Welcome to Pinterest Tested! Ever wonder if that miracle cleaner is really miraculous? Or what about that homemade facial cleanser? Does it work? This is the place to find out! Each Monday I am testing Pins that catch my eye to see if they really live up to the claims made on Pinterest.
Today I am testing this Pin:
THE TEST: Are baking soda and hydrogen peroxide a miracle cleaner for bathroom gunk?
Lately I have been noticing the gross build-up around my bathroom faucets, so I thought I would try it out.
I mixed up the cleaner, applied it to the faucett, let it sit for 10 minutes, then scrubbed everything with a toothbrush.
Here’s what it looked like before and after:
Can you see a difference? The brown stuff is a little lighter. But yeah, not a whole lot, huh?!
I think the cleaner did a much better job on the knob tops. They went from brown and crusty to only slightly old looking. Definitely an improvement!
The crusty stuff at the base of the round knobs didn’t look like much of a change. But I know it did clean a lot of it off, because when I poured water over the handle, all this gunk came shooting out:
THE RESULTS: I think the cleaner worked. I just wouldn’t call it a miracle cleaning solution…the difference after cleaning just wasn’t miraculous enough to me. I do love that the cleaner didn’t have a strong odor, that I had the ingredients on hand and that it was inexpensive. ETA: I used this solution to clean the linoleum floor in my bathroom and it worked really well. I let the paste sit for ten minutes and the just wiped away all the dirt that normally requires intense scrubbing and harsh chemicals to remove. So there you go…. it’s not so effective for the faucets but it worked great on the floor!
P.S. If you know how I can get these knobs looking a little less shabby, I’d love to hear suggestions.
Comments & Reviews
The top center piece of your knobs can be pried off. Then you can clean inside. It will look much better.
Thanks for the tip, Jeanette! I think I am also going to try to take the entire knob off so I can really attack that nasty build-up.
Just an FYI about baking soda & hydrogen peroxide and things we used them for that really work great:
To remove marker, pen ink and crayon from walls, make a paste of baking soda and water. Rub over what you're trying to remove and then wipe clean with wash rag. It works great and no need buying other cleaners.
Hydrogen peroxide is wonderful for removing blood from clothing, pillow cases, etc – especially when the little people in your home have bloody noses. Just pour (or better yet, use a spray bottle) on stained area and allow bubbles to work. Blot with cotton balls or wash cloth. Repeat until all traces are gone 🙂
It looks to me like the plating has actually bubbled and is coming off the bottom of your taps. (where they meet the sink top) If that is the case, there is no cleaner that will improve that situation, as the taps/faucet have been damaged at some time by standing water and really can't be fixed by a cleaning solution. 🙁 But, more power to the Miracle Cleaner!! It really does work. 🙂
You can buy new faucet handles at a home improvement store. They are easy to replace, one screw! Just be sure to save your receipt or take your original handle to match up.
The distilled white vinegar has worked the best for me for getting build up and junk off my faucets. It works for shower heads, drain plugs, etc. You can either pour it on and let it soak. Or (for shower heads) you can put some in a plastic bag and cover the shower head with it and secure with a rubber band. Leave for 10 minutes then clean it off.
It's either wearing off the original plating, like a previous post suggested. Or it could be some serious calcium build up. Have you ever tried CLR?? Works wonders for me!
I used this "miracle" cleaner on my stovetop under and around my burner pans (which were really gross from grease build up) and they came clean with a little scrubbing….I mean sparkling clean.
I'm a big fan of the baking soda/hydrogen peroxide paste for cleaning all kinds of things. It works just as well as the expensive "Cerama-bryte" for cleaning my glass cook top. I also used it to clean a white painted wood table that my kids had virtually destroyed with permanent markers, crayons, dried glue, etc. It's awesome for cutting through soap scum in showers, cleaning grout, and getting rid of rust stains in the bathroom. I'm always finding something to clean with it! I kind of think of it like a liquid magic eraser. 🙂 BUT the one thing it didn't work on was my pans, like you posted. I thought I was doing something wrong- glad it wasn't just me! LOVE these Pinterest-Tested posts, by the way.
Use the Dawn and vinegar mix. Soak a paper towel in the solution and leave it like you would the tub. I let mine sit overnight. Then just wipe it away. It worked wonders on my faucet that looked a lot like yours.
I actually did the test with the white vinegar and dawn solution. Awesome! I have pictures of the before and after and it's a biiig difference! I wasn't planning on using it on the faucets but I figured what the heck and tried it out. I think your Miracle Cleaner did help, I can see a bit of a difference. I love that you showed the good, bad and ugly. It bugs me when you can't see the difference between the before and after because the pictures are "churched up", that ain't real life! Real life is dirty and messy! Right?! Anyhoo, I would really suggest the White Vinegar and Dawn mix. They even have a 'Cleaning Vinegar' I think it's a bit stronger than the cooking? Not sure though. Good luck, I'd love to see if you get it fixed!!
Thanks for all the helpful comments! We have actually moved since I tested this Pin, and the faucets in our new place are in much better shape, so I won't be able to test out all your great suggestions, but I'll file them away for future use.
And Emilee–I like the way you think. I actually had a rather rude anonymous comment saying she was scared to ever come to my house because everything would be covered in grime. Oh, please. Dirt happens. Let's keep it real.
Thanks again, everyone!
You know what DOES work on all that mineral buildup?? "The Works" toilet bowl cleaner!! Seriously. I don't know what they put in that stuff, but use gloves and don't get a whiff of it. It will burn your nostrils. Just a little squirt, let it sit, scrub with an old toothbrush and rinse! Its also fabulous if you have a water/ice dispenser on the front of your fridge and you have hard water stains on the tray!
Hi, hot sauce work wonders. Just put on and leave it for 5 minutes I think, then wipe it. This is what they do on the navy ships.
tilex for a few minutes, scrub hard!, clean completely, dry completely, windex.
Use a microfiber cloth! They have them at my Dollar Store, and they are miraculous. Try it both wet and dry, sometimes one works better than the other. No chemicals either.
The peroxide & baking soda worked like a dream on a nasty looking candy mold I got super cheap at a thrift store. It looks like new now! All the bubbles really got in all the crevices and magic!
the faucets looked like hard water deposits were doing a lot of the damage. Hard water cleaners like The Works will work best.
The reason yours didn't work so great is because it looks like your faucet fittings are plastic and not metal.
You needed to use cream of tarter. Now that's a miracle solution! I promise!
Use Lime Out to get your taps looking clean….really works!!!
I used a pin that said to use Ketchup to clean my taps. Destroyed the finish on my bronze taps. Warning