The bathroom is arguably the trickiest room to keep clean in most homes. And let’s face it, who has time to spend cleaning it after every use? But if you’re smart about things, you can reduce your bathroom-related workload without having a detrimental impact on cleanliness.
Implement a few clever strategies, and you can make your bathroom significantly easier to clean.
1. Get rid of tiles
There are now several alternatives to tiles in a bathroom, including stone slabs, back-painted glass and wall vinyl. While tiles look great, they require grouting — and we all know how difficult and time-consuming cleaning grout is. By covering your walls in a seamless surface, all you’ll need to do to keep them clean is wipe them with a dry cloth every time you shower or take a bath.
2. Keep glass to a minimum
The use of glass and mirrors in a bathroom always adds a striking aesthetic, but it also adds a lot of work to your cleaning schedule. Particularly in a humid bathroom, keeping glass clean and streak-free is a tall order. Apart from a single mirror and windows, ditch the glass for low-maintenance, wipeable alternatives.
3. Make it a wet room
While this is an expensive option, it will save you a huge amount of time and hard work down the line. Whenever you need to clean, you can simply hose the entire bathroom down indiscriminately.
4. Remove frames
Frames in bathrooms are an invitation to limescale, dirt, grease, soapscum and a whole lot more. Take a look in your bathroom to see how many frames you have. There’s probably one around your door, your shower door and mirrors. Switch to frameless alternatives wherever possible to reduce the potential for stubborn accumulations.
5. Switch to a shower curtain
Shower doors look great, but they require almost constant cleaning. Water spots, grease, soapscum and limescale are just a few of the substances that can quickly make a shower door look dirty and tired. With a shower curtain, however, you can simply throw it in your washing machine when it needs to be cleaned. There’s also the added bonus of “softening” your bathroom with a little fabric to break things up.
6. Keep everything off the floor
Cleaning floors, skirting, toilet basins, bathtubs and sink bases is always tough in a bathroom, but even more so when you have to negotiate your way around bins, stands, baskets and other bathroom-related paraphernalia. Put everything away in a cupboard or hang it on a hook. You can even keep your sink unit and toilet off the floor by installing “floating” versions that protrude from the wall. And if possible, fit a freestanding bath on legs.
7. Create a cleaning station
Keep everything you need to clean your bathroom in one place — a cleaning caddy is perfect. If you cleaning tools are there in the bathroom with you at all times, you should be able to clean as you go.
8. Install a powerful extraction fan
The air in bathrooms gets very dirty and humid at times. This air leaves dirt on surfaces, and it can cause mould and mildew to form exceptionally quickly. Fit a powerful extraction fan that is programmed to switch on every time you turn on your bathroom lights. A dry bathroom is usually far easier to clean and maintain.
Cleaning a bathroom will always be one of the most time-consuming jobs in the home. But by making a few changes now, you should be able to save yourself a lot of time and energy going forward.
