cleaning an enamel bath!!!

[candy1567]

Hi folks

not sure where this post should go so feel free to move it

have just moved into a house which has an enamel bath, it was in good condition so we thought we would get away with not replacing it straight away, it is a white bath.

now here is the problem, my daughter stood in the bath to paint the wall about 2 weeks before we moved in, and we didn't realise that her socks where very dirty!! and didn't notice till we moved in the house wat had happened

So we now have black imprints of dirty feet all over the bottom of the bath even have the 5 round marks where her toes went!!!

have tried the usual stuff to get it off, but no luck, have used bathroom moose, toothpaste, bicarb paste, diluted bleach, lemon juice, but now am running out of ideas.

I really dont have the cash to replace it at the moment with just moving, but the bottom of the bath looks awful

Any ideas wat i can use without ruining the bath, someone suggested peroxide but not sure if that wont ruin the enamel

thanks in advance

Juliex

 

[vibrobullit407]

I have heard that a pumice stone will get rid of really stubborn stains on an porcelain bath. Apparently the stone is softer than the porcelain so it will not scratch it!

Here's a link with a few more ideas;
http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Tough-Stains-from-a-Bathtub

Good luck!

 

[candy1567]

thanks for the reply

have had a look on wikki which is where i got some of the ideas from, but still have the stupid marks lol

will have a go at the pumice stone though, hope it doesn't scratch the bath

Juliex

 

[oldgreymouse]

You say your bath is enamel but by this do you mean its cast iron?

I have had a couple of baths to clean off over the years when prepping bathrooms for painting. For the most part, it was removing the orange water stains and build up of deposit from dripping taps.
I would never use a pumice stone!!! This I am sure is too hard for the bath.

However, a couple of the products I found useful all had some sort of abrasive nature and this is what did the cleaning. One was jif before it became cif! It is now Non scratch! Defeats the object in my mind. Vim! Who remembers that! best stuff around the kitchen. Another product was 'Astonish' Cream Cleaner but I don't know if it's still around.

Your best bet and a product I keep on my van for odd cleaning up jobs, is from 'betterware' which i guess is available online. It was called the 'Pink Stuff' paste. It has an abrasive action, which is what you want, and was a couple of quid for a small tub. If this stuff don't shift it, what on earth did your daughter walk through in socks!!!!

 

[candy1567]

hi

thanks for the reply, and yes i now want to strangle the daughter lol

wen i stated that it was an enamel bath thats wat i presumed it was, i bought an ex council property and the bath was already there and in ok condition for the next 12 months or so till i redo the bathroom. So the bath is watever the council used to use in their properties which is it enamel coating or somthing sorry am rambling as i have no idea!!!!

the main problem with wat was on my daughters socks is that the mucky feet prints where left in the bath for approx 2 to 3 weeks before we moved in so the dirt has ingrained into the bath

will try the paste from betterware, but am now thinking bathroom is going to get replaced sooner rather than later and due to all the scrubbing it has now lost its sheen on the bottom of the bath and it does not feel as smooth as the sides, so i guess my credit card is now gonna take a battering

Juliex

 

[oldgreymouse]

It sounds as if you have a standard acrylic bath and with all the rubbin and a scrubbin you have removed the gloss finish from the bath. This gloss coat is factory sprayed and only glossy on the surface, when you remove it, it starts to go matt.
Nothing you can do except change the bath, or get in a company that re-sprays baths. They are in and out in half a day, but I forget how much it costs.
Good luck!