Shower Floor Cleaning Help Needed

[Stinky The Clown]

Okay, here's an unusual and maybe semi-yucky question. We installed a new bathroom in our master bedroom about a year and a half ago. I did all the work myself, so I know with absolute certainty what's there and what materials were used.

The shower pan is a Fiat product, made of what they call 'molded stone' but what is, in fact, some sort of cast/molded plastic. Very thick and very durable. Also commonly installed all across the country. It has a non-slip pattern on the surface.

Our problem is shown in these pictures. The damn thing will **not** come clean. The first picture shows an overall view of the floor. The clean 'streak' in the upper left quadrant showed up about a week ago. It would appear to be the result of some one of our shower products having leaked from a shelf above and gone onto the floor where, lo and behold, it dissolved the dirt! We've tried everything there and nothing on the shelf now replicates the cleaning action.

The clean area in the lower left quadrant is the result of my having scrubbed the floor with a brush and Bar Keeps Friend (scouring powder).




I am reluctant to use scouring powder on the floor because, with time, it will no doubt wear it down.

Here is a closer look


This last picture is an extreme closeup of the floor's surface. The white 'stripe' is one of the quadrant dividing lines cast into the floor.



Does anyone have any suggestion of a tried and true method of getting this shower floor cleaned?

[Warpy]

1. I know what I'd do

First, I'd scrub the area down with the scrub brush and a good detergent. Then I'd rinse it with a weak vinegar solution (say a cup to a gallon of water used in a spray bottle) to remove all soap residue, flush with water. Then I'd plug the drain with a flat rubber gizmo made for the purpose, and flood the whole shower pan with a solution of half a cup bleach to a gallon of warm water and let it stand for at least half an hour.

The first step gets rid of any real surface dirt. The second will eliminate the staining that has probably occurred from mold plus kill the mold. You might want to visit a hardware store and investigate products to seal the pan after you clean it so that mold doesn't have a chance to get established again after you sterilize the thing with bleach.

Bleach is wonderful stuff that will take care of a lot of things as long as you don't use it on colored surfaces. It's also nasty stuff, so you want to use it as infrequently as you can.

[Stinky The Clown]

2. Thanks, Warpy, I use bleach regularly on my cutting boards.

So you think this is mold? It could be. But I kinda think it isn't. I mean, we use the shower pretty much daily and always squeegee it down when we're done. We also get it cleaned weekly by our cleaning person. Further, I tend to go barefoot pretty much all the time - summer and winter. My feet are always like ... well ..... the soles of your shoes. And each time I shower, I take my feet in there with me. Anyway, all this makes me think it is dirt more than mold.

But, it could also be mold under a soap film, as your suggestion implies.

[Warpy]

3. Mold is pretty tenacious stuff

and the "clean" pattern from having concentrated detergent sit on it for a period of several days would confirm that's what it is.

Just knock down any surface dirt, remove all soap residue, and try the bleach. I doubt either of you is that dirty, so I'm guessing mold is the culprit.

Don't forget that molds exist at volcanic vents and in rock clefts in the Antarctic. Wherever there is an environment with any moisture at all, you'll find a variety of mold that thrives on it. Throw in skin oil, soap scum, and the odd epithelial cell, and it's in heaven.

[NMDemDist2]

4. see I'da gone at much the same way, I'da taken some scubbing bubbles to

it first and let it soak, scrubbed with a soft bristled brush and if that didn't do it, I'd lay down some bleach water soaked towels (same solution you'd use to sanitize the kitchen) and let them lay there for 30-45 minutes to bleach out anything the scrubbing bubbles didn't get

I have had excellent results with the Scrubbing Bubbles product on most any surface you can name. sometimes it takes a bit of elbow grease, but I've never had it NOT get something clean with enough applications

I used to get 4 packs from Sam's Club, but Costco doesn't carry it in my area :cry:



http://www.scrubbingbubbles.com/

[SW FL Dem]

5. I'd second the scrubbing bubbles suggestion

It does a great job of dissolving soap scum. I've also had good luck with Scrub Free soap scum remover.

[NMDemDist2]

6. thanks!, but I should have said in my first post it may take a few tries

if you hit it a couple times a week it may take a couple three weeks to get it all up

the bleach towel idea was mostly for instant gratification :evilgrin:

i'm thinking the "clean patch" from the shower product is a bunch of soap scum. that's what it is in my shower anyway......

[Stinky The Clown]

8. Akshully, that clean patch is .......

.... clean. Almost surgically so.

Sparkly's using some magic soap scum killer on her face .... or hair ..... or something. Can't be my atomic shaving cream, and that's all the 'suff' I have on my shelf.

As I said, we literally put every product she had in the shower on the floor and let it soak.

Nada.

[NMDemDist2]

10. scrubbing bubbles?

they're the best but again it may take several applications and some elbow grease with a sponge

but once you've got it clean the cleaning lady uses SB and it STAYS clean

and try the ammonia/laundry detergent too, that may do the trick with products you may already have, but that ammonia is SO strong like that, SB is a nice alternative

and of course you know better than to use bleach and ammonia at the same time

[Stinky The Clown]

13. and of course you know better than to use bleach and ammonia at the same t

Ack .... huh? .... Cough .... hack ...... whew ...... huh? don't use what?

[NMDemDist2]

15. i knew you knew that!

