Hints and tips for Baths and sinks, Taps, Tiles, Toilets

Hints and tips for Baths and sinks

• Only a glutton for punishment will use an abrasive on a bath- keep all baths as scratch free as possible. Train everyone that as the water runs out they squeeze washing liquid on the brush, (both which should be kept by the bath) to brush the bath out and rinse it. Use a thick liquid; and it must be a brush otherwise you’ll get consumer resistance,  people don’t want to handle messy cloths having just become clean and fresh themselves — so with­out a brush they opt out. Once the system Is running, the bath will be immaculately clean without the housewife lifting a ‘ finger.

•  If a bath is already dirty, the substance which cleans it best is paraffin. It will also get off soapy scum and lime scale. Paraffin is equally good on basins and makes short work of taps. Rinse well.

• Hydrochloric acid is a last resort. Mix one part acid to nine parts water. Wear rubber gloves to wipe this onto the dirt and rinse each patch as soon as It’s clean. Work quickly and do not splash the acid, be very careful not to get any on you. It’ll re­store even a former doss-house bath to reasonable whiteness and cleanliness.  

• The most common stain is the brownish deposit which forms in hard water areas. A rub with salt and vinegar will remove this quite easily. Rust marks will usually bleach out if a mix­ture of salt and lemon juice is applied to the stain and left on. Give it a day or two to work, but if that fails rub a white bath with hydrogen peroxide. Watch out with Acrylic baths -do not use anything that will scratch them.

Hints and tips for Taps

• A dripping tap can be fixed by opening the tap and pouring oil down the handle. The oil swells the washer and forms a better seal

Hints and tips for Tiles

• Use laquer thinners to clean grubby tiles.

• Polish shower tiles with floor polish and the water will slide off.

Hints and tips for Toilets

• Plain bleach is a powerful cleaner. The more time you give the chemicals to work before flushing the better. Lime scale drips from taps or a trickle down the back of the loo can be treated by brushing hard with hot white vinegar.  Thick deposits should be brushed with 5 ml oxalic acid dissolved in 125 ml hot water. Allow it to work on the scale then scrape at it with a hard plastic edge (the end of a tooth­brush will do). Wear rubber gloves and keep the acid mixture off skin and clothes  

• Lime scale drips from taps or a trickle down the back of the loo can be treated by brushing hard with hot white vinegar. Thick deposits should be brushed with 5 ml oxalic acid dissolved in 125 ml hot water. Allow it to work on the scale then scrape at it with a hard plastic edge (the end of a tooth­brush will do). Wear rubber gloves and keép the acid mixture off skin and clothes.  

• for marked toilets use more or less a teaspoon caustic soda, leave overnight then clean. If they are still dirty redo.