Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cleaning and bathroom

Getting rid of fungshrooms.

DrSkrud — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:04:17 -0800

There's a mushroom growing from the grout under our bath tub. How do I effectively get rid of it (are there fungicides I can use?) and how can we prevent it from coming back? How did it get to be there in the first place? I imagine it has to do with water splashing out of the tub when people take a shower, but there's got to be more to it than that. Our bathroom is not particularly dirty, either. We keep it quite clean.

(Google has revealed other people with "fungshrooms" but no clear steps on getting rid of them)

How to clean up after a shedding ape?

DrSkrud — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:19:30 -0800

I'm a pretty hairy guy all over -- and I've got long hair on my head to boot. The problem is that I shed, from pretty much everywhere -- but luckily not so much from the head. How can I be a good roommate and clean up after myself in the bathroom? I don't really have the time to give the bathroom a thorough cleaning after each and every use, and I would like to minimize the amount of washcloths/towels/etc. that I use.

Hair is usually pretty annoying to clean up when it's wet -- whereas when it's dry I can probably get away with using a Swiffer or dust-buster. I don't want to have to wait until the bathroom de-humidifies if I can avoid it, though. Especially since I'm sure my roommates wouldn't really appreciate it.

I'm not interested in hair removal options right now (although you can comment about them if you think you have something good).

Thanks, MetaFilter!

...to a deluxe apartment in the skyeyeye.

rubberkey — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:23:01 -0800

I'm 18 and I had to move out of my parents house. I'm in an apartment in Jersey City. I don't have cockroaches, there aren't any leaks, its a really great apartment and these are all small things that I've been dealing with the last few months. It's the basement apartment in a brownstone-type area of Jersey City. I have my own bedroom and bathroom but a communal kitchen with the people one floor above me. They're very nice upstairs.

1. (This is the most important question because its the only one that has made me reconsider living here.) It freezes while I'm out in the winter. I have a small semi-portable heater that keeps my bedroom warm after I've been home for a while but I don't think you can leave those on while you're not home. There's nothing worse than getting home at 2 am and crawling under frozen sheets. What can I do about that, the kitchen and bathroom being so cold?

2. What do I do with the fallen leaves in the front yard area? I never thought about that growing up because we raked them into piles and then they were gone. No-one else in the apartment uses the front area except me.

3. The grout between the tiles in the bathroom are black black black and its nasty to look at. Can I bleach them or something? Also, I have to hold down the handle for the toilet the entire time its flushing or it will stop, how do I fix that?

4. The front entry way smells awful. Right under the stairs where my front door is smells like sewage, I assumed rainwater sitting somewhere. I just can't see it anywhere. It's only sometimes, sometimes it smells fine. But when it does smell bad, its unbearable. Is this somewhat common? Since I don't know what the culprit is, I hope that someone else has experienced this and has some advice. (I'm the only one that uses the door under the stairs.)

5. What do I do with the crumbling brick walls? They are coming apart as a fine powder on the carpet. (This is not as urgent, I moved the bed to the other side of the room and nothing is touching the brick wall anymore.)

6. There is a gap between the top of the windows and the ceiling. There are plastic bags stuffed in there and I haven't taken them out to inspect it but I'm pretty sure that all the heat is escaping from the windows. It wasn't a huge problem, we just had that huge rainstorm yesterday and my windows and door stayed dry so I assume its sealed but its also plastic bags stuffed in the cracks. What can I do about this? Should I use that stuff that foams up and hardens in place? Am I allowed to fix that myself or do I have to ask the apartment manager or something?

7. I have bars on the windows since its the bottom floor, so what can I do for an air conditioner? I used a fan all last summer.

Finally, is there some helpful website or book that will help me with all this?

Wood and water don't mix?

ascullion — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 13:29:21 -0800

We've got a wooden shelf in the bathroom in our (rented) apartment. We've been here two years now and it's gone very pale, and is stained a funny colour where water has landed on it. What should we do to return it to its former glory? (pretty much cleaning/DIY noobs, to be honest...)

How could I make the same (cleaning) mistake twice?

Ookseer — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:29:39 -0800

How do I get rid of the brown stain that bleach left on my old porcelain tub? I can't believe I did this again. In my old place one of the first things I did was use bleach on my old (1940's) porcelain tub. And it left an almost impossible nasty brown stain.

Years later, new place, different old porcelain tub... and I got a little aggressive with the spring cleaning, used a bleach based cleaner near it, and have the brown stain again.

Looking for personal experience on what has successfully removed (or significantly diminished) these brown bleach stains for you. Last time I followed the advice of paper towels soaked in CLR which ended up etching the tub. Something I'd like to avoid.

Odd bathroom condensation/ectoplasm stains.

_sirmissalot_ — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:48:22 -0800

In colder weather, while taking a shower, water eventually condenses on our bathroom walls (even with the exhaust fan on). The odd thing, which I cannot figure out, is that a faint yellowish substance appears from nowhere and runs down the wall. I wouldn't notice this on the semi-gloss lavender paint, but it pools on the white wainscotting below. It's an old house but was painted a few years ago and the paint seems clean on the surface. I've wiped down the walls, but it doesn't seem to help. What is the yellow stuff? P.S. There is no odor to the yellowish substance (almost an orange) and it easily wipes off when still wet.

Environmenally friendly bathroom cleaning products?

occhiblu — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:14:25 -0800

Are there environmentally friendly ways of cleaning the bathroom, especially to remove mildew from the grout around the shower? I've been switching over to more environmentally safe ways of cleaning the apartment, which at this point are basically hot water, Dr Bronner's soap, and Simple Green. While I'm fine cleaning the bathroom sink and floor with castille soap, I'm still using bleach to get rid of the nastiest mildew on the shower tiles, and bleach-infused commercial products to scrub the tub, and I'd like to find an alternative.

I'm not at all well-versed in the household chemistry that many eco-cleaning sites seem to require (hard vs. soft water, for example) and words like "Borax" freak me out a bit, so be gentle and go slow.

If it matters, my main concern is not breathing in toxic fumes, and a huge secondary concern is not dumping toxic chemicals into the environment. I'm willing to pay for ready-made products, but I'd prefer not to spend $20 on a froofy toilet cleaner with imported Castilian bergomat.

Tile and Grout Cleaner

Witty — Mon, 21 Mar 2005 08:15:44 -0800

If there's a badass tile and grout cleaner out there (for the bathroom), can you tell me what it is please? I can't seem to find "it". I don't mind letting "it" sit and soak. I don't mind scrubbing. But I want results. Gracias!