You walk into the bathroom and… BOOM! it hits you, that overwhelming, potent stench of old urine! ? Ughhh, Gross!
I bet you’ve asked yourself this more than once…. How Do I REALLY Eliminate the lingering smell of urine in the bathrooms? You’ve tried every trick and solution there is for getting rid of it, so why doesn’t it ever go away? As a mom raising 2 boys with special needs, and a Cleaning Professional by trade; I have quite a few tricks and tips up my sleeve! So in this article, I get into the nitty gritty of getting your toilets and bathroom properly deep cleaned and neutralized so that nasty urine smell is annihilated! I will lay out what needs to be done (and why), to TRULY clean your toilets… a toilet cleaning tutorial if you will.
So, How Do I REALLY Eliminate the lingering smell of urine in the bathrooms?
I get this question a lot from many of my clients with both small children as well as from some elderly clients. Regardless, the problem exists, and it appears that many people don’t truly understand how to properly deep clean toilets and bathrooms. They’re not realizing that the bathroom cleaning routine they been following is only tackling half of the job– specifically the cleaning of the toilet. But whether you have kiddos or not, it’s really a combination of acquired knowledge, strategy and awesome, specialized products. Having little boys in the household just makes bathroom cleaning more challenging… and frustrating, if you just cannot seem to eliminate that nasty urine smell!
Unless you’ve raised boys, you never truly understand the full extent of the little boy nastiness that happens in the bathroom, especially during the potty training years and often, well into the elementary school years. Believe me when I say there is definitely an almost invisible layer of micro-sprayed urine all over the toilet components [ughhh, gross!], on the walls, cabinets and even on the baseboards… (we’ll get to cleaning all that soon!)
So, what needs to be done to get your toilets properly cleaned so that lingering smell of old urine is eliminated??
I will break down what needs to be done, how to do each step, and what products and solutions you should be using to get the best results.
But, first you must understand the basic anatomy of a toilet. They come in many shapes, colors, styles and even sizes but they’re basically all built with the same general components, which are: a base bolted to the floor, the bowl, the tank, a seat & lid, a variety of bolts & hardware placed throughout it, and, of course all the internal parts & components.
Most old urine smell is likely coming from obviously the toilet itself; but it’s also emitting stench from the walls, baseboards, tile grout, cabinets & even any shower curtains that’re in relatively close proximity to the toilet. Seriously!
As for the products and supplies, you’ll need a few things to get this cleaning job done, and you may already have some of these necessities in your household already.
First things you’ll need is a toilet bowl cleaner with bleach, our favorite product is: Clorox® , a good bathroom or multi-purpose spray cleaner with bleach, Clorox® Clean Up and Lysol All Purpose Cleaner Spray White & Shine with Bleach seem to work the best. You’ll also need a sturdy toilet brush, this trusty brush by Libman is our go-to utensil; this AWESOME bleach-gel pen applicator is a must-have, and lastly some paper towels.
Now, we get to the cleaning of the toilet…
Apply the toilet bowl cleaner with bleach to the bowl, gently squeeze the bottle as you guide the little cleaner nozzle around the underside of the toilet bowl rim, ensuring that the solution has throughly coated under the rim. Next, use the sturdy toilet brush to begin scrubbing the whole toilet bowl surface paying special attention to the underside and top of the rim, and all around the seat/lid combo and it’s hardware. Flush the toilet to flush away the cleaner, then rinse out the toilet brush. Next, spray the bathroom or multi-purpose cleaner with bleach on the outside of the toilet bowl, base, lid/seat, tank, hardware and handle; then use paper towels (or cleaning rags) to wipe down the entire toilet— all of its components!
Start at the top and work your way down the toilet paying special attention to both the underside and top of the seat and lid, and the hardware; continue wiping down the ENTIRE outside surface of the bowl and base, the backside of the bowl/base and into all the design crevices to ensure you’ve gotten all surfaces. Use new paper towels once they become too saturated.
Pro Tip: if you have a fabric shower curtain hanging in close proximity to the toilet, chances are there’s a fine micro micro-spray mist of urine that has been adhered to the fabric which tends to holds the stench of everything it comes in contact with. So, when giving your bathroom a deep cleaning the fabric shower curtains should be removed & laundered it in the washing machine or just replace it with a clean one. It’s wise to do this every deep cleaning.
Next, after the toilet has been completely wiped down, spray the same bathroom or multi-purpose cleaner with bleach on the floor all surrounding the toilet on an area roughly 2 feet or so from the toilet all the way around it, let it set for about 10 mins to allow the disinfection process to happen, then use either paper towels, a sponge or cleaning rag to completely wipe down the area and using a little pressure as you wipe the area clean.
[ or if you have specialty floors you can use this Bona Antibacterial Cleaner & sanitizing solution to spray onto your floors around the toilet ].
Now, I’ll let you in on a secret many people don’t know… if your bathroom floors are tiled, and your grout ISN’T sealed, then chances are you’ll need to treat & sanitize all of the grout in the area immediately surrounding the toilet. Why? If your grout is unsealed it will be able to retain various bacterias and odors, like that of old urine.
Well, how exactly do I treat & sanitize my unsealed grout you ask?! There are 3 great & inexpensive products you can use for this step, which are this Clorox® bleach-gel pen and this Clorox® Precision Pour bleach gel or you can even use SoftScrub Bleach gel.
Whichever product you choose to use to deep clean & sanitize your unsealed grout, gently squeeze out the gel as you guide the bottle’s nozzle down each grout line making sure to cover the grout line with gel, continue this until the area surrounding the toilet is coated… now, let that set for about 15 minutes or so.
{ But, for especially soiled grout, it’s wise to work in, and scrub the product/solution to get the best results. A sturdy, hard bristle brush like this OXO scrub brush that’s super durable and has a rubber gripped handle is the best tool for this step. }
After leaving the solution to settle for that 15 minutes (and/or after scrubbing the grout), you must now remove the bleach gel from the grout. To do so, you can use a clean and heavily dampened cleaning rag to wipe up the bleach gel, rinse out the rag & repeat as needed until all of the bleach gel is completely cleaned up. Once it all has been cleaned up, allow the floor to air dry for a few moments.
The bathroom floor is now ready for the finishing touches— you can choose to be mop the floor as you normally would; or if you have one, you can use a steam mop to clean the entire bathroom floor.
As a Cleaning Pro, I’ve literally cleaned hundreds of different types of toilets, and I’ve learned a few more important “toilet tips & tricks” that will also help to keep your toilet & bathroom healthy and in tip-top shape & free of that lingering funk! { keep an eye out for these tips in a future post }.
You know, performing a truly deep cleaning on your bathrooms and the rest of your home is hard, energy-draining work that many people don’t want to do, or just don’t have the time to get it all done.
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