy to clean the surface from such a coating - it is enough to wash it off with hot water every time after bathing with a sponge.
• Soap plaque. The compounds that make up soaps, shampoos and shower gels form a gray coating over time, eating into the enamel surface. It will not be possible to get rid of it by simple means.
• If your area has hard water, then salts from it will be deposited on the surface of all plumbing. White or yellowish crumbling deposits will have to be removed using special products containing acids that dissolve calcium compounds.
• Rust. Appears due to the increased content of iron in water. Also applies to stubborn stains.
• Old enamel. Old bathtubs are difficult to clean, as their surface is covered with small cracks, into which various contaminants are eaten.
• Yellowness on Enamel settles if there are old water pipes in the house, from which various oxides and water biofilms come.
• Specific pollution. This may include paint, other products that have fallen on the surface of the bathtub after repair, mold. It is necessary to deal with them using special means (solvents, antifungal solutions).

How to clean the bath?

How to wash the bath so as not to damage the surface? Immediately make a reservation that all of the above applies to steel and cast iron products with enamel coating. About how to clean acrylic plumbing, we will tell a little below.

When you start cleaning your bath yourself, use the following tips.

• When choosing a product, be guided by the degree of surface contamination. If the bath is cleaned regularly, use mild solutions and gentle cleaning agents, best of all gel. But old dirt and yellowness will have to be removed with strong acids that can damage the enamel. Therefore, strictly adhere to the necessary time and rinse well with water.
• Do not forget about protective equipment. Even the most harmless at first glance chemicals can cause irritation of the skin of the hands and respiratory tract. Use gloves, do not close doors and windows in the room, do not use hot solutions unnecessarily (to avoid inhalation of chemical vapors).Wear a respirator when handling chlorinated fluids.
• Do not rub the bath with hard brushes and metal washcloths, fiberglass sponges. So you damage the top layer of enamel, and as a result, the surface will become more dirty, and it will become more difficult to bleach it.
• It is not recommended to use toilet cleaners for the bathroom - they are too aggressive.

Enamel products that contain such chemicals are corroded:

• hydrochloric acid;
• oxalic acid;
• alkalis;
• aldehydes.

Also, do not use various abrasive powders to remove yellowness. Modern household chemicals provide a wide range of products in the form of pastes, gels, creams and liquids - choose from them.

Household chemicals

How to wash a bath without difficulty? The easiest way is to use special household cleaning products sold in stores. It will cost a little more and is not so safe for health, but with the right choice of chemical to clean even an old cast-iron bath is not difficult. Here is a description of the most popular products that can be bought at household chemical stores.

• Domestos quite suitable for regular care, although it contains chlorine. It will easily clean stains of medium complexity, but will not remove limescale or deeply ingrained dirt. In addition, working with him is unpleasant due to the pungent odor.
• Cillit bang - The best tool for regular cleaning, but it is not very effective against rust.
• Cif. Use a cream or gel tool. The Ultra White series will help whiten yellowness.
• Pemolux - A soda-based product, quite effective and safe. It can be used to remove dirt from old bathtubs where the enamel is already slightly damaged.
• Gel comet used to whiten the surface and remove difficult to remove impurities. The best series - “7 days of purity” with prolonged action.

Folk remedies

Household chemicals can be replaced by folk remedies. Of course, they can’t cope with old pollution, and in order to restore the bath to its original whiteness, you will have to work hard with a sponge. But it is the simple methods that are preferred by many people who do not want to use modern chemistry (the reasons may be health care, allergies in the home, small children, saving money). Also, such cleaners do not damage the enamel coating of cast iron and steel baths, which extends their life.

• Soda. This is a wonderful and undeservedly forgotten product for cleaning almost any dirt, except lime. It perfectly removes fat, yellowness and eliminates an unpleasant odor. This is a very cheap and safe substance for household health. How to clean a bath at home with soda? It can simply be applied to the surface with a sponge, or you can use the following recipe. Baking soda is mixed with calcined in a ratio of 1: 1. The bath is moistened and the composition is applied for 20-30 minutes. Then the surface must be cleaned with a sponge dipped in table vinegar without washing off the soda. After half an hour, thoroughly wipe the surface with the resulting mixture and rinse with warm water.

• Vinegar. Table vinegar (9%) copes well with common dirt and rust. It takes time to clean the surface. Dampen paper towels or towels in a solution of vinegar and cover them with the entire surface of the bath. Leave on for 3-5 hours. Then remove the paper and rinse the bath with water. Most likely, it will turn out to whiten the surface in several tones.
• Lemon acid. Citric acid solutions will remove both rust and limescale. Apply it like that. Two tablespoons of citric acid are dissolved in half a liter of hot water. Using a sponge, apply the solution to the surface of the bath and incubate for half an hour. Then wash off with water.
• Mustard powder. From it make a paste, which cleaned the contaminated areas of enamel.

For lazy people, there are simpler recipes.Water is drawn into the bath and one and a half liters of vinegar or 100 g of citric acid are dissolved in it. Leave for the night, in the morning the water is lowered and the bath rinsed with water.

Cleaning lime scale

From home remedies, you can make mixtures that will help whiten the bath do it yourself and clean the limescale and rust.

Here are some useful tips for removing limescale from the enamelled surface of cast iron and steel bathtubs.

• Mix borax (sodium tetraborate, sold in pharmacies) and table vinegar in equal proportions.
• Mix the heated vinegar with salt to make slurry.
• Mix salt and turpentine in equal proportions.

The mixture is applied to the stain and thoroughly wiped with a cloth.

Remove rust

How to clean the bath at home from rust? Here are some recipes.

• Ammonia is dissolved in water and applied to the problem area for 10-15 minutes, then washed off with water.
• Lemon juice is squeezed onto rust stains, kept for 10-15 minutes.
• Wipe the rust with a mixture of vinegar and salt.

A bit about acrylic bathtubs

How to wash a bath of acrylic? It is best to use special gel or cream products: Akrilan, Pani Vanya, Ravak, Sun Klin, Tim Profi, Mr. Chister, Acrylic Polish, Triton.

Do not use products containing:

• acetone;
• ammonia;
• chlorine;
• alcohol;
• formaldehydes;
• alkali;
• acids.

You need to clean the surface no more than once every two weeks, and disinfect it once a week. If you do not have a special disinfectant, use ordinary household soap. Apply a soap solution to the surface of the acrylic bath, and then rinse off.

Now you know many ways to clean a dirty bathroom. For each type of pollution their own cleaning products are suitable. It can be ordinary soda or an expensive whitening gel for plumbing. The main thing is that it is efficient and easy to handle.