Shower Bath Suite Aftercare

Your new shower bath suite will need to be kept clean in order to look its best for longer: are there any factors you might not have considered when it comes to bathroom cleanliness?

Most modern bathroom suites are pretty low maintenance. Regularly wiping the surfaces of your sanitaryware with a damp, non-abrasive cloth and some neutral cleaner should be sufficient to keep them clean. Avoid the use of abrasive materials, as you may, over time, end up with a lot of small surface scratches which will mar the overall appearance of your suite. You should always rinse off any soap residue after cleaning, as well, as sticky surfaces will attract dust and dirt more quickly and undo all your good work.

Where your bathroom suite fittings join the wall you should have a strip of watertight sealant. This needs to be kept clean and monitored for wear and tear. Avoid abrasive cleaning tools here too – their use will only cause the sealant to deteriorate. As the strip of sealant degrades over time, you should remove and replace it. This is not a difficult job and shouldn’t take too long, but it’s important to prevent water ingress behind your fittings, where damp and mould can spread unchecked.

If your shower bath is a walk-in model with a door for ease of access, you’ll need to ensure that the seal around the door is cleaned as regularly as the door itself. Areas with ridged rubber seal are areas where dirt can build up and mould can begin to grow if their cleanliness is not attended to.

You may find that calcium carbonate, or limescale, as it’s commonly known, builds up on your shower head and taps. It is possible to scrub these hard mineral deposits off, but because they are so tough to remove, you may find that you’ve inadvertently damaged the material underneath in the process. Soaking the affected area in a mild acid for an hour or so will allow you to wipe the limescale away. Many shop bought products are available for this purpose – but if you’d prefer a cheaper (and more natural) alternative, just use lemon juice.

You may have added bathroom furniture to your shower bath suite in order to provide much needed storage space in the bathroom. If this is the case, there may be some additional cleaning required. Laminate furniture is easy to care for, requiring merely a regular wipe down. Wooden and wooden veneer bathroom furniture, however, will need polishing periodically to maintain its lustre. This shouldn’t be an arduous task, as it’s something you need do no more than every three months or so. Don’t be tempted to polish too frequently, as you could find that a film begins to appear on the surfaces of your furniture, detracting from the very lustrous shine you’re trying to maintain!

Helen Davies is a senior content writer for Better Bathrooms, suppliers of bathroom suites and related products in the UK. A range of modern bathroom suites is available to suit the smaller bathroom.