4Real Forums: Gross Cleaning Topic

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Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry

Topic: Gross Cleaning Topic

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SallyT
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 9:34am \| IP Logged

Hm, maybe we could have a whole "gross cleaning problems" thread . . .

But here's mine:

I cannot get rid of the pee smell in both my bathrooms! I've cleaned the whole toilet, the floor, the walls around and behind, but I must be missing something somewhere, because it still smells (yes, boys live in this house). I know there are grosser cleaning problems out there, but this is driving me insane. Help me.

Sally

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Grateful in VA
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 9:45am \| IP Logged

I can't wait to hear other ideas for this too. My hall bathroom is an embarrassment when company comes over. The only thing that temporarly works well is using toilet bowl cleaner on the floor and walls around the toilet.
I think the smell has saturated the wood baseboard and and the seal around the base of the toilet.
Oh, I sure hope someone has a good idea.
Of course if I could get my boys to improve the aim this wouldn't be a problem at all....

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jawgee
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 9:48am \| IP Logged

Did you clean really well where the toilet meets the floor? I take disposable disinfectant wipes and shimmy them in between the toilet and the floor. Q-Tips work well, too.

That usually seems to be the culprit in our house. Hope that helps.

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Mackfam
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 9:52am \| IP Logged

I'm feeling your pain!

I did the same thing, Sally, and much to my chagrin, I could NOT get the smell out.....UNTIL.....I made my dh lift the toilet off the wax seal, replace the wax seal and clean UNDER the toilet. While dh was replacing the seal and I was DISINFECTING the bathroom with a clorox bomb, I put the toilet in the garage and had the boys go crazy all over it with clorox wipes - back, sides, under, over. Boys. bathrooms. Our path to sanctity.

Hey - I'm totally tuned in and sitting here with my bucket of Clorox wipes if y'all have other tips to share!!!!!!

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SallyT
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 9:58am \| IP Logged

Ugh, I was afraid of things like "lift out the toilet." And I've been worried that it was down in the seal, too, and in the caulking of the tiles.

Sally, feeling holier all the time

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Mary's daughter
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 10:07am \| IP Logged

We had the same problem. The smell went away when we redid our bathroom! New toilet and new floor did the trick. Everything was ancient and the pee had just seeped into places I couldn't reach. We had a register vent right next to the toilet that went into our basement.

Can you imagine the temptation for little boys!

Since we are talking toilets and such...has anyone heard of a Power Flush? We had one installed in our new toilet and it is fabulous. It will pretty much flush anything. We have had the plumber out one too many times for clogs we couldn't fix with a snake! We have had the Power Flush for about 4 months and no clogs.

Back to the original topic..Maybe someone needs to invent a toilet with a bullseye painted inside!

Stephanie

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Mackfam
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 10:24am \| IP Logged

Stephanie,
Can you link the power flush? Where did you get it? Have to have a plumber install it?

My husband would SWOON over such a thing!

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JodieLyn
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 11:16am \| IP Logged

They do have urinals like for public bathrooms that have a fly etched inside them.. they've found it actually does help keep the bathrooms cleaner

I guess even big boys can't resist aiming at the fly.

I was going to suggest if you have a shower curtain nearby that that might also be the culprit.

And I wonder

if you could spray and let soak in something like hydrogen peroxide or another cleaner for those seepage spots that smell.

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Grace&Chaos
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 11:25am \| IP Logged

Four boys in this house, three potty trained, oh yes, a problem here too!!

We daily spray and clean the toilet area with the Melaluca Disinfectant cleaner and I rather think that works better than the wipes and spray we used before. But it has to be done almost daily for us to see/smell the difference. This is a report about its benefits. Yes, the smell is botanical strong but much better than urine bathroom smell and I don't worry that the kids do this for themselves.

And Stephanie, I'd love to hear more about it too. Our second problem is constant clogging

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Kathryn
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 12:47pm \| IP Logged

Another thought not sure if someone else mentioned is whether there is a shower curtain close to the toilet. Ours is too close so I buy vinyl and occasionaly wash and sometimes just replace. ?

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Erin
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 1:34pm \| IP Logged

Mary's Daughter wrote:

.Maybe someone needs to invent a toilet with a bullseye painted inside!

I did see a picture of Ping Pong balls with pics drawn on, idea is to 'aim and sink the ..'

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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 2:33pm \| IP Logged

Here's the link http://www.flushmate.com/

The plumber installed it. He called it the powerflush. I just looked in the tank and I see that the official name is the "Sloan Flushmate". If you have a handy husband, he may be able to install.

