Where can I get industrial strength hydrogen peroxide in Toronto?

September 21, 2010 1:52 PM

Where can I get industrial strength hydrogen peroxide in Toronto (and is that what I need)?

I need to clean a tiled shower stall that requires some heavy duty cleaner. There is a lot of grime and mold, and it seems to have worked its way into the grout as well. After some Googling, hydrogen peroxide seems to be the preferred approach. I bought some 3%, and it did nothing when using it to clean - it might as well have been 100% water for all it did.

Very few articles recommending hydrogen peroxide say which strength to use, although some did advocate 3%. Is 35% safe to use, will it work, and if so, where can I get it in Toronto?

Or, what else can I use?

posted by SNACKeR to Home & Garden (18 answers total)

35% is pretty crappy to work with. It's a strong oxidizer. As a chemist I was required to wear full PPE (face sheild, apron, etc.) when working with more than a few mLs of it.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 2:06 PM on September 21, 2010

Working with concentrated hydrogen peroxide is like working with concentrated hydrochloric acid, in terms of fun factor. Not recommended.

There exist commercial cleaners for that kind of problem. You'd be much better off trying one or two of those before you resort to nukes.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:13 PM on September 21, 2010

And 90% is rocket fuel. So "industrial strength peroxide" is probably not what you are really looking for.
posted by smackfu at 2:14 PM on September 21, 2010

Household bleach should do what you need. Rinse the peroxide off the surface. Mix in a spray bottle 50% bleach & 50% water. Spray on the surface you're cleaning. Wait a few minutes, scrub. You may need to do this another time or two. It has always worked for me with my dh's scummy nasty shower.
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 2:20 PM on September 21, 2010

Response by poster: I'll give the bleach a shot I guess - not sure if that will work on the vertical walls though..
posted by SNACKeR at 2:25 PM on September 21, 2010

That's why you use a spray bottle.
If the 50% mixture doesn't work then try straight bleach... but that might damage the grout.
posted by cuddles.mcsnuggy at 2:29 PM on September 21, 2010

Have you tried Oxy Clean? Dissolve it into a paste, and use a scrubbrush. Works miracles...
posted by schmod at 2:31 PM on September 21, 2010

not sure if that will work on the vertical walls though..

Sure, use a fine spray to coat the top and let it sit for a couple of minutes before you begin scrubbing. Work top to bottom so that the run-down helps to clean the walls. Oxy-Clean should work nicely on the grout.

Protect your eyes though, because bleach in a fine mist can really suck if it gets in your face.

And 90% is rocket fuel.

Yep. It'd probably be less dangerous to use straight gasoline.
posted by quin at 3:05 PM on September 21, 2010

If you go the bleach/water route, please don't use a spray bottle. A fine mist of bleach is really no good for the lungs. Try a squeeze bottle instead - start at the top and squeeze a bit over all of your grout lines. Your airway will thank you.

When I moved in to my current place the grout was dee-sgusting. Charlie's Soap worked miracles plus it's non-toxic and biodegradable.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 3:15 PM on September 21, 2010

When moving out of my last house, I read some advice (which I think I found here) to find a local janitor supply store. I did, told them my issues, and they sold me a couple bottles of magic. Go where the pros go.
posted by SuperNova at 4:48 PM on September 21, 2010

I don't know for sure, but I think it highly probable that high-concentration peroxide is a controlled substance.

If you have high-concentration peroxide and acetone you can make TATP, which is high explosive and a favorite of terrorists everywhere. (TATP is what the shoe-bomber and the undie-bomber both tried to use to blow up airplanes.)

Since acetone is readily available (nail polish remover) I bet that high-concentration peroxide is watched very closely.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:51 PM on September 21, 2010

I got a really, really disgusting shower clean using only Bon Ami. The bonus is that it has no chemicals at all. It took a bit of elbow grease but all the nasty built up dirt, mildew, mold, etc was gone with one application.
posted by zug at 4:54 PM on September 21, 2010

(and by Bon Ami, I mean the powder cleanser. I didn't realize there were multiple varieties.)
posted by zug at 4:56 PM on September 21, 2010

Back when I used to work with field crops, we sprayed a product called OxiDate, which was basically a strong concentration of hydrogen peroxide, to control fungal disease. Here's a fact sheet - you can buy it online.
posted by pilibeen at 4:59 PM on September 21, 2010

Any beautician's supplies store will have peroxide at the strength you want. Look in the yellow pages or ask a hairdresser for the name of a supplier.
posted by KRS at 6:47 PM on September 21, 2010

If none of the above work, some of the staining may be due to mineral deposits. Try making a paste of 3% peroxide and cream of tartar (which you can buy online for $10 a pound, or in tiny jars at the grocery for an enormously greater unit price). Smear on the paste, then scrub with a brush and rinse off. Works on manganese deposits.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:11 AM on September 22, 2010

Just a thought; what was the expiration date on the peroxide you already tried? It slowly breaks down into water on its own, so if it had been sitting on the shelf for a while it may have been even more mostly water than it was when it was produced.
posted by ulotrichous at 12:45 PM on September 22, 2010

Response by poster: I ended up trying Kaboom, and it worked really well. Recommended.
posted by SNACKeR at 12:49 PM on October 22, 2010