Despite our best efforts at keeping our shower clean, we managed to get a small buildup of mildew in our shower that, by the time we cleaned it, stained the caulking. I looked around on the internet to see if I could find any recommended products for cleaning mildew stains and mostly just found things like bleach or vinegar with a lot of scrubbing. I tried that and it didn’t work very well – you could still see some stains in the caulk and grout.
Since I had to go to Home Depot for something else anyway, I decided to check the cleaning supplies aisle while there for products. That’s where I found Zep Mold & Mildew Stain Remover. It is a commercial strength stain remover. I’m always skeptical about products as I’ve bought plenty of other products over the years that make over-stated claims. This product, however, was relatively under-stated – it came in a nondescript blue gallon bottle and didn’t over-hype it’s claims. And it was relatively inexpensive. I bought it, skeptical that it would do anything, but figured it couldn’t make things worse.
On the back of the bottle it says to spray it on the stained areas and only let it sit for 2 to 3 minutes before rinsing it off. I thought to myself, “There is no way this will have any effect in 2 to 3 minutes.” So, I sprayed it on, thickly, and left it for a good 8 to 10 minutes. When I went back into the bathroom, I was stunned. Our tile, grout, and caulking were all glistening white. I couldn’t stay in there, though, because the fumes were so bad they started to burn my eyes. I sprayed the shower down as quickly as I could with water then left. I came back about 10 minutes later and sprayed the shower down again. All of the stains were gone!
Now, this isn’t exactly a miracle product – it did eat away at some of the caulking, which we ultimately had to remove, but that just speaks to the power of the product. This is some serious stuff!
If you have mildew stains or even just mildew build up and don’t really want to expend a lot of elbow grease trying to get rid of it, give Zep Mold & Mildew Stain Remover a try. I’m not getting paid to say this (though if Zep wants to send a check my way, I wouldn’t refuse it), but I’m recommending it highly. If I had found out about this stuff before I spent an hour scrubbing my shower, I could have saved myself an hour scrubbing the shower and ended up with the same result. Just be aware that this stuff is caustic and works fast – use with caution!