Jen, you said your husband would swoon over this...I swooned!

We have had some difficult times with that bathroom. When I was about a week postpartum with one of my kiddos, the toilet would not flush. This was our only bathroom at the time. When I called the plumber, the lady who answers the phone said they couldn't come out that day. When I explained my postpartum situation, she told me to use a bucket because that's what they did in the old days!!!

Anyhoo...my fil came to the rescue that night and all was well. Oh dear, I'm afraid I'm still not over that little episode

and it has nothing to do with the Flushmate.

Stephanie

stacykay
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 3:08pm \| IP Logged

We had this dilemma in our boys' bathroom...until we replaced their toilet. The toilet, itself, was original to the house (46 years old.) The wax was shot, and our plumber friend told us that toilets do not last forever, as they do accumulate...buildup...over the years.

In lieu of a new toilet, my arsenal includes alternating hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and the white household vinegar. I save bleach for really big cleans. The hydrogen peroxide is my daily clean, around the outside of the toilet and on the floor (I hit a rather large area.) I use whichever toilet bowl cleaner (Lysol, I think,) also daily, and then a wipe (either clorox or lysol,) to go around the seat, rim and back of toilet. Wow, now I have an urge to go and clean them all, again!

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Stacy in MI

JodieLyn
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 3:11pm \| IP Logged

oh and getting the toilet seats with the easy on and off attachment can help clean under and in the hinges.

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SallyT
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Posted: Dec 08 2011 at 8:04pm \| IP Logged

Nope, no shower curtain. We have an old soaking tub with a handheld shower attachment. I have washed down the outside of the tub before and probably should do that again as well.

I tend to be a big vinegar-for-everything cleaner, and today I tried spraying it and letting it soak while we were out of the house. I probably do need to clean the seal around the bottom more scrupulously. We also have difficulty cleaning the walls, as the previous owners painted over oil with latex, which has been peeling and flaking off for ages -- that's about to go away, but it's a big problem right now. I'm hoping the new paint job will help.

Might try hydrogen peroxide, too . . .

Sally

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CatholicMommy
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Posted: Dec 11 2011 at 10:21pm \| IP Logged

I have the same problem, and I think most of it is the design of our bathroom and toilet. We're in an apartment and can do NOTHING about removing toilets. I have one boy who does not tend to make a mess with things (it happens from time to time) - but the whole toilet is designed to splatter back up (if that is not too gross to say here!). SIGH.

We do a lot of spraying things down and letting it soak in; it lasts for a day or two tops. But it's better than nothing.

I'm jealous of all of you who have the toilet removal option!

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MichelleW
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Posted: Dec 12 2011 at 2:12am \| IP Logged

Erin wrote:

Mary's Daughter wrote:

.Maybe someone needs to invent a toilet with a bullseye painted inside!

I did see a picture of Ping Pong balls with pics drawn on, idea is to 'aim and sink the ..'

When we were potty training our boys we bought bio-degradable targets. You throw one into the toilet and boy tries to hit target. They are completely flushable. Ironically, we bought them at Target.

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kristacecilia
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Posted: Dec 12 2011 at 7:13am \| IP Logged

I was going to suggest the vent, but someone else did it. We have a vent a couple of feet away from our toilet and two boys. Enough said.

Of course, at least that is the bathroom vent. One night we thought the house was leaking because DH heard water dripping down into the basement. After a frantic search we found 5 year old DS had decided it was too far to walk to the bathroom that night (a whopping 10 feet from his bedroom door) and used HIS BEDROOM VENT as a toilet.

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Betsy
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Posted: Dec 12 2011 at 8:04am \| IP Logged

I wanted to add a tip that I learned a long time ago that worked well for us.

Someone who had pets recommended a product that is used when pets pee in the house to get the smell out. I don't know what the name is but I am sure that any pet store would be able to point it out.

Like Krista, we had a vent on the floor about 12 inches from the toilet (not smart, even if you don't have lots of small boys!) but we would put it down the vent and around the toilet and it really did get rid of the smell.

We have since moved and I haven't needed it again, which is why I don't remember the name, but it was honestly one of the best tips I have ever received!!!!!!!

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CrunchyMom
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Posted: Dec 12 2011 at 8:04am \| IP Logged

I must admit I am continually amazed at how much of my parenting energy is focused on excrement and its appropriate disposal. I had NO IDEA going in, and I really would have thought this whole "we don't want our persons or our house to smell like pee or poop" thing would be much more intuitive and something my children would naturally desire.

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