cleaning the toilet

I clean our toilets when I think they need it. After all I only put my bum on the toilet seat! A lot of Gransnetters spend a lot of time cleaning their loos - I have better things to do!

My goodness, there are some very zealous lavatory cleaning grans here! We live in a very hard water area, which makes cleaning more difficult. I do use bleach and a brush, but will try steam cleaning and the small brush from Lakeland for under the rim. I agree that it is certainly a 'pink' chore, although OH creates the work, but that applies to most of the housework in this home! .

No bleach here either, but I do use toilet cleaner on a regular basis, with a cheap brush I replace every few weeks. I only buy the cleaning wipes if we are self catering on holiday, as easier to transport.

I did have a bit of trouble with 2 bottles of harpic cleaner last year, I hadn’t noticed they were slightly different types - the bottles looked quite similar at a quick glance. I was cleaning the toilet, not quite enough in one bottle, so added a generous squirt from the other - result was clouds of toxic vapour. Opened the window pronto, shut the door, and had to go out for a bit! Won’t be doing that again...

We are not on mains drainage and as Phoenix says its not possible to use bleach. There are other products specifically for this. I agree about any type of wipes, not to be flushed at all. I do use disinfectant wipes to clean the bathroom but then bin them. Sounds like there are some zealous cleaners on GN.?

Oh, and, advised by a plumber, I put washing soda down the kitchen sink once a week followed by boiling water to dissolve any fat there just as my gran used to do. DD1 also puts a sprinkle in the dishwasher - Mums Net tip apparently.

Our drains are old so may have catchy bits on the pipes where they join so there’s no way that I’d risk anything other than loo paper down our toilets. The downstairs one (which used to be outside until the house grew around it) blocked last time the family came as DGD is rather generous in her use of paper. The pipes certainly couldn’t take wipes.

Indeed there was a news report a few months ago showing how they really do not dissolve abd should not be flushed away. I do not understand why some things are repeated again and agin but not this issue and why the producers are not sent the bill to unblock the drains when they are found to be the cause if blockages. Also why are they allowed to claim they are flushable!

janea I am not sure what happens to other people's toilets but honestly cleaning 2 or 3 times a day would be overkill!

PECS They are deep cleaned once a week and have a wipe round and squirt of cleaner as & when
Thank goodness I’m not the only one who doesn’t bleach and scrub on a daily basis

I too understood that toilet wipes are not good and don’t dissolve nearly as well as supposed. Especially if they get clogged up in fat and solids. Yuk!

I use Domestos once or twice a week with daily scrubs with a brush and a wipe around with loo roll. Probably not enough, but the loos look clean! I think a lot depends on the design of the loo and how efficient it’s flush is.

I have used Corsodyl mouthwash to clean the wash basin as I heard it was what it was originally designed for. And it was very good. I don’t know if it works on loos.

I do a weekly 'proper clean' - a bucketful of hot water with bio washing powder and a slurp of disinfectant, rubber gloves, a wet cloth and a dry cloth. The outside is washed and buffed first, then the loo gets half the water poured down it and the cloth used to get clean everywhere. Then the rest of the water is poured down and left (until him indoors comes along to use the loo - usually pretty soon afterwards)!
Just a brush and bleach on the other days.

"Flushable" wipes are not very enviro friendly..they were a major contributor to the giant fat berg n a London sewer. Not as soluble as the manufacturers have you think. My family and I ( which includes the 4dgc 2xweek here) are healthy and the toilets are clean. They are deep cleaned once a week and have a wipe round and squirt of cleaner as & when. I guess any guests leaving a mark must use my method of cleaning!

I can't help wondering: those of you who don't have a toilet brush - if a guest uses your loo and flushing alone isn't enough to clean the bottom of the bowl, how are they supposed to remove the evidence, so to speak?

Another fan of the coca cola treatment here. It works wonders on loos, and also on mucky tools. Having seen what it does in the cleaning department, I'd never actually drink the stuff. What must it do to ones innards...

I'm a bit obsessed with cleaning the toilet, and I do it a few times every day.

I use flushable cleaning wipes - first the button to flush it. Then the lid, the underside of the lid, the seat, underside of that. Then the rim of the toilet, and finally the inside. I then put bleach around inside.

I have never owned a toilet brush (they harbour bacteria)

I am with * Jalima* and also use stuff like Ecover..as she says... what's on offer. I don't use toilet brush just use toilet tissue and a rubber glove! DH and I do fall out over cleaning products! He is more at the Mr Muscle high chemical end of the continuum and I am at the other!

I think toilet brushes are not hygienic have not had one in 50 years . I don my rubber gloves and use kitchen roll and toilet cleaner . I only use these gloves for this . My toilets are spotless .

With umpteen GC half of them boys I'm always on toilet patrol!!! It's exhausting! Our loo is ancient which doesn't help

I just use a strong antibacterial cleaning gel once a week or more often, if necessary. It can be used for pretty much every area in the bathroom, not just the toilet.

Thanks for the update OldMeg, I hadn’t investigated it any further than what I’d just read. Doesn’t it get confusing keeping track of who owns what these days?

My husband does clean the toilet.
About every 6 months he togs himself up in rubber gloves and gets to it. Cleans it to within an inch of its life.
I haven’t quite worked out what he thinks happens in between?

Bleach and loo brush for me, though I will now try and eco-friendly cleaner. No problems with limescale here as we have very soft water from the Dark Peak.

My plumber advised me against putting a block into the cistern. He said it will damage the fittings. I have tried various rim cleaners but DH says they get in his way....
My latest is those things that stick on the inside of the pan. Keeps the loo fresh and smells nice, but as we do not flush the loo if ( when) we go in the night, it does get stained. I use bleach about once a week.

It's my husband who is the fussy one, FarNorth. Drives me mad.

A 'Bloo' block, I prefer the kind which is clear not blue, goes in the cistern and helps to stop the toilet getting too yucky in the first place.

(The poor chaps just don't notice that it needs done, btw. Such a shame for them.)