Five parts of the toilet you never knew needed a deep clean (and how to clean them)
9honey Living's The Wash Up: Your 30-day spring cleaning guide is a month-long series aimed at making your annual house clean easier with hacks and expert advice.
If you've dusted and disinfected the toilet cistern, seat and lid and scrubbed inside the toilet bowl you might think you're finished cleaning the toilet.
Well, for a regular weekly clean that's often enough, but every now and then there are some other parts of the toilet that need attention to remove germs, mould, grime and bad odours.
"Deep cleaning a toilet goes beyond the usual swish of the toilet bowl," Simone Tsigolis, founder of cleaning company Jetlag Remedy, tells 9honey Living.
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There's more to deep cleaning the toilet than just the exterior. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Neglected toilet parts to include in a deep clean
Toilet hinges
"Remove the toilet seat entirely," Kate Croukamp from Clean Like a Pro says. "You'd be shocked what is lurking until the hinges."
Some toilets have handy clips that you can lift up to remove the toilet seat to easily tackle hinges, others will need the screws (which will also need a clean) removed.
"I always find the dirtiest part of the toilet to be the toilet seat hinge because this is not cleaned and it attracts a lot of waste, especially in homes where people stand-up to use the toilet," Delah Gomasi, Maid For You director, tells 9honey Living.
If you can't remove these or reach any other nooks and crannies while cleaning the toilet, Tsigolis recommends using a toothbrush or small scrubbing brush "to clean hard-to-reach areas".
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Some toilets have hinges like this that allow the seat to easily be removed. Getty
9honey/PollyHanning
Cistern/toilet tank
You probably wipe over this, but rarely do we look inside, let alone clean the toilet tank or cistern.
If you do lift up the cover you might see a at least a little bit of grime or discolouration, which is easily fixed.
"Depending on where you're located, a toilet tank that hasn't been cleaned will usually have light brown markings. This is due to the iron and mineral content of the water in which you live," Gomasi says.
"We usually just fill it halfway with white vinegar and wipe down the sides with a vinegar-saturated microfibre cloth. We let it sit overnight and by the morning the brown markings will have been dissolved and what's left is a clean toilet tank interior."
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You porbably don't look here much or at all but it can be quite filthy inside. Getty
Wall and floor
Not everything is contained to the toilet bowl, especially if you don't flush with the lid down. That means there's plenty of bacteria, stains and build up to be found on the floor around the toilet and the wall behind and beside it.
Cleaning these areas is relatively easy, depending on how bad the build up or odour in the room is.
"Use a cleaning product that also disinfects, like our PRO Bathroom & Toilet. For effective disinfection, let the product sit on the surface for at least 10 minutes," Croukamp says.
Toilet seat bumpers/buffers
Those little curved things on the underside of your toilet seat collect a surprising amount of residue, making them stained and potentially smelly.
It is possible to remove them to give them a clean with an enzyme-based cleaning spray or at least a spray with disinfectant.
The crevice can be cleaned with an old toothbrush and your chosen bathroom cleaner.
Toilet seat buffers or bumpers can also be replaced with parts available at stores like Bunnings.
The little bumpers on the underside of the toilet seat can collect germs and grime too. Getty Images/iStockphoto
Toilet brush
So far the neglected parts of the toilet we've covered get forgotten because they can't be easily seen, but the toilet brush is sitting right there waiting to be disinfected.
It's easier to clean than you'd think because all you need to do is sandwich the handle in between the toilet bowl and seat to be able to rinse and disinfect the brush head.
Meanwhile, the handle and container can be cleaned with disinfectant and wiped over.
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Toilet brushes work hard but rarely get cleaned. Getty Images/iStockphoto
How to deep clean the toilet
After dusting, disinfecting and scrubbing the toilet base, bowl, seat, lid and tank (making sure to include the areas listed above), a deep clean is a good time to tackle hard water stains in the toilet bowl.
Croukamp recommends using a toilet-specific descaler for this, while Tsigolis prefers tricleanium.
"Pour some tricleanium the bowl and let it sit in there for an hour and do the magic for you. Tricleanium cuts straight through the grime. No extensive scrubbing required," she says.
You can also try one of the hacks listed here.
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