13 March 2010

CLEANING... KABOOM!

not my shower doors
Kohler

I've embraced the Kaboom spray cleaner for our shower walls and doors limescale problems for a few years now. The fumes are overwhelming and there doesn't seem to be any way to adequately vent our master bathroom, so I suffer on... But, not too often.

I tend to procrastinate on the whole white tile, white shower pad, and clear glass shower door accumulation until either company is coming for an extended stay or something sucks me into jumping in. Because, quite literally I jump in. Yep! There's no way to do this baby unless you are smack in the middle of it, and dressed (or undressed) appropriately.

So, armed with various non-abrasive scrub pads, rags, a bucket, and both the spray and newer foaming Kaboom, I jump in. The foam does a fairly decent job on the chrome fixtures, but I know the tile, shower pad, and glass doors need heavier-duty attention. so I use the spray--which, by the way, is no longer purple.

The Scotch-Brite pad works well on the walls and floor, but I stick with a softer pad for the chrome. I usually get only adequate results, not nearly perfect, but the whole deal is a lot cleaner.

As I'm really working the shower doors with the Scotch-Brite pad and inhaling way too many chemical fumes, I decide that I will clean one door with Kaboom and the other with white vinegar, thinned just a bit with water to make a comparison.

Now, I don't love the smell of vinegar so for much of my cleaning in the kitchen I use Windex's white vinegar glass cleaner rather than environmentally-friendly vinegar and water. But, the smell of vinegar is far less overwhelming than the smell of spray Kaboom.

Guess what? The white vinegar solution works better. Yep! Better. I still believe that Kaboom is the answer for the tile and shower pad limescale crud, but from now on it's white vinegar for the glass shower doors. And, I think that this milder smell will encourage me to tackle those doors on a more regular basis.

Coincidentally, this morning my mother-in-law asked me if I thought she should have shower doors installed in her main bathroom. She's concerned about the potential of a fall and the instability of shower curtains versus shower doors. She already has grab bars. I told her that my main concern with changing out to shower doors is the hard water/limescale battle. Now I can call and tell her about the vinegar solution.

As far as the Kaboom toilet bowl powder--I love it because we travel quite often and when the toilets aren't flushed daily the limescale develops just at water level. But, since the Kaboom bubbles up, it goes a long way toward helping me rid our white porcelain bowls of that unsightly ring.

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