Bath
Two baths made of different materials want opposite treatment, and they look almost identical once installed.
Precautions
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
- Test on an inconspicuous area first
- Never mix with other cleaning products
Start here
What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
Made from
Which part are you cleaning?
These parts take different answers. Cleaning one the way you clean another is a common way to damage this.
- Tap
A micron-thick finish on a metal body. Which finish it is decides whether a limescale remover is routine or ruinous.
Plated and coated tap finishes
Things not to use here
- Shower screen
Glass that is rained on with hard water several times a day. The deposit is the problem and the usual solvent for it is an acid.
Glass
Things not to use here
- Bath sealant
The most common place a household meets mould that will not go away, because the growth is inside the bead rather than on it.
Silicone sealant
What tends to go wrong
- Limescalevia its component
A hard, chalky calcium carbonate deposit left by hard water. Dissolved by acids, essentially untouched by detergents.
Why it is difficult: Water hardness, Crystallisation, Adhesion and cohesion
- Mouldvia its component
A living growth, not a stain. Killing it and removing the staining are two separate jobs, and neither addresses the moisture that caused it.
Why it is difficult: Porous and non-porous surfaces, Moisture control and recurrence, Cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting, Organic load, Surface roughness
- Mildewvia its component
The flat, powdery surface growth that appears on damp fabric, grout and shower curtains — and the carpet trade's procedure for it names no bleach at all.
Why it is difficult: Moisture control and recurrence, Porous and non-porous surfaces, Organic load
- Mould fungivia its component
The organisms behind the marking. Around 1.5 million species, each with its own conditions — and killing them does not end the exposure they created.
Why it is difficult: Organic load, Moisture control and recurrence, Biofilm
Not scale and not dirt: a metal soap formed when hard water meets true soap. It is the reason a shower screen films over in one house and not another.
Why it is difficult: Insoluble metal soaps, Water hardness, Evaporative deposition, Adhesion and cohesion, Why different surfaces get different dirt
In detail
The first question about cleaning a bath is what it is made of, and most owners do not know. An acrylic bath is a polymer: the manufacturer excludes abrasive cleansers and solvents because both damage the surface, along with aerosol products and routine detergents and disinfectants, and for airjet models full-strength bleach or ammonia, on the grounds that chemically active solutions damage the surface. An enamelled cast-iron bath is glass fired onto metal: harsh abrasives used regularly will scratch and destroy it, but where a stubborn mark genuinely needs one it may be used sparingly and never without water. That qualifier is the real technique — an abrasive carried in water is lubricated and cuts less, while the same powder used dry concentrates its work exactly where it will show. Steel wool and abrasive pads are excluded on both in favour of a soft nylon brush. The two share one routine and it is the boring one: rinse and wipe dry with a soft cloth after use, which prevents both the soap film and the mineral marking that the harsher products are later bought to remove.
Related
- Bath has the component Tap
- Bath has the component Shower screen
- Bath has the component Bath sealant
- Bath is made from Acrylic
Hacks and claims involving this
- One spray for the whole bathroom Does not work
Sources for this page
Sources
KALLISTA (Kohler Co.) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That abrasive cleansers and solvents must not be used on acrylic, that aerosols and routine detergents and disinfectants are avoided, that full-strength bleach or ammonia must not be used on airjet baths, that harsh abrasives used regularly scratch and destroy enamelled cast iron and must never be used without water, and that steel wool and abrasive pads are replaced by a soft nylon brush. (states this directly)