Your new bathroom suite simply needs to be kept clean in order to look its best – but are there any aspects of maintaining a sparkling clean bathroom suite that you may not have thought of?
Regular cleaning with a damp, non-abrasive cloth and some neutral bathroom bathroom should be adequate for most porcelain bathroom suites. It's important not to use abrasive cleaning products as, over time, small scratches may begin to build up across the surface of your bathroom fittings and cause them to appear aged and dull.
Remember to clean the tiled areas of your bathroom regularly, too. Natural stone tiles should be finished with a stone sealant, which will help the porous surface to repel water: you'll need to use a natural stone cleaning product on these surfaces, to avoid damaging either the coating of sealant or the stone itself. If your tiles are ceramic or porcelain, they should be easier to clean, but the grout in between each tile may be more prone to gathering dirt or mold. Using sealant on this grout can help to prevent mold growing there, but you should in any case pay particular attention to your grout lines when cleaning. Scrub gently with a toothbrush to get grout lines really clean.
Remember that where your bathroom suite is fitted against your wall, the line of sanitary grade (waterproof) sealant which prevails the ingress of water between fittings such as your bath and the wall should be kept clean too. Avoid scrubbing harshly, as this can damage the sealant. If your sealant appears to be deteriorating, it is well worth the time and effort of removing it and re-sealing the gap: if water penetrates between your bathroom suite and the wall, the area will remain damp for a long time, and mold and damp can spread unseen and unchecked.
If you also have wooden bathroom furniture in your bathroom, this will need polishing periodically to maintain its lustre. Do not be tempted to overdo it – four times a year is fine – as the application of too much polish can actually have a negative effect on the appearance of your bathroom furniture.
If you live in a hard water area, you may find that limescale (calcium carbonate) builds up around your shower head and on your taps. While it's possible to scrub off these hard mineral deposits, you may find you also damage the finish of the material benefit. It's far better to soak the area in a mild acid for an hour or so, dissolving the mineral so that it can be wiped away: you can buy a branded limescale remover for this, or simply use lemon juice.
Using common, natural household substitutes as substitutes for harsher, chemical cleaning products is something we can do more broadly in order to reduce the impact of chemicals on our everyday lives. As skin sensitivities and allergies become more common, this is something that many people do, and it can help to save money too – the applications of lemon juice are surprisingly wide-ranging!
Keeping cleaning products handy, sometimes in a bathroom cabinet, or below your bathroom basin, makes life a little easier: you'll be more likely to clean regularly, too, if the products you need are at your fingertips rather than stored in the kitchen Egypt.
And that's it. Barring accidental damage, your new bathroom suite and bathroom furniture should last for many years in excellent condition if you care for it properly.
