Toilet bowl cleaner???

[kcndc]

Anyone ever heard of useing toilet bowl cleaner to clean dirty/stained grout?

A friend of mine recently put thier house up for sale and had tried everything to remove the dark stains on the grout on the shower floor with little results. The real estate agent told them to use toilet bowl cleaner, let it sit 10 minutes then rinse. Grout went from dark gray to pure white!

But I'm wondering how it effects the grout over time? :shrug:

Casey

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[ddmoit]

Advising the use of toilet bowl cleaner is non-specific enough to be dangerous, considering the variety of chemicals among the various brands. Some of the stronger cleaners are a 20% solution of hydrogen chloride, a powerful bleach. Using something like that outside the bounds of its intended use seems risky to me. :shake:

[Merlin]

Yes, I've heard of people using it.
I know nothing about the tile and grout risks (I'm here to learn. :) ) but I can tell you that it's some rough stuff in other areas. It can clean off the metal oxides that rise to the surface of glass during heating and annealing in a matter of seconds while no other chemical on the market can do it without taking the finished gloss coat off the glass leaving an etched, matte finish. A similar matte finish is acheived with and etch bath when the artist chooses to alter the surface finish. (I take that back. There is one other cleaner that will do it. WHINK. Nasty stuff there too.) The toilet bowl cleaner takes some of the gloss finish away and that is without any scrubbing or rubbing. I can imagine what it could do with a little elbow grease. Yikes! That's from the glass worker in me. :dance:

Tracey

[Oxi]

Hi all. I am a household cleaning formulator. I can not say what "toilet bowl cleaners" will do to grout, but I can give you some background info.

1. Toilet bowl cleaners, for the most part, are in four catagories: Abrasives, surfactants, acids, and disinectants

Abrasives, (like "soft scrub" are calcium carbonate)
Surfactants - soapy (duh)
Disinfectants - This is where the only cleaning benifit I can see is coming from, specifically, the hypochlorite (bottle bleach)
Acids - These are the active ingredient in limescale, soapscum, and rust removers

I would think that the surfactants in toilet cleaners (usually thickened with polymers) would have a tendency to leave residual surfactant in the pourous grout. This will attrat dirt the way your carpet does when something sticky gets stained there, and then the stain doesn't show up for a couple months. The abrasives are softer than the sanded grouts for sure, so no damage there. these toilet cleaners are designed specifically to stay on the surface until flushed with water (no pun intended).

The disinfectants are what would do the cleaning...if it is hypochlorite. But, mostly, you will be bleaching the color. So, if you have white grout, or colored stains, this could work. The acids (hydrochloric, phosphoric, and sometimes citric, glycolic or sulfamic) would be good for removing hard water or soap scum stains, if flushed with water afterwards. If this is what your after, this could work. but, be carefeul to read the labels. QUATS, the active ingredient in disinfectants that don't have hypchlorite, will do abosolutely nothing mentioned above.

If you have any more secific questions, I would love to help

Keith

[davem]

Hi Keith, seems you could be a hand fella to have around. Thanks for helping. :)

[doitright]

Hi Keith :)

Thanks for your input. It is greatly appreciated, but I have several concerns.

Now what if the shower is made out of natural stone? :eek:

What are the effects on expensive metal trim plates? :eek:

How about continued deterioration of a cementitious grout, if the acidic product isn't neutralized? I have recently been to several residences where household cleaners (such as Tilex) are used constantly, and the grout is receding in the joints (as it is being eaten away).

I'm not hearing you give any precautions of using a product that isn't specifically intended for the use outside a glazed porcelain bowl.

On a positive note, it's usually these homeowner concoctions and recommendations that help keep me in business!

[Oxi]

John,

You are certianly right about the leftover acids, for sure. I myself use specified cleaners for areas, and I do not mix and match cleaners for different areas of my house. I know exactly what you speak of as far as damage, and it comes specifically from misuing products. Using a toilet bowl cleaner to clean out grout IS mis-using it. I guess I should have mentioned that in my above post. Those products are formulated to do EXACTLY what is listed on the back of the bottles, no more or less. It is a liability for the producer if they do not state exactly when and where, and how to use their products for fear of being sued for expensive replacements.

For example, the metal being ruined that you spoke of should never occur when the products are used as prescribed on the bottle. The testing that a shower cleaner must go through for corrosion is intense. It is also more thorough the larger the company. Reckitt Benckiser (Lysol), Church and Dwight (Arm and Hammer, OxiClean), Dial (softscrub), and Clorox make their living off of these products. The do a crazy amount of testing on products to ensure that all types of metal finishes are unharmed by them. Using "other" brands almost certainly promises less strigent testing.

As for the receeding grout...I would be almost certain that leaving bathroom cleaners, like tilex, on the shower walls, rather than a "leave-on" after shower spray would be the culprit of this. Of course, the same can be said of people using soft abrasive cleaners weekly with vigor. They may actually be scraping away the grout, not eating it with acid.

If you want to ensure your shower stays clean, I always tell people that cleaning the tub with an orange oil degreaser, in combination with the "magic eraser" works excellent. "Soap scum" is a compound made when the hard water calcium interacts with body oil (sebum). The orange oil solvates these oils, and the abrasive provided by the foam scrapes it off the walls, without being harsh enough to damage anything. Do this once every week or two, and then keep your tiles wiped down after the last shower of the morning. If you are worried about bacteria, after the shower, use a spray with QUATS, like lysol. They are acid free, but still disinfect. Also, for mildew, brown bottle hydrogen peroxide work wonders, especially on caulk. pour on, leave. It won't damage anything, and, it perfectly safe.

Keith

[doitright]

Hi Keith :)

Thanks for clarifying! :bow:

As many people that lurk this site, I'd hate for them to be misled (or worse be physically hurt)!