Cast Iron Tub and Bleach

[TTTTom]

Good Afternoon !

We have the old 1960's cast iron tubs in our bathrooms. One of them has been professionally resurfaced, the other is the original finish - scrubbed for years with ajax. Both have developed a heavy case of the black mildew on or in the caulk.

So, with the family out of town, I bought a couple of tubes of polyseamseal caulk and psyched myself for "the job". My first order of business was to spray 50/50 bleach/water on all the caulk seams on the non-resurfaced tub. 30 minutes later I was shocked at three things:

#1 80% of the black mildew was completely gone - now those areas are a almost completely white!!
#2 All the chrome:faucet/spout/head now had dark brown spots on it.
#3 A few areas of the tub looked light brown - almost like it had started to rust.

Before I begin on the newly resurfaced tub can anyone provide a few tips - i.e. don't get the bleach on any chrome surface, etc.

Many thanks for your time,

Stilltrying2

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[Davestone]

Yes, bleach can eat at many surfaces,metals,acrylic urethane,such as is probably on your other tub,and even the porcelain that was once on your other tub.My guess is the porcelain was very thin, and the bleach may have been the final straw.Maybe it would be better to use a utility knife and cut the old caulk out, use a marble safe cleaner for mildew, then recaulk.

[TTTTom]

Dave,

Thanks for your reply - nice site BTW !

The chrome on the faucet, etc. cleaned up pretty nicely.

But the tub didn't come completely clean, hence my other post.

Enjoy your weekend,

Tom