:rofl:

[merci_me]

21. Maybe it's a combination of products

If Sparkly is using some "soap scum" remover on her hair, maybe it's that MIXING with some sort of body shampoo. Think it could be a combo thing? Neutragena makes a clarifying shampoo for stripping out oils and hair products, so that could be something to try and it wouldn't go to waste if it didn't work on the shower.

Also, years ago a beautician told me never to use Pert or Prell shampoo on permed hair or colored hair because they would strip out the perm and the dyes/tints. I've since used them to get stains out of clothes, so who knows. Besides, it's cheap and you can usually find them in the dollar stores or the travel sizes most anywhere for testing. Finally, don't forget things around the house like dishwasher detergent such as Cascade and toothpaste or denture cleaners that breakdown enzymes which are found in body oils.

Mary

[Lugnut]

7. Here's what I'd try.

My daughter clued me into mixing about a teaspoon of laundry detergent and 1/4 cup of ammonia in a spray bottle to use for all-purpose cleaning. This mix cleans everything. It melted the soap scum off the shower walls and bottom pan. If you have mold I'm not sure if it would help but it's a soap scum killer.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. Okay ...... we're callin' in mold and we're goin' after it with

switchblade knives and tire irons and bicycle chains.

[AlCzervik]

11. yes, right here

http://www.brightideas.com.au/?e=396&p=bam

open the window, get some gloves and a nylon scrubber brush, i use a nail brush. Spray it, let it sit for about 5 minutes and then get to scrubbing. I used this stuff on my salt finish deck that was covered in black sap, it looked like we had a fire back there and this stuff got it clean, well this an a little scrubbing.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Is that an Australian product?

The web site has a '.au' domain.

[AlCzervik]

14. not that i know, it's by Easy off.

[SW FL Dem]

16. They have it at my local Costco, but I've never tried it. n/t

[eleny]

17. my 2cents

this may not solve your problem but i love this product. it's mary ellen's "wow".
http://www.maryellenproducts.com/p_ins_BRMS.htm

i keep it on hand and it gets out the toughest problems.

[politicat]

18. We have the bathtub version of that!

The Scumbuster and something with carbonic acid are what we use to keep the damn thing clean. (And if I had my druthers, I'd rip it out because it is such a filth magnet....)

Scumbuster is a black and decker rechargeable thing that we got when Doc started throwing fits about my hands and wrists. It's a low-speed polisher and scrubber and the best $30 I've spent on a cleaning tool. We use the brush attachment (it comes with several, but the brushes are the most useful) on the bath-tub floor.

For the carbonic acid, we use the Johnson Wax pro series cleaners from Lowe's. Currently, we're using these two:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=152445-000021887-05267&lpage=none
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=152442-000021887-05259&lpage=none

We've also used something we found at the market that had a mint scent, but I haven't used that in a couple years, so I can't remember the precise name.

The tub gets scrubbed out on Sat or Sun morning, (we pick one day a weekend to be lazy, and we scrub it on the other one) with the scumbuster and the cleaner. In between, it gets sprayed down with Method clean shower (though what I'm gonna do now that I'm not shopping at Target, I don't know.)

We don't use bleach in this house at all, and I try to avoid aerosols as well. (The former I noticed I absorbed through my skin - when I used to smoke, my cigarettes tasted different after I used bleach, and that bothered me a lot. Now I don't smoke, but the lesson remained...) Lysol (the old fashioned dilute before using) kind works well for disinfecting if you think there's mold - I'd be more likely to say it's some other fungus, but mold is a good generic term. Plug the drain, pour in diluted lysol, let it sit for an hour or so, scrub and then maintain.

[hvn_nbr_2]

19. Are you sure it's not hard water stains?

My showers in several homes have gotten an appearance like that from a combination of plain old dirt, soap scum, and hard water stains. The colors vary depending on which chemicals are in the water. If normal cleanser and bleach don't get them out, I always think hard water stain. Lime Away, CLR, and/or Iron Out may get it. I've had less success with CLR than the others; recently Iron Out got some stuff that Lime Away didn't.

Usually it takes a succession of one, then the next, then the next, as each thing gets some of it out. Recently I got some stuff called Kaboom, that claims to get dirt, soap scum, hard water buildup, calcium, lime, and rust stains all. It actually worked, although it did take some soaking and scrubbing. (Kaboom actually has a website but it doesn't have much useful info: www.kaboomkaboom.com)

Theoretically vinegar should get hard water stains but I haven't had as much success with it as with the other things.

[Stinky The Clown]

20. I'm sure it isn't hard water

We've been in this house for nearly 30 years. I know it isn't hard water unless they started importing water just for that outlet! :)

Your comments, like many above, all relate some need to scrub and use various products. Up in the OP I said that the Bar Keeper's Friend got it clean with a bit of scrubbing. So I may have a product that works. The killer for me is that 'streak' that shows in the upper left quadrant of the picture. I wanna know what did that **all by itself with no scrubbing**! That's my kinda cleaning product! But sadly, it is an anonymous hair or skin care product!

[NMDemDist2]

22. how many products does she keep in there???

maybe she has a secret panel behind the wall where she keeps the really GOOD stuff so you can't find it?

:scared:

[LiberalEsto]

23. I'd go for baking soda and an old toothbrush

I try to avoid chemicals if at all possible.
Try sprinkling baking soda on the floor when it's damp, let it sit a couple of minutes, then go at it with Mr. Toothbrush.

If that doesn't work, I'd use diluted bleach.