How To Clean An Old Dirty Stained Bathtub

1 of my goals with having this site is to help people accept their dream home. And let's face it, a tub full of crud (or dye- read to the bottom for that) is not something dreams are fabricated of. Certain, yous can close the shower curtain. Simply a house is meliorate when there aren't muddied secrets ;). If your tub is a mess too, here is how to clean a dingy bathtub.

how to clean a muddy bathtub

This is the "before" photograph of my dingy bathtub from 2017. How embarrassing! Information technology was covered in stains and dirt. I take tried And then many times to get the tub make clean that I was planning on resurfacing it since I just couldn't go it looking at all clean.

I figured that I would try ane more time to clean it since I was redoing my bath and needed a pretty tub to go with the residue of the re-finished space.

why I didn't desire to resurface or paint

I didn't want to resurface for a few reasons.

The first reason is the cost- it costs around $300 to resurface a tub.

I figured if I could clean it for $5 worth of cleaning supplies that's a huge price departure!

The 2nd reason is that you can't utilize your tub for 24 hours after reglazing it. With this beingness our only bathroom and already not existence able to utilize it while we redo the wall tile, we wanted to avert those extra days.

And judge what?! Cleaning the tub worked! At first, I tried using Lime away and that got a small portion of the grime off, enough for me to have promise.

What really made the difference was spraying the tub downwardly with a mixture of i/2 warm water and 1/ii white vinegar.

I then sprinkled baking soda over the tub. Next, I allow that sit a few minutes and then fabricated a paste out of the water/vinegar and baking soda. Then, I let that sit down for xv minutes.

It took some major elbow grease to go the rest of the crud off (and probably 1 hour of scrubbing- I used a sponge and a cleaning toothbrush).

At commencement, it didn't seem to be working that well, but presently pretty every niggling stain came off! I was thrilled! If yous have super stubborn stains, you lot can soak a paper towel in white vinegar and let information technology sit down on the stain for 1-2 hours and then make the baking soda paste.

There are all of the instructions for all of your Pinterest needs ;). And hither is a earlier and after gif for your enjoyment. This is earlier the wall tiles were redone.

After the bathroom tile was finished, the whole space looked shiny and pretty!

how to get dye out of a bathtub

If you saw my post a few days ago, you saw I made the huge mistake of dyeing my drapes in the bathtub. When the water drained out- it was And so pink! Cat in the Chapeau pink ring in the tub pink. What was I thinking pink!

But I'd cleaned my tub earlier with vinegar, hot h2o, and blistering so I'd try information technology again. I did and it was a fail. Information technology cleaned the grime off, simply didn't touch the pink- sob!

I asked my readers on Instagram for help with cleaning the tub. Here's what they suggested-

Magic eraser
@gocleanco hot h2o/ bleach / powdered tide
Comet
Oxyclean
Scrubbing drill attachment
Soft scrub
Cloralen
Coca Cola
Gel bleach
White ox
Bon ami pulverization
Ajax
Whitening toothpaste
RIT color remover
Denture cleaning tablet
Dishwasher tablets
Dye absorbing textile
Boat hull cleaner
Acetone
Borax
Rust remover spray
Dawn dishsoap
Paint the tub
Pink stuff paste
Mr. Green
Lime away
Lemon essential oil
Dr. Brommers Castile soap
Oven cleaner
Peroxide
vim
Thieves
Norwex paste
Pomice stone for cleaning
Bleach and hot water
Barkeepers Friend
Toilet bowl cleaner
Vinegar and Baking Soda
Rubbing Alcohol

One matter that made cleaning my tub tricky is that my vintage 1950's bandage iron tub had been painted white by the previous owner. It used to be blue! Only I think the white pigment held onto the dye and was harder to clean that porcelain.

what worked and what didn't work with cleaning the tub

bleach and water

The first matter that I tried that worked swell was mixing 1 gallon hot water and 1/2 loving cup bleach and letting that soak in the tub overnight. I made sure to open the window and plow on the fan to endeavor and go on the fumes downward.

Notation, when cleaning a bathtub, make sure to employ hot water. Information technology warms upward the tub and volition really make the cleaning products more effective!

bar keeper's friend

The second thing that worked was using Bar Keeper's friend. I rinsed the tub with hot water and and so sprinkled the powder on. I used a dish brush to cover the pink dye and then kept scrubbing. Soon the white powder mixture turned pink! It works!

I left the Bar Keeper'southward Friend powder mixture on the tub so about once an 60 minutes, came back, added a little more hot water and scrubbed some more than. At the dorsum of the tub the pink started to disappear! Again, more signs information technology was working!

This is the first time I've used Bar Keeper'south Friend and now I'm wondering what took and so long?! I'm so glad to now have this affordable cleaner every bit a nifty option around my house!

Note, if you lot attempt different methods like this, MAKE SURE TO RINSE THE TUB between tries! Mixing bleach with other cleaners can create toxic fumes that could send you to the hospital. Don't do it!

Second annotation, I wish I would take invested in a drill scrub brush attachment! They are super affordable and would accept made all the hours of scrubbing go by quicker.

toilet basin cleaner

Next, I tried squirting toilet bowl cleaner onto the tub. I covered the dye stained parts with the toilet bowl cleaner (brand sure to use a cleaner with bleach in it). And so I permit it sit.

This worked very well! My husband helped me with this project because he was sure he'd be better at information technology (spoiler warning- he was). He used a TON of toilet bowl cleaner and it worked like a amuse!

Notation- do not put the toilet bowl cleaner on grout or on tub hardware. It can ruin the grout and the cease on the hardware.

what didn't work

magic eraser

At this point, I knew that bleach, toilet bowl cleaner, and bar keeper's friend worked neat! But I was having fun trying methods!

I used a magic eraser and soaked it with hot h2o. I scrubbed and scrubbed with information technology, but it didn't touch the dye.

rubbing alcohol

Some other matter that didn't work for the dye was using rubbing alcohol to try and become it out. I cascade rubbing alcohol on a sponge and tried scrubbing the tub, but information technology too didn't remove any dye.

Go Clean Co's bleach, tide, water mix

Probably the number ane suggestion I received was to use Go Make clean Co's mixture of 1/3 loving cup bleach, 1 gallon hot water, 1 teaspoon of powdered tide. So I bought the powdered tide and tried it out! I was And then hopeful! Probably 100 people wrote to me suggesting to try it.

And exercise y'all know what, it got the soap scum off the tiles like a dream, just it didn't remove the dye very well. Information technology really didn't piece of work for this purpose. Simply for cleaning a tub, I think this is a winning combination!

Notation- Clorox'southward website says that mixing Tide and Clorox is fine. But don't mix information technology with anything else! Once more, any mixing of cleaning products with bleach tin cause toxic fumes and it'due south but not worth the risk!

getting the tub white

After trying a agglomeration of different methods, we continued using a bleach soak overnight, the toilet bowl cleaner, and Bar Keeper's friend to get the tub white once again. Those were the winners for getting the dye out!

It'south not quite perfect, simply I'thousand sure with a few more than scrubs it'll be back to pearly white. To be honest, this is the cleanest this tub has been in awhile!

Notation, the paint on the tub came off in a few spots from the farthermost chemicals and cleaning. We'll accept to impact those up. If you're cleaning a painted tub, know that the paint coming upward may be an adverse side effect.

And there you go, how to clean a dyed tub! I just showed my husband this and he said- "should have bought some drapes." And he's not wrong- lol! But it came make clean and now I'grand a professional tub cleaner ;). Hopefully this is helpful if you take a dingy tub too.