How to clean a bathtub from plaque at home

To maintain bathroom hygiene, it is necessary to systematically clean the plumbing equipment. Today you can find a huge number of products on sale to keep your bathroom clean. Using disinfectant gels and powders, you can tidy up your plumbing fixtures and remove plaque and yellowness without spending a lot of time and effort.

But often these products are very expensive, and not every housewife is able to purchase them. In addition, active chemicals that can remove plaque or remove rust on a regular or hot tub in a matter of minutes are strong allergens.

How to clean a bathtub at home without harming your health or damaging the enamel? How to clean a cast iron bathtub or sanitary ware with an acrylic coating, as well as a faucet? Simple and cheap products that can be found in every kitchen will come to the rescue: soda, vinegar and citric acid.

Why are baking soda and vinegar used to clean the bathtub?

Why do many housewives refuse to use advertised products and increasingly use “folk” methods for cleaning a simple or hydromassage bathtub? This is due to the following reasons:

safety (if soda or vinegar gets on your skin, there will be no harm to health);
accessibility (cleaning products are cheap and can be bought in any supermarket);
versatility (the products are suitable for cast iron, acrylic and steel bathtubs);
efficiency (with the help of folk remedies you can clean the enamel and faucet no worse than using expensive powders and gels, and also remove rust).

In addition, soda or vinegar do not cause allergies and are completely harmless; they are effective and can restore whiteness and renew an old bathtub.
But despite all the advantages, “folk remedies” have one drawback: there will be no quick result, and in order for a regular or hydromassage bath to shine white and shine again, you will have to work hard.

Instructions for cleaning the bathroom with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar

You can clean your bathtub by following a simple recipe.

Soak a soft sponge in clean water and squeeze out. With its help, soda powder is applied to the walls of the bath.
Dilute vinegar with water and pour the liquid into a spray bottle. Now you need to spray the solution over the baking soda. Both components will enter into a chemical reaction, accompanied by characteristic hissing and the formation of bubbles.
The mixture should remain on the contaminated surface for 15 minutes.
After this, use a sponge to rub the mixture over the walls of the bath again. If you leave the product on the surface for another 15 minutes, the bath will turn white again.
The final stage is to thoroughly rinse the walls with warm running water.
You should not leave the bath wet; it is better to wipe it with a clean cloth, so the effect will last longer.

How to remove slight sediment on bathroom walls

How to clean a bathtub from yellowness and remove soap and limescale deposits if the contamination is insignificant? A few tablespoons of baking soda is enough.

Rub baking soda over the surface of the plumbing fixtures with a damp foam sponge or soft brush. Pay special attention to “problem” areas: carefully rub off stains and any yellowish discoloration. Then leave the bath for about an hour, then wipe again, thereby removing any remaining dirt, and rinse the surface with warm water.

If you clean your bathtub with baking soda regularly, the enamel will remain white and sparkling for a long time.

Cleaning with soda

The main reasons for housewives to refuse harmful household chemicals from the store in favor of vinegar and soda as a means for cleaning surfaces:

Efficiency. A mixture of these substances can clean the surface of the bathtub from rust, water stone, and cosmetic residues. The combination of acid and alkali perfectly fights bacteria, fungi, and other dangerous microorganisms.
Safety. Baking soda is odorless, does not cause irritation or burns to the skin, and does not provoke the development of allergies.
Versatility. A solution made from soda and vinegar allows you to clean any bathtub - cast iron, enamel, acrylic. It does not leave scratches on the surface, and the coating remains smooth and acquires its original whiteness.
Availability. Acid and alkali can be bought inexpensively at any time of the year in every store.

Before starting the procedure, it is important to choose a method of how to clean a bathtub until it is snow-white with soda, determine the type and degree of contamination, and choose the right type of product. There are 2 types of soda used for cleaning:

Food. A safe product with a moderate alkaline effect is used in cooking and baking. Helps clean minor stains, yellow stains, fresh stains, and lime deposits.
Calcined (technical). Used in industrial production in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and glass. The product, classified as a strong alkali, effectively removes rust stains. In combination with vinegar, it breaks down lime deposits and removes even old, stubborn dirt from the surface of the bathtub.

Technical soda can be found on store shelves in the household goods department. The use of powder requires protection of hands with rubber gloves, respiratory organs with a respirator, as well as compliance with other safety rules.

Vinegar will make your bath shine

Using vinegar, you can not only clean the bathtub, but also restore the lost shine to the coating and renew even the old “bathtub”, as well as clean the faucet from plaque and remove rust stains.

To do this, thoroughly soak paper napkins in vinegar and line the inside surface of the bath with them, and then leave for 3 hours. Afterwards, remove the napkins, thoroughly clean the bathtub and rinse with water.
You can use another method of cleaning a hydromassage or simple bathtub and faucet using vinegar, simply rub the surface with it, and then clean off rust stains and limescale deposits.

Is it possible to update a bathtub without extra costs?

At home you can do the following:

Apply a thick layer of mustard made from dry powder to the stains. It must be left for ten minutes.
After the specified time, rinse the mustard with plenty of water.

