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Cleaning Tips Design Dilemma Bathrooms

Best tile cleaner for new shower?

last year

We have brand new subways on our walls and 1" hex on our shower floor with Mapei Ultracolor Plus FA grout. What would be a safe and effective cleaner for our shower? I'm coming off an ancient shower that we battled mildew with in a terrible way (5 people use the shower and there was no fan at the time.) I've read that you can damage any mold-fighting qualities in the grout if you use harsh chemicals. I realize I'm using mold and mildew interchangeably because I'm not sure which is likely. What's the best? Thanks.

Featured Answer

User

last year

ZEP pH neutral stone and tile cleaner is available in multiple locations and is inexpensive and effective. Any pH neutral tile and stone cleaner will work though. The important part is the pH neutral, and the muscle. Most ”bathroom” cleaners are highly acidic, and most detergents and bleaches are highly alkaline. Which is why they work, as mold and mildew live in a narrow pH band.

The most important element to prevent mold and mildew is good ventilation, and proper shower construction underneath, with the waterproofing done correctly. If those are handled, and you take your bath towel or squeegee and wipe down the walls after use, then you are removing the moisture and dead skin cells in which the fungi thrive. Cleaning weekly becomes easy when daily care to do that is taken.

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Comments (9)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
First you control mold and mildew with better ventingand no grout will take the place of that. Too bad you did not come here before making those choices since the fewer the grout lines the better but now get a squeegee and everyone who uses the shower uses the squeegee everytime that alone will cut down on the need for heavy duty cleaning.I like naturl cleaners whenever possible so try to find one you like for all the bathroom surfaces.
linste22
Original Author
last year
We have a fan and squeegee now. Hoping they help! Thanks.
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IÂm amazed this thread is still alive almost a year after I started it! I will say now that IÂve had it a year it works pretty well. It would work better if my husband also used it but he will not. So considering itÂs being used only every other shower, itÂs keeping the shower reasonably clean. I was out of town for 2 and a half weeks and noticed buildup on the doors, from no one having used it at all for that time. So now the shower will have to be cleanedÂbut itÂs the first time in many months! I think I will ask my husband to do it since he is the one that wonÂt use the machine! WeÂll see how far I get with that. I am not obsessively clean so itÂs good enough for me if it looks clean. I think how well the machine works must be variable, and have a great deal to do with a combination of how hard your water is plus how it combines with whatever soap you use. We had some stains in the molded fiberglass bottom of the shower that are gone now, too; that took several months to happen. We had tried everything on those without success. It is not perfect at keeping the mildew away but I find that is cropping up high up on the tiled wall where the spray does not reach. Not much of an issue.
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Helen
last year
As others have posted, ventilation and proper construction is what eliminates mold and mildew.

I have a Panasonic fan which operates on ambient humidity levels and my shower floor is sloped properly so there are no areas in which even the slightest bit of water accumulates - even at the drain.

I have basket weave marble tile on the shower and bathroom floor and have no issues after almost four years of use. I have no issues on either the floors or the shower or bathroom walls which have 3" x 6" subway tile. And I don't squeegee EVER - my glass is Showerguard which cleans off perfectly with just a normal spritz of weekly cleaning spray
linste22 thanked Helen
linste22
Original Author
last year
Is that Zep cleaner something that could be used for our weekly cleaning? or just for deep cleans? I don't want to damage the floor grout with a lot of cleaner, but it gets grimy. Thanks.
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Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc.
last year
Depends on the tile. If it is ceramic/porcelain, easy to maintain. Natural stone requires ph neutral cleaners. Here is a ceramic and porcelain resource. https://whytile.com/easy-care/
linste22 thanked Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc.
linste22
Original Author
last year
Thank you, they're ceramic.
linste22
Original Author
last year

The top option says neutral but the bottom option says tile. Which would be better for ceramic tile and mapei ultracolor plus?
Tamara Baughman
last year
Look up Universal Stone Cleaner. It's all natural and been around long time. You can see how good it is on YouTube. Also E Cloths work amazing in showers.
linste22 thanked Tamara Baughman

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