Cleaning experiences

Every weekend, have to do cleaning around the house and trust me, you need the right tools at your disposal to get the perfect results.

Dear Hexites, I would like to share some of my secrets :

Tub stains - Cillit Bang with bleach , spray and leave it on and then wipe with a sponge
Dull taps - Original Viakal limescale remover , spray and then scrub with a sponge
Laminated floors - Mr. Muscle kitchen , spray and wipe with a thin sponge
Loo - Mr. Muscle with bleach , pour and wash away
Black mould on silicone or elsewhere - Cillit Bang black mould remover

Any tips for ovens mate? I have to replace the door lock on ours and have roped myself into cleaning it out - I think there are undiscovered animals living in the heated on gunk...

Edit: My tip FWIW, don't use 'green' products - they just don't work.

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Originally Posted by OilSheikh

Dull taps - Original Viakal limescale remover , spray and then scrub with a sponge

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I can vouch for that - also works wonders on the shower screen!

Black mould in tile grout - Apply thick bleach with a toothbrush / small scrubbing brush or similar. Leave for 5 minutes then rinse down with the shower and wipe down with a damp cloth.

black mould on paint etc. Bleach 1:3 water scrub with damp cloth/scourer bathroom sponge (NB not wet sponge - you want to add as little moisture as possible).
blood on fabric - use milk, the less skimmed the better. let the enzymes do their thing and rinse well afterwards
crusty limescale gunk on taps etc. Vinegar.
crusty banding/streaking on glass Vinegar and/or Lemon Juice.
chilli juice in the eye = milk FTW
wax on fabric, warm iron over greaseproof paper.

oven, you can get a cleaner you put the shelves into bags and add this foam stuff to the bags and inside the oven. Leave and rinse after a while. it's supposed to be amazing. Not tried it myself, we just use cream oven cleaner and elbow grease. Top tip. Rinse the oven well and heat it up and vent it a few times before trying to cook anything in the open. Nothing like the taste of chemicals to ruin your dinner.

Ah, that's the thing, I remember seeing that bag thing being advertised. Cheers.

Think you mean Oven Pride :)

Oven Pride is brilliant.

Just don't leave your trays in the bag for a couple of days to 'get them clean'. Mine were pretty much non existant after that long :laugh:

That looks good TBH but how do you clean the crap off the sides of the oven?

Edit: Bear in mind I'm lazy and want an easy option :)

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Originally Posted by adidan

That looks good TBH but how do you clean the crap off the sides of the oven?

Edit: Bear in mind I'm lazy and want an easy option :)

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Look in your local rag or distributed leaflets for "professional oven cleaning" It'll cost you anything up to £50, but your oven will look as if it has just come off the production line. They will take about 3 hours doing it! - depending on how bad it is!)

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Originally Posted by adidan

Edit: Bear in mind I'm lazy and want an easy option :)

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You're cleaning an oven :rolleyes:

Put some gloves on, use a brillo pad / abrasive sponge where needed and give it a rub. How easy do you want something to be? :shocked2:

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Originally Posted by Agent

You're cleaning an oven :rolleyes:

Put some gloves on, use a brillo pad / abrasive sponge where needed and give it a rub. How easy do you want something to be? :shocked2:

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Lol, I'm teasing. I have an X5 which makes pretty light work of most things with a bit of scrubbing. That oven pride will be good for the base and the shelves though, the shelves can be damned tiresome things. :)

For ovens, Mr. Muscle kitchen ?

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Originally Posted by OilSheikh

For ovens, Mr. Muscle kitchen ?

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Rubbish compared to Oven Pride. I used to use it, made the switch and wouldn't go back :)

You used to be able to buy this stuff this from betterware. It's strong stuff, smells like ammonia. You needed to wear gloves or it will burn your skin.

Probably the same stuff they used in the oven pride product. Put it on and even for a hour. The grease / dirt just comes off.

For the life of me I cannot remember what it was called. Bloody good stuff though.

