How To Clean Your Bathroom - A Step-by-Step Guide

We use it every day to clean ourselves, but when it comes to returning the favour, cleaning the bathroom is usually the last task on everyone’s chore list. If you’re reading this, it probably means you’ve summoned the strength to give your bathroom the deep clean it deserves. Fear not, we’ve created a handy guide containing the best methods, products and bathroom cleaning hacks. Follow it step by step or simply skip to the section you need using the links below.

• How to clean a shower
• How to clean a bath
• How to clean a bathroom extractor fan
• How to clean bathroom tiles
• How to clean a bathroom sink
• How to clean a bathroom mirror and glass
• How to clean a shower curtain
• How to clean a toilet

---

What you’ll need

• White vinegar (required)
• Plastic bag (required)
• Cloth (required)
• Limescale spray (comes in handy)
• Rubber gloves (comes in handy)
• Lemon juice (comes in handy)
• Baking soda (comes in handy)
• Old toothbrush (comes in handy)

Shower heads are often one of the most seldom cleaned items in a bathroom, despite being a potential breeding ground for limescale and mould. Given that we wash with the water that passes through them, it makes sense to keep them clean.

The easiest way to do this is to part-fill a plastic bag (one with no holes) with white vinegar, enough so that the shower head can be submerged, and tie the handles in a knot. For a routine clean, we recommend leaving it in the vinegar for a couple of hours. If your shower head needs a deep clean, leave it overnight. Remove the shower head from the bag, scrub off any remaining dirt with an old toothbrush and rinse with clean water.

When cleaning the hose or metal shower fixtures, we recommend using a limescale bathroom spray like Cif Power & Shine. If you don’t have any, mixing equal parts lemon juice and baking soda and scrubbing with an old toothbrush works a treat. Finish by wiping the fixtures down with a wet cloth.

---

What you’ll need

• White vinegar/bathroom cleaning solution (required)
• Bucket or empty spray bottle (required)
• Cloth (comes in handy)
• Paper towels/kitchen roll (comes in handy for tough stains)
• Old toothbrush (comes in handy for tough stains)
• Rubber gloves (comes in handy)

Bathtubs can easily become stained by hard water or products like bath bombs and bubble bath liquid. These stains can be tough to shift with elbow grease alone. If you don’t have a bathroom cleaning spray, we recommend mixing equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle or bucket. Spray the solution over the stains and leave for a few minutes before rinsing. If you’re using a bucket, wear rubber gloves and cover the stains with the vinegar solution using a cloth.

If the stains are deep and don’t lift using the above method, soak paper towels/kitchen roll in white vinegar and stick them to the stained areas of the bath. Remove them after a couple of hours, scrubbing stains with an old toothbrush, and rinse with warm water.

---

What you’ll need

• Handheld vacuum or feather duster (required)
• Cloth/sponge (required)
• Washing-up liquid (required)
• Stepladder (if needed to reach fan)
• Screwdriver (if needed to take the cover off)

When was the last time you gave your bathroom extractor fan a proper clean? The most common answer to that question is ‘never’. As long as you can easily access the fan and can remove the cover, cleaning it is a piece of cake.

The first and most important step is to turn the fan off at the mains. The switch for this is usually outside the bathroom door. Then, using a stepladder and screwdriver if required, remove the cover and wash it with warm soapy water and a cloth or sponge before leaving it to dry. Using a feather duster or handheld vacuum, if you have one, remove the build-up of dust from the fan. It’s usually a good idea to place a newspaper or something similar below the fan to catch falling dust. Once you’ve done this, use a slightly damp cloth to clean the fan blades and remove dust from the areas you missed with the duster/vacuum. Once the blades and fan cover are both dry, replace them and switch the fan back on.

---

What you’ll need

• Baking soda (required)
• White vinegar (required)
• Old toothbrush (required)
• Cloth (comes in handy)
• All-purpose cleaning solution (comes in handy)
• Rubber gloves (comes in handy)
• Mop and bucket (come in handy)

Always start with the grouting to avoid having to clean the tile surface twice. Wearing gloves, mix baking soda with white vinegar to form a paste and scrub the paste into the grouting using an old toothbrush. Once you’ve scrubbed all of the grouting, leave it for around half an hour before rinsing with water and a sponge. This works for both wall and floor tile grouting.

