Bathroom cleaners are they too storng for the floor

@suspenseful (40193)
Canada
May 19, 2009 11:36pm CST
Last week my husband found that he could not move that well on the linoleum in our bathroom and he told me the reason was that the bathroom cleaner that I use to clean the tub and the sink is too strong and actually will melt the top of the linoleum. I was wondering whether that is true. I washed the lino in clear water a few times and got the top off so it no longer sticks. So are bathroom cleaners suitable just for the tub, toilet, and sink and too abrasive for the floor and does that mean I have to get Mr. Clean or whatever for the floor, and use the Bathroom Cleaner just for the porcelain tub? I am rather cheap and would want a one product does all.
5 people like this
14 responses
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
20 May 09
I think some of it is too harsh for that kind of flooring. There are some milder ones that can be used and will not hurt the floor though. My cleaners do not hurt my linoleum.
2 people like this
@Polly1 (12645)
• United States
20 May 09
White vinagar and water is great to use on the floor. It cleans, is natural, its cheap and it will make your floor shine.
1 person likes this
@Polly1 (12645)
• United States
20 May 09
Thanks for best response. As for if it will remove old stains, I don't know, but you can always try, it won't hurt anyting. My mom and I clean houses, we have had our own business for years. she mops the floors and only uses the vinagar and water solution. We also use it as our glass cleaner, it works good. Here is a funny story about floors and the vinagar/water solution. We had this one house, they had ugly ceramic brown tile. They didn't like it, but the cost of replacing it was way too much. The floor drove my mom nutty, it never looked good. One day she decided to try vinagar and water to mop with. On our way out the door she mopped the floor. Two weeks later we came back, the floor was gleeming, it was so pretty. We both wondered what the heck. my mom wondered if it was from the vinagar, I wondered if they had special floor people in. A couple of weeks later we seen the people, they wanted to know what magic we had did to their floor, it made that much of a difference. The vinagar and water.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
20 May 09
That sounds like a good idea. But if you have stains on your floor, will it get rid of them as well? Our lino is quite old and the ones who put it in did not do a good job of it.
2 people like this
• United States
20 May 09
Thanks for that idea Polly. I'm going to try it out. I love frugal cleaning tips like that. Vinegar is super cheap and in most people's pantry.
2 people like this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
20 May 09
I would think that a all purpose bathroom cleaner would do it all floors included. I don't think it will melt it, but some chemicals might cause damage to the top by taking the thin protective coating off after awhile with multiple usage maybe, but not really sure. I have used cleaners but never hurt it really as long as I rinsed thoroughly.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
20 May 09
My husband's nerves have gone all screwy since his stroke and he does not have as much strength as he used to so cannot lift his feet up. I think that is the problem and I need glasses to read the fine print. They seem to think we all are near-sighted or 12 year old kids.
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
20 May 09
Yeah, I totally understand that, seems we need a magnifying glass to just read it. I guess since there is so much information they have to put on such a small area they have to write that small. Have you tried Oxiclean? I use it for alot of stuff it cleans better then anything I have found so far. I mix a scoop of it in warm water in one of those spray bottles and shake really good..works likes a dream..in most cases no scrubbing..I used it on the bathroom and it cleaned really good no scrubbing the tub. Also baking soda works as well. just dampen it and it cleans really good and if you can stand the smell I also use white vinegar..
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
20 May 09
I use too differnt things for floors it is pinesol very cheap as it goes along ways and makes every thing smell clean!. Scubbing bubbles for tub shower and sink , toliet
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
20 May 09
vinager and baking soda will do them all
1 person likes this
• India
20 May 09
ofcourse bathroom cleaner should be so strong that we can remove very tough dust as bathroom is the place where we bath and used lots of thing those who are chemically strong...But what to do if it doesnot cleaned with very light cleaners we must need some hard cleaner to remove this ..
1 person likes this
@Lindalinda (4111)
• Canada
20 May 09
I think linoleum is special and one should not use an abrasive cleaner. Why use chemicals at all if not necessary? I use baking soda to clean the tub and sinks and rinse with plenty of clean warm water. For the toilet I use toilet bowl cleaner. For the floor and outside of the toilet I usually use my steam cleaner which only used steam and gets into all the little crevices. Sometimes I use a little pinesol in water for the floor. It desinfects and makes the room smell nice. I am extremely sensitive to chemicals and avoid them as much as possible, also I want to spend as little money as possible. I bought my handheld steam cleaner at Canadian Tire a couple of years ago. It was on sale for around $80.00 and has paid for itself many times over. I use it to clean tiles, counters, the shower stall in my guest bathroom, floors and windows when the temperature is no longer cold. All without chemicals, just water that converts into steam.
@riyasam (16556)
• India
20 May 09
i use HARPIC to clean the bathroom floors as well as the tub but i do use another mild disinfectant to swab the floors of the house,i am not sure as to which milder product would be available there in your place.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157555)
• United States
20 May 09
I do not know if it is too strong, so much as it may be unsuitable. Try just some vinegar in water. Some newer flooring gets sticky with certain cleaning products. I have seen it happen. We have that problem at work sometimes. They use a special commercial cleaner for the floors.
@eshaan (6188)
• India
20 May 09
yes some of them have strong acids in them and may destroy the quality of the tiles or any flooring you have. I have also not found a perfect product, as some of them are very mild and do not remove stains and leave your bathroom unclean.
• United States
20 May 09
Some folks swear by vinegar & water for cleaning floors and windows. Baking soda is also suposed to be good for cleaning fiberglass tubs. I don't use any of those home style cleaning products so can't vouch for the truth of them. The bottom line is they are both cheap compared to commercial brands.
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
20 May 09
I think most cleaners that are for the bathrooms are also for the kitchen, but I don't think they say anything about the floor. Instead of getting a new cleaner try looking online for ideas on how to keep your floor clean cheaply. I know that everyone wants to be cheap, not just you, so I hope the link I'm about to offer is helpful in all of your cleaning needs. Of course it's not a referral link! http://linkbee.com/CleanTips
@hotsummer (13835)
• Philippines
20 May 09
i think that are really too strong for your linoleum and also scrubbing the linoleum regardless if you use strong chemical on it or not will also change or take away the smoothness of the skin of the linoleum.
@willy6 (498)
• Jamaica
20 May 09
When using bathroom cleaners you must be very careful. Because it can damage your health. Sometimes we allow cheapness to hamper our health. I believe that if a cleaner is prescribed for bathroom tub then you should follow the instruction, because it is for a reason. I believe that if a cleaner is for the tub you should use it for the tub and not for tub and sink. I know that we want to economise, but the cheapest way is not always the best. So in the future choose the best product and follow instruction.