A lot of the cleaners used on stainless steel are sodium hydroxide / caustic soda. Its very dangerous to play with but will strip grease fat from stainless steel, or from your skin. I used to pick the odd litre up from work, and use it in a heavy duty chemical proof bag to clean grill racks. As I said its very dangerous, especially when you add heat, have seen somebody narrowly avoid being blinded by it.

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Originally Posted by adidan

Lol, I'm teasing. I have an X5 which makes pretty light work of most things with a bit of scrubbing.

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You clean your oven with your BMW?!

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Originally Posted by RobbieRoy

You clean your oven with your BMW?!

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Lol, no the steam cleaner :)

http://www.staticwhich.co.uk/media/i...-x5-276417.jpg

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Originally Posted by Flibb

A lot of the cleaners used on stainless steel are sodium hydroxide / caustic soda. Its very dangerous to play with but will strip grease fat from stainless steel, or from your skin. I used to pick the odd litre up from work, and use it in a heavy duty chemical proof bag to clean grill racks. As I said its very dangerous, especially when you add heat, have seen somebody narrowly avoid being blinded by it.

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And wear ear protection in the form of wrap around goggles. I think it is sodium hydroxide that the professional cleaners use. (That I mentioned earlier in the thread).

As an aside, Adding sodium hydroxide to fat turns it into soap. :)

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Originally Posted by peterb

And wear ear protection in the form of wrap around goggles. I think it is sodium hydroxide that the professional cleaners use. (That I mentioned earlier in the thread).

As an aside, Adding sodium hydroxide to fat turns it into soap. :)

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Does that mean if I consume NaOH, all my body fat will turn to soap and I'll be pooping soap bars ?

It would certainly burn off the fat - but not in a good way!

Oven

buy one with self clean sides back and top
place large metal tray on bottom of over and only remove when using the lower heat setting.

Once every 6 months, turn oven onto hottest setting and leave for one hour, it activtes the self clean sides/back/top and the muck burns off.

Clean shelves monthly with hot water and soap, if you always use oven trays they'll be clean anyway

Clean glass door every single time you use is WHILE it's hot.. with a dry clean t-towel... scrub internal glass until the marks are gone including the sheen .. elbow grease

Do this from day one and ... 8 years later.. still perfect

U bend of toilet... push the bog brush down.. and up and down.. until you get the momentum of the water moving in and out.. and suddenly most of it goes down u bend leaving empy u bend.. not totally empty....but close.

then the smell of drains hit you (as the U bend normally blocks that with water)

THEN use viakal... all over the inner bowl and into the u bend... leave for 15 minutes... then scrub and flush.. flush again.. and again.. the smell will be unreal

(The removal of water means the viakal is not diluted in the u bend and actually removes the chalk)

then bleach once

if there is still chalk stuck to any part... you'll be using the edge of a spoon and it will flake off.

Clean u bend.. the law!!

mate getting hands into the u bend is a step too far. just use a stronger limescale remover available from diy stores.

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Originally Posted by ik9000

mate getting hands into the u bend is a step too far. just use a stronger limescale remover available from diy stores.

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I have to agree, life is too short to get your hand up a u-bend...

For kitchen grease, I have found my new fav product - Elbow Grease , available at any Pound shop
I am still trying to find a way of preventing taps from having water dry up on them and then leave behind marks. Tried spraying WD40 but didn't work.

Bottle brushes for cleaning out plug holes. You will be horrified by what comes out the first time you use one but it's worth doing every so often and might save you a hefty plumbers bill down the line, particularly in houses with older plumbing.

New tip :
For cleaning any dust on surfaces , let's say dust on TV or your PC case, microfibre cloth is the way to go.
For dust on wall skirts or corners, use Pledge feather duster. These dusters easily pick up dust like a magnet!

I still stand by the cleaning of U bends!

In terms of sinks and traps under the plug... I take the trap off yearly and empty the utter filth.

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Originally Posted by Zak33

I still stand by the cleaning of U bends!

In terms of sinks and traps under the plug... I take the trap off yearly and empty the utter filth.

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And I still stand by saying that is just a bit too far.

Thanks for sharing your trusted cleaning products.