# Bathroom cleaning Q: Small Brown Blobs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453 "2012-09-21T23:58:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/1 "2012-09-21T23:58:28Z")
I’ve been finding tiny brown blobs, rather sticky, around the edges of mirrors, power outlet plates & electric plates, in my bathroom. Nowhere else. They are about 2-4 mm in size, & hard to clean up. No sign of goo inside the switch plates. I get regular exterminator treatment, through the Condo Assoc. I also use bug foggers, about once every 2-3 months. No sign of bugs, anyway. Suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/2 "2012-09-22T00:13:19Z")
What do they taste like? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/3 "2012-09-22T00:16:14Z")
I can’t search on here as I’m using a mobile reader, but didn’t we have a similar q a while back? I remember making the connection as I see similar brown spots on my bathroom door and walls. I think the consensus was iron or mineral spots from dried water drops? Either that or spider poop. ---
**Author:** ![core\_dump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@core\_dump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/core_dump)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/4 "2012-09-22T00:19:44Z")
I am guessing you do not smoke in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/5 "2012-09-22T00:21:29Z")
I had initially thought some glop from cigarette smoke, but that would be on or near the ceiling, not clustered around areas that might possibly offer insect access. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/6 "2012-09-22T00:24:00Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > I had initially thought some glop from cigarette smoke, but that would be on or near the ceiling, not clustered around areas that might possibly offer insect access. This sounds right, though. Condensation collects and evaporates differently on shiny, smooth surfaces. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/7 "2012-09-22T00:24:38Z")
Is there a smell? Back when I managed apartments, we had a retired tenant who smoked pipes all day long and lived there for seven years before he passed away. We saw evidence of the oils from tobacco (a yellow/brown) **everywhere**. We wiped down the wood cabinets and came back a week later to find the oil had literally oozed out of the wood to create a new sticky (and smelly) coating. One of the many things we did in cleaning was to replace all the electrical plates because both front and back were just coated in that stuff. (A year later, after one set of tenants had moved out because of a pervasive tobacco smell, we still found this tobacco oil oozing out of wood all over the apartment.) If there’s no odor that you’re finding, it could still be a residue of some other kind of aerosol - incense, hairspray, oil lamps - that has coated the backs of the plates and mirrors and is dripping out as humidity and temperature in the bathroom change. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/8 "2012-09-22T00:25:09Z")
We get that a lot if we leave the bathroom window open a crack. It’s basically fine grit and dirt from outside that gets caught up in the shower steam and condenses on the walls, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/9 "2012-09-24T00:32:51Z")
No noticeable smell, and I don’t smoke. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/10 "2012-09-24T12:34:43Z")
Has [this guy](http://assets.scumbagsteve.com/hashed_silo_content/72e/7f6/106/resized/uses-urinal-in-public-bathroom-leaves-booger-on-the-wall-2a022a.jpg)been over? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/11 "2012-09-24T12:59:09Z")
[This was the previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630503&highlight=bathroom) I was talking about, but it seems your brown spots are different, as the ones we were talking about were more like dried residue from water spots, not sticky stuff, and wipe off fairly easily. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/12 "2012-09-24T21:53:19Z")
Hmmm…any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/13 "2012-09-25T04:37:09Z")
Stop flinging feces? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/14 "2012-09-25T21:53:49Z")
> [@hrhomer](#): > > Stop flinging feces? That was vulgar. Anybody else? With an actual idea? ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/15 "2012-09-26T01:02:12Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > No noticeable smell, and I don’t smoke. Prior resident did? That stuff can keep showing up for YEARS. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/16 "2012-09-26T01:36:47Z")
Ok, this is pretty vulgar too, but do you have small children or really gross roommates who could be putting boogers on stuff? I totally did this as a kid and tried to pass it off as mildew when my parents complained. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/17 "2012-09-26T14:06:04Z")
> [@listedmia](#): > > Ok, this is pretty vulgar too, but do you have small children or really gross roommates who could be putting boogers on stuff? I totally did this as a kid and tried to pass it off as mildew when my parents complained. I live alone. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bathroom-cleaning-q-small-brown-blobs/635453/18 "2012-09-26T14:09:46Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Prior resident did? That stuff can keep showing up for YEARS. No way to know.