When it comes to cleaning wall tiles, the best thing to use is an all-purpose cleaner liquid, such as Zoflora, diluted with warm water. But if you don’t have any, you can mix white vinegar with warm water in equal parts. Using rubber gloves, soak a cloth in the solution and wipe all tiles. If you use the vinegar solution, it’s best to rinse with clean water. Follow the same process for floor tiles, using a mop and bucket if you have one. We recommend making floor tiles the last thing you clean, as you will be unable to clean other parts of the bathroom whilst they dry.

---

What you’ll need

• Washing-up liquid (required)
• Sponge/cloth (required)
• Bucket/bowl (required)
• Old toothbrush (comes in handy)

The first stage of cleaning a sink is to wipe it down with a sponge or cloth that’s been soaked in a bowl or bucket of soapy water. Washing-up liquid works well for this. Depending on how dirty your sink is, this may be enough.

For a deeper clean, follow the above steps before dipping kitchen roll or paper towels in white vinegar and leave them to soak for half an hour before wiping down with soapy water again. To get your taps sparkling again, pour lemon juice on them and scrub with an old toothbrush. Leave for an hour or so before wiping down with a wet cloth.

---

What you’ll need

• Microfibre cloth (required)
• Glass cleaner or white vinegar and an empty spray bottle (required)
• Rubbing alcohol or lemon juice (required)
• Cotton pad (required)

Bathroom mirrors, windows and glass partitions can easily become dirty with splashes of soap and toothpaste, fingerprint marks and limescale. The first step towards making them sparkle again is to remove the dirt by pouring some rubbing alcohol onto a cotton pad and rubbing the stubborn stains off in circular motions. If you don’t have any rubbing alcohol, lemon juice will do the trick.

The next step is to spray the glass with a thin layer of glass cleaning spray. If you don’t have any, you can mix equal parts water and white vinegar in a spray bottle. You can either buy an empty bottle or recycle an old one when the product inside runs out.

Finally, wipe the glass from top to bottom in a ‘Z’ motion with a dry microfibre cloth until the mirror is clean and sparkling. A non microfibre cloth will work but is more likely to leave streaks, and using a newspaper can leave ink on the glass.

---

What you’ll need

• Washing machine (required)
• Laundry detergent (required)
• Towel (required)
• Baking soda (comes in handy)
• White vinegar (comes in handy)

Over time, shower curtains will get dirty, picking up mildew and even mould if your bathroom isn’t well-ventilated. Thankfully, most shower curtains are machine washable as long as you remove all the plastic rings. We recommend putting them on a hand wash or gentle spin cycle – that’s anything with a low spin speed and 40 degrees or under.

A good tip is to put one or two towels in with the load, as their rough texture will help to agitate and remove dirt. For a bit more cleaning power, add 60 grams of baking soda to your regular laundry detergent. Once the cycle has completed, simply hook it back onto your shower curtain rail.

---

What you’ll need

• Rubber gloves (required)
• Toilet brush (required)
• Toilet cleaning liquid (required)
• Cleaning spray or white vinegar and a spray bottle (required)
• Sponge or cloth (required)
• Eye protection (required)

We’ve saved the best until last. OK, perhaps not, but it is the most important. In 2019, we revealed how dirty toilets can get using ultraviolet light. You’ll need to wear gloves, and we strongly recommend using protective eyewear to avoid bleach splashing into your eyes when scrubbing with the toilet brush.

Start by placing the seat down and flush the toilet, then lift the seat up and add toilet cleaning liquid around the inside rim of the toilet. Next, spray the exterior of the toilet with cleaning spray and wipe it down with a sponge or cloth (one that you don’t plan to use on anything other than toilets). If you don’t have any cleaning spray, you can make it yourself with equal parts of white vinegar and water.

---

Cleaning the bathroom is an unenviable task, but the satisfaction of seeing it gleam and sparkle afterwards can be very therapeutic. Armed with a few basic products, including plenty of white vinegar, and our handy cleaning tips, you’ll have everything you need to give your bathroom a deep clean.