Cleaning Tile

I love my envirosteamer. Have you tried a Shark? I believe they make a steamer appliance specifically for bathroom jobs.....

You can scrub it with a liberal amount of baking soda and undiluted white vinegar to get it clean.(spray thoroughly with undiluted vinegar and scrub with baking soda mixed with enough water to make a paste) I have also had luck just saturating with undiluted vinegar overnight and rinsing off the next day.

After that you can make a homemade after shower spray using about 1-2 capfuls of white vinegar to each 1-2 cups of water. Spray the tile lightly after every shower or two. The vinegar keeps the soap scum from forming and keeps mildew and mold from growing. You can also add a drop or two of whatever essential oil you like to make it smell pretty. I usually only have to scrub my tub only once every few months this way. I also only use castille soap(like Dr.Bronners) to bathe with, and I think that helps tremendously. In fact, castille soap is another thing you can use to scrub the tile with that is safe for septic tanks.

I have used powdered Oxyclean. Cleans tile grout great and a fresh smell. Make a paste with a little Oxyclean powder and water scrub with scrub brush. Rinse with water. After this, seal the grout very well. Then weekly clean with a natural non abrasive cleaner. And use liquid soap. The Oxyclean really works! Don't use too much or will be very soapy. Let paste sit for a few min, then scrub.

So its gonna sound weird but, my husbands uncle works on houses for a living (guts them out and re-finishes them) & he told me to use vineger. yeah its gonna stink but its actually AMAZING! He demonstrated it for me on a tile floor (grout (sp?) and all) it was beautiful and looked brand new after. all the discoloration on the grout came out and it was white again. give it a try.

You know it may be a pain, but I use the Shark Steamer, it gets grime out of the grout, etc., it has multiple attachments - and it's just really hot water - no chemicals. Not anything you want to use around your kids - because it is very hot. It works like a champ -it's also great on the awkwards spots on the stove, stains on carpeting, or other materials. Lots of uses. If you choose to try this route- wait for your next 20% off at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Good Luck :)

Try using Magic Erasers!!! I leave one in the shower on a shelf. My parent's own a cleaning company, they have always suggested using a squigy (I have no idea how to spell that) after each shower. This cuts down on the water that just sits on the tile, which is creating the problem.
So clean it really well and then keep it up with drying off the excess water. Oh, and use Dove soap instead of other soaps. For some reason that's the only soap that doesn't leave a thick film on everything.

We had the same issue here. We are on a septic tank and I do not use any toxic chemicals in my home b/c I have 3 small children. Here are the 2 I use with sucess...Method's Shower Spray and Earth Friendly Products Shower Cleaner with Tea Tree Oil (this one is my favorite). I just leave the cleaner in the shower and before I get out of the shower I spray it down and just let it dry. The first time you do it you might want to spray it down several times and scrub it off, but you don't have to. It took about a week of spraying it everyday to get all the soap scum off. I am not a scrubber, too much time that I don't have. You can also make your own using water, tea tree oil, and vinegar (but I can't stand the smell of vinegar). Also, Bare Naked Cleaners makes concentrated spray cleaners that work. Hope some of these suggestions work for you.

Your answer is white vinegar and water. Add about a cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water. Vinegar kills 99.9% of germs. This mixture is what all tile should be cleaned with, never products with soap or detergents in it. Do not, however, use this on natural stones like tumbled stone, marble, granite, etc... The acidity will eat pits in natural stones, but is perfect for glazed products. If your build up is severe you may have to go over the tile and grout several times with this mixture to break it all down. After getting it back to it's clean state, you should only have to clean it maybe every week or two to keep it in great shape.

Someone has told me to use ivory liquid soap with baking soda.

Have not tried it yet but am told it keeps the bathroom squeaky clean.

Jen

I don't have any good natural suggestions on getting the tile clean; however, once you do get it clean seal it really well with a grout sealer. We did this with our tile and it lasted over 2 years. For those 2 years we were able to use natural products like Bio-Kleen (sp?) for the mild soap scum. It was mildew free with the fresh grout sealer! The tile guy at our hardware store said that it is suggested that you seal the grout every year to keep it from absorbing the ickies (my word not his lol!). I feel better doing one dose of not so good stuff (it's smelly and to be used in well ventilated area) every year or two than using nasty chemicals every week! Also, I suggest liquid body soap to keep down and possibly eliminate the soap scum :)

I use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. These work really good on getting rid of the soap scum and mold/mildew. The other thing that may help is drying the shower walls. This never happens in our house but my hubby grew up drying the walls and door of the shower and their bathrooms never seemed to have the mold/mildew or soap scum buildup.