My friend just moved into a new apartment, and in terms of cleanliness it’s just a couple of steps above “health hazard”. I’ve spent a couple days with her, washing floors and windows, scrubbing sinks and unclogging drains. But her shower is quite a challenge.
It’s a tub/shower with tiled walls and an awful lot of the grout is black with mildew. The grout, and all the edges of the tub. And I don’t know what to do with it. I tried using a cream bathroom cleaner (I think it was “Vim” brand), leaving it on the mildew for a few minutes and then scrubbing at it with one of those rough cleaning sponges. It only seemed to work on the thinnest areas of mildew. Short of repeating this elbow-grease-intensive method for eight days straight, what are my other mildew-killing-and-cleaning options?
The problem with bleach (I thought) is that a lot of the mildew is on walls. Which are sort of vertical and don’t really keep liquids all that well. I could spray a bleach solution onto the walls, but would the stuff stay where it’s supposed to and kill the mildew? I guess I was assuming I’d need a paste of some sort to smear on the walls.
Urgh. I need to tackle our washroom too - probably tomorrow or Saturday (been flat on my back with a bad cold, or it would have been done sooner!) The idiots who painted it last time used plain eggshell latex paint, which is basically food heaven for mildew (not to mention the fact that they chose pinkand painted over wall tiles!) . We chose a colour this week and will be scrubbing, cleaning and painting soon, and hopefully the problem can be resolved. In our case, it’s just on the walls, not the grout.
Yeah, I think bleach is the only thing that will really *kill *mildew. Try a thick foaming solution in a spray bottle as long as it as bleach in it (though for a really tough job, you may need more power - 50/50 as said upthread).
Also, if there’s a lot of cleaning going on, make sure nobody is using the Windex near you while you do the tub.
…unless you really, really want to meet Elvis.
I’ve used pure bleach and a grout brush to remove mildew from grout on vertical surfaces. Works very well. Bleach kills the mildew almost on contact.
But, wear protective eye gear and possibly a face mask so you’re not overcome with fumes and so the back spray from the brush doesn’t hit you in the eye.
Great advice so far. A couple more details: You will get bleach on your clothes. Wear something expendable. Take care not to track bleach elsewhere, even if you can’t bear the fumes another second. The white footprints in the hall will make you feel stupid. :smack: