Is your shower floor looking worse for wear? Over time showers accumulate dirt, soap scum, and grime, leading many to wonder how to get grime off a shower floor. Depending on the size of your shower, this may seem like a daunting job.
The state of your shower floor also affects your safety, as a slippery floor is dangerous. Some cleaning supplies work better than others, depending on the type of flooring in your shower, and using the correct product is critical.
Getting grime off a shower floor is imperative to maximizing your hygiene and ensuring no unexpected slips or falls while showering, but it doesn’t have to be a headache. Even better, it’s effortless to clean your shower floor with everyday pantry and kitchen items and save a trip to the store. If you’ve been wondering how to clean a shower floor with baking soda and vinegar, don’t worry; it’s easy and affordable.
- Getting Grime off a Shower Floor Easily
- What Causes Shower Grime?
- Why Deep Clean Shower Tile?
- How to Get Grime off a Shower Floor With Dish Soap
- Oxygen Bleach Is a Shower Cleaner
- White Vinegar Removes Hard Water and Rust Stains
- How to Clean a Shower Floor With Baking Soda and Vinegar
- Wash a Shower Base With Lemon Juice
- Boric Acid Powder Is a Shower Cleaner
- Chlorine Bleach Cleans Bathroom Tiles
- Super Stain Remover – A Magic Eraser
- Peroxide Cleans Shower Walls and Floors
- Commercial Shower Cleaner Options
- Notes for How to Clean Shower Grout
Getting Grime off a Shower Floor Easily
It’s hard to feel clean when your shower is dirty. Even harder is knowing the right cleaners to do the job without exposing you or your family to toxic chemicals or harsh acids. Luckily, the best way to clean a shower floor is easy and doesn’t have to cost a fortune in store-bought chemical cleaning supplies.
Trust common household items such as a Magic Eraser, oxygen bleach, distilled white vinegar, lemon juice, boric acid, chlorine bleach, peroxide, or a bottle of commercial detergent to clean your shower stall.
Follow our step-by-step instructions to restore your shower to its original shine without endless scrubbing and a horde of expensive cleaners.
What Causes Shower Grime?
Over time, our showers take a beating. The bathroom is a hotspot for dirt, grime, and mold spore growth because of the regular exposure to moisture and steam. Our shower stalls take a heavier hit as they’re under water spray.
Water runoff pools around the drain and creates hard water stains, brown stains accumulate in the booth from regular exposure to dirt, and soap scum collects on shower tiles or linoleum stall flooring the more we use it. With all this at play, it’s no wonder shower floors need regular maintenance.
Why Deep Clean Shower Tile?
Keeping your shower tile clean is essential to your hygiene and safety. It goes without saying that showering in a dirty bathroom stall is redundant. Still, it also has implications for your well-being. In a linoleum or fiberglass shower, soap scum makes the footing slick and unsafe, presenting a hazard.
In the case of shower tiles, the grout holding the tiles together and to the floor is somewhat porous and harbors bacteria that go unnoticed. It’s crucial to deep-clean shower tiles and the shower booth floor for health reasons and to ensure its longevity.
How to Get Grime off a Shower Floor With Dish Soap
A soapy water solution is all you need to scrub mildew on grout on the shower floor. Dish soap is an efficient degreaser that cuts through filth to leave your shower floor clean and sanitary. As it’s a mild soap, dish soap won’t degrade your shower grout or flooring. Mix dish soap and water for a simple homemade shower cleaner.
Use a couple of tablespoons for a medium-large water bucket and gently agitate the mixture until it’s soapy. Dip your sponge and lather it against the stall floor until you’ve achieved good coverage with the dishwashing liquid.
One of the primary ingredients of dishwashing detergent is surfactants, which help decrease the surface tension between liquids and solids and help break down buildup.
Use a scrub brush to loosen particularly tough buildup, rinse, and repeat this process as necessary. This dish soap cleaning solution for a black shower floor, combined with a bit of elbow grease, makes your shower floor like new again.
Oxygen Bleach Is a Shower Cleaner
Oxygen bleach is another handy cleaning solution because it stores dry. Combine high-quality oxygen bleach powder with warm water to clean shower floors and swirl until it dissolves. Flood the grout lines by pouring the solution over the floor and allowing it to soak in thoroughly.
Let it remain on the shower floor for at least 15 minutes to give the oxygen bleach time to work. Add extra solution if the grout lines completely absorb it. If you have linoleum flooring, plug the drain before you pour the oxygen bleach solution over the stall floor.
The longer the solution is allowed to sit, the easier the cleanup. After 30 minutes, lightly scrub the grout or linoleum and rinse with warm water.
White Vinegar Removes Hard Water and Rust Stains
White vinegar is the catch-all of natural cleaning solutions. Because of its inherent acidity, it’s great for breaking down rust and hard water stains on the floor. You can easily create a homemade shower cleaning spray with vinegar to reduce water spots and avoid rust.
For metallic areas like the shower door handle, drain, and shower head, which are most at risk of rusting, consider using a white vinegar cleaning solution to help scrub the rust off.
Combine equal parts warm water and distilled white vinegar in a spray bottle. Spray the floor and other afflicted areas liberally and wipe up hard water residue with a microfiber rag or sponge. If the rust persists, repeat, wiping the white vinegar away with hot water between sessions and then drying thoroughly.
How to Clean a Shower Floor With Baking Soda and Vinegar
Baking soda and vinegar each have their perks for cleaning. Baking soda is granular and abrasive and a natural deodorizer. White vinegar is acidic and works well to dissolve grime. But what happens when they are combined?
Since baking soda is a base and white vinegar is an acid, they react on contact. The white vinegar effectively dissolves the baking soda, creating a fizzy, bubbling reaction to remove the tough buildup quickly. Baking soda and vinegar are one of the most popular options for cleaning a shower floor with a homemade cleaning solution.
Sprinkle a generous covering of baking soda powder over the entire shower floor, and spray it with pure white vinegar. Leave the baking soda and vinegar on the surface until the reaction stops, wipe it with a damp cloth, and rinse any residue.
Wash a Shower Base With Lemon Juice
If you love a natural, organic shower cleaner with a great scent, lemon juice is ideal. All citrus fruits, including lemons, are rich in citric acid. This mild acid is a potent cleaner, dissolving soap, scum, and general filth to leave your shower floor clean and sparkling.
Lemon juice has the cleaning potential of harsh products without chemical exposure risks. Although lemon juice is acidic, it will not degrade or damage your shower enclosure.
Juice several lemons into a spray bottle and top it up with an equal measure of water for a convenient shower floor cleaning spray. Spritz the lemon mixture onto your shower floor, leave it for five minutes, and wipe it with a damp cloth.
Boric Acid Powder Is a Shower Cleaner
Boric acid powder, also known as Borax, is a naturally occurring mineral that cleans, deodorizes and destroys germs and mold. Use boric acid to clean your shower floor by dipping a damp cloth into the powder and rubbing it back and forth over the region.
To clean a more significant section of the floor, create a simple boric acid spray by combining half a cup of boric acid powder with a gallon of warm water in a spray bottle. Rinse away the boric acid thoroughly to leave your shower floor sparkling.
Chlorine Bleach Cleans Bathroom Tiles
Chlorine bleach is a time-tested way to remove mold and general gunk from your bathroom floor and disinfect it. A potent oxidizer, chlorine bleach has the potential to damage both natural and synthetic surfaces if not adequately diluted before use. Combine traditional chlorine bleach with cold water for a convenient shower floor-cleaning mixture.
Put on rubber gloves and ensure you work in a properly ventilated space. Mix the bleach and water in the bucket, dip the cloth, and use this to clean your shower floor.
Take care to get into the cracks between tiles, around the edges, and beneath hardware, such as faucets. Wash the floor with cold water and leave it to dry with the windows and shower door open.
Super Stain Remover – A Magic Eraser
Magic Erasers are well known for removing the toughest of stains. Tackle hard water spots and rust marks with a Magic Eraser to make cleaning your shower floor a breeze.
Most hardware stores or anywhere selling cleaning supplies carry Magic Erasers. Dip your eraser into clean water and squeeze it a few times. Rub the eraser over persistent discoloration until it’s no longer visible.
Take care to use the Magic Eraser only on the stain, and stop if you notice signs of scuffing or damage to the finish of your shower floor. Magic Erasers clean through abrasive action and are unsuitable for every type of shower. Check the label on the Magic Eraser before using it.
Peroxide Cleans Shower Walls and Floors
While we often associate it with injuries and first aid, hydrogen peroxide is an excellent tool for cleaning your shower floor. Hydrogen peroxide is a readily available and affordable option if you’re looking to sanitize and clean the base of your shower.
The standard 3% hydrogen peroxide purchased from the pharmacy cleans and brightens grubby flooring without damaging it. Note that hydrogen peroxide is inappropriate for dark-colored shower floors as it tends to lighten and fade them.
Spray pure hydrogen peroxide onto your shower floor, rest it for up to ten minutes, and rinse it away. Never leave peroxide on your shower grout for longer than ten minutes, as it has the potential to begin to dissolve the bonds.
Commercial Shower Cleaner Options
There’s a vast selection if you prefer to use a store-bought cleaning product to clean shower tile floors. Visit the hardware store and choose a cleaner marked appropriate for the type of flooring in your shower, whether plastic, stone, or tile.
If you’re uncertain the cleaner is safe, test it in a hidden region before using it on the entire floor. Always follow the directions on commercial shower floor cleaners, and heed the safety warnings.
Notes for How to Clean Shower Grout
A few extra precautions are required to clean tile grout on your shower floor. Grout is durable and waterproof enough to hold wall and floor tiles in place, yet it often suffers from discoloration or mold. Any cleaners listed here are suitable for removing grime from your shower grout.
Use a soft bristle brush or an old toothbrush to clean the grout gently. Avoid scraping, gouging, or peeling up the grout as you clean. Work with the lightest pressure and increase as required. Stop and switch strategies if you find a cleaning technique isn’t working.
Did this article teach you how to clean a shower floor with baking soda and vinegar? There’s nothing worse than stepping into your shower enclosure to get clean and feeling slippery, dirty grime beneath your feet. A dirty shower floor is more than just unappealing; it’s dangerous.
Mold, grease, soap, and scum create an unsafe surface underneath your feet while you shower. Combined with running water, this is a recipe for disaster.
Keep your shower visually appealing, sanitary, and safe by cleaning it with creative at-home remedies. Save money by skipping expensive synthetic cleaners and make your own shower floor cleaning mixture with products from around the house.
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