I’ve been working all day trying to get my bathtub as clean as possible. We never take baths, only showers, so even though I rinse after I shower, over the years the gunk built up, on top of the gunk that was there when we moved in (we’re renters). Finally, I got it looking really nice and was so proud. The only stickler was some black spots on the caulk around the top of the tub that I’d tried to clean several times before, but had no luck. I sprayed some mold and mildew cleaner on the caulk and went to do something else. When I came back, I found there are terrible brown streaks everywhere, running down from the tub rim down into the tub. It’s HORRIBLE! They seem permanent because I’ve scrubbed and scrubbed and though they lightened a tiny bit, they’re still very nasty-looking. I’ve tried various cleaners, including bleach (yes, I rinse well between each try, and the bathroom window is wide open as is the door, with a fan going).
Here’s a picture, though it looks much worse than this shows, and it’s all the way around. I’m just sick. I have company coming for a week, which is why I wanted to get it nice-looking, and it WAS nice-looking, all white and spotless! Now it looks like I have some kind of poop fetish that’s left stains or something.
Help! Is there hope for my bathtub??
We are not responsible for the pink tile, that’s its own nasty-looking thing.
You have serious mildew growing in the sealant (caulk) between the tub and the tile wall. This happens rather regularly. The only solution is to remove the existing sealant and apply a new sealant – nothing you do will remove the mildew. Replacing the sealant is probably the responsibility of the property owner.
Yes, that’s the result of caulk over caulk over caulk. Lots of crud which equals food source for mildew and other critters. As Ex_Chemist advised, it’s got to be completely removed, the tub lip and tile cleaned of all bond breakers, and then recaulked with a premium kitchen and bath silicone sealant.
Cleaning the tub is a different matter. Dunno if the porcelain is stained or not. You could try something like CLR, and I’d also consider muriatic or phosphoric acid. Muriatic can be bought at Home Despot-it’s used as a concrete/masonry cleaner. Phosphoric acid is the prime ingredient in Naval Jelly rust remover, also available at big pox stores.
Standard precautions apply: use hand and eye protection, don’t drink it, ventilate the area, try a small spot first, don’t talk to strangers, yadda yadda.
I am not an ex chemist, and practically flunked chemistry, but to me this stain suggests iron rust and not mildew. I wonder if the cast iron under the porcelein is rusting at the rim underneath the caulk, and if whatever you used to really get at the caulk dislodged the rust underneath.
Oxalic acid might help, so Zud would be a good choice. Not bleach. Perhaps TriSodium Phosphate or some other commercial product.
If it were my tub I’d get some type of commercial product promising to remove rust and I’d also use a scrub pad (the non-metal kind) with a mildly abrasive powder like the kind you might use on a glass cooktop such as Cerama Bryte.
Is it an enamelled bath? If so, my guess is that you’ve damaged the enamel through overzealous cleaning. My own bathtub has very slight roughened “drip lines” in the enamel, which fortunately you can only see if you catch the light on it, from where I sprayed on some kind of descaling product and left it for too long. Enamel doesn’t seem to like acidic descalers
I would say the enamel was already damaged, and porous before the cleaning. The cleaning removed the built up crude, and the mildew remover that ran down the sides, filled the damaged enamel. I doubt it will come clean, but an industrial cleaner may clean it. The tub will stain right away though, because the enamel is shot.
Lots of product labels include a toll-free number for questions and problems. I would check the mold and mildew cleaner bottle for such a number and give them a call. If there’s no number, maybe you can find their website and drop them an email. Hopefully they can help.
If that doesn’t work, I’d try a Mr. Clean eraser and prayer.
Good luck with the tub. Good luck with the company too.