To make your own seasoning at home, you can use the following recipe:

Take 3 heaped tablespoons of mustard.
It is filled with water in a ratio of 1:4.
The mixture is left in a warm room for twelve hours.
Then the liquid formed in the container is drained.
Add 5 g of salt and 2.5 g of sugar to the resulting mass.
After this, carefully pour 10 ml of vegetable oil into homemade mustard.

The prepared product should be kept in a cool place.

You can also prepare this mixture:

First you need to take some oxalic acid.
To prepare the cleaning composition, the acid is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10.

The sponge is carefully moistened in the resulting solution. The place where the rust appeared is thoroughly wiped and washed with water.

How to clean the grille of a hood.

How to clean a regular or hot tub with baking soda and vinegar

To wash plumbing fixtures, you can also use a combined method, using vinegar and regular or soda ash.

Before starting work, moisten the surface well, then cover it with baking soda and leave for several hours. Then generously wet the tub with vinegar and scrub with a sponge or brush.

While cleaning, leave the door to the bathroom open so as not to breathe in the fumes of vinegar and soda ash in a confined space, which can seriously harm your health.

Remember that the described method can be used on cast iron or enamel bathtubs; the acrylic coating may be damaged after such cleaning.

Crystal white

Chemical bleaches enhance the effect of soda.

For example, one of the most effective means is “Whiteness”.

It must be applied to the surface after cleaning the bath with sodium bicarbonate. The duration of exposure is approximately 30 minutes.

Attention! “Whiteness” copes well with smudges and stains, and eliminates darkening of the enamel. It is recommended to use it no more than three times a month, otherwise you may harm your health.

“Whiteness” is sold in the hardware department of the store. Its main component is sodium hypochlorite.

The product is also used for bleaching linen, washing porcelain or earthenware dishes, and disinfecting toilets.

Bleach helps eliminate the unpleasant odor coming from the trash can.

How to remove soap and limescale in the bathroom

How to clean a bathtub and faucet if a persistent limescale deposit has formed on them?

To do this, you will need baking soda and soda ash in equal parts. The ingredients are mixed so that a “mushy” product is obtained, which should be rubbed onto the surface of the bath and left for 20–25 minutes.
Then a mixture of vinegar and any bleach is applied over the soda, and after 30 minutes the bathtub must be washed with a foam sponge.
You can use soda ash with the addition of laundry soap and ammonia. The soap should be finely grated and mixed with the same amount of powder, and then diluted with several tablespoons of soda, adding 5 drops of ammonia. The product is applied to the surface of the bath for 1–1.5 hours, after which it is washed off with warm water.

Soda + vinegar

If the plaque is very strong, then the bath can be bleached using 1 tbsp. l. soda ash or baking soda and vinegar. They need to be mixed so that a paste is obtained. The resulting mixture is used to wipe away dirt on the bathtub. For greater effect, the composition can be left on the surface for half an hour and then rinsed.

But if the plaque remains, then you should mix 1 tbsp. l. chlorine bleach and 1 tbsp. l. table vinegar and use a sponge to clean the bathtub. After 30 minutes, the composition should be washed off with warm water.

Helpful Tips for a Clean Bath

Every housewife should not only know how to clean a bathtub, remove plaque and restore the shine to the coating, but also follow the recommendations for caring for plumbing fixtures. In order for the “font” to shine clean and look like new even after prolonged use, the following rules must be followed:

Clean the bathtub after each use by rinsing it with warm shower water.
After rinsing, do not leave the surface wet, but wipe with a terry towel or soft cloth.
Clean the bathtub and faucet at least once every 10 days.
Remember that when cleaning with “folk” remedies there will not be a quick result and you will need to put in a lot of effort to remove rust, yellowness or plaque.
If the bathtub is heavily soiled, cleaning should begin with the most difficult stains.

How to clean bathtubs made of different materials

To clean a cast iron bathtub, do not use products containing chlorine. It can damage the coating and subsequently it will be possible to clean up the container only with the use of chlorine-containing compounds with an aggressive effect. In addition, hard brushes are not suitable for washing cast iron bathtubs; it is better to use a soft foam sponge.
Steel bathtubs with an enamel coating cannot be washed with very hot water; the temperature should not exceed 70 degrees, otherwise the enamel will become cracked. Also, brushes with hard bristles and wire wool are contraindicated for such a coating; such a container can only be cleaned with a rag or a foam sponge. As a cleaning agent, do not use compositions containing various acids, this will destroy the enamel. It is better to use liquid or paste products, as well as cleaning powder.
Acrylic coating requires increased delicacy when cleaning. Such a bathtub can only be washed with a cloth or foam rubber; even a soft brush can leave scratches and dark streaks on the surface. Also, acrylic does not tolerate cleaning with the use of abrasive and washing powders, alcohol-containing compounds, acetone, gasoline and chlorine. You can clean the acrylic container only with special products or with citric acid and soda.

When cleaning a regular or hot tub, only wear gloves. Even if you use harmless products that cannot seriously harm your health, such as baking soda or citric acid, the skin of your hands must be protected.