How to clean shower tiles: soap scum, mildew and dull bathroom tiles

Step by step: how to clean shower tiles

Safety first. Never mix bleach with vinegar, ammonia or other cleaners. Turn on the bath fan or open a window, wear gloves, and stand on a dry mat rather than a wet tub edge when you reach high tiles.

1. 1

   Clear the shower and turn on the fan

   Take out bottles, razors, sponges and the bath mat so you can reach every tile. Turn on the bathroom fan or open a window before you spray anything. Check whether the tile is glazed ceramic, porcelain or natural stone, because stone needs a different cleaner.

2. 2

   Rinse the walls with hot water

   Run the shower on hot for 2 to 3 minutes with the door closed, then spray the walls with the hand shower or splash them with a cup. The heat and steam soften soap scum so the cleaner works faster.

3. 3

   Spray the cleaner from the bottom up

   Spray a tub and tile cleaner, or a mix of equal parts warm white vinegar and water with a teaspoon of dish soap, starting at the bottom and working up. Spraying upward stops drips from leaving clean streaks on dry tile. Use a pH-neutral stone cleaner instead on marble, travertine or limestone.

4. 4

   Let it sit for 10 minutes

   Leave the cleaner on for about 10 minutes, or the time on the label, and re-mist any area that dries. This dwell time is what lets soap scum wipe away instead of needing hard scrubbing.

5. 5

   Scrub from the top down

   Scrub the tile in small circles with a long-handled nylon brush, starting at the top so dirty runoff flows over areas you have not done yet. Go over the grout lines with a grout brush. Pay extra attention to the bottom 2 feet and the corners, where soap scum and mildew collect.

6. 6

   Treat mildew spots separately

   If dark spots remain in corners or grout, rinse everything first, then apply a diluted bleach solution of about 1/3 cup bleach per gallon of water to those areas on glazed tile and leave it wet for 10 minutes. Rinse again thoroughly. Never use bleach right after vinegar without a full rinse in between.

7. 7

   Rinse well and squeegee

   Rinse every wall from the top down until no cleaner or film remains; leftover residue dries to a dull haze. Squeegee the tile and wipe the edges and fixtures with a dry microfiber cloth. Leave the fan on for at least 20 minutes afterward.

8. 8

   Mop the bathroom floor tiles last

   Sweep or vacuum the floor, then mop with warm water and a few drops of dish soap or a pH-neutral floor cleaner. Scrub the grout lines in front of the shower and around the toilet base with a brush. Dry the floor with a towel so mop water does not sit in the grout.

How to clean shower tiles by tile type

Glazed ceramic and porcelain can handle vinegar, tub and tile cleaners and diluted bleach; natural stone needs a pH-neutral cleaner and no acids at all.

The Natural Stone Institute warns that lemon, vinegar and other acids can dull or etch calcareous stone, and suggests a squeegee after each shower to keep soap scum down. Our travertine guide covers stone showers in detail.

How to deal with mildew on shower tiles

Mildew on tile and grout is surface mold, and you clean it like mold: scrub it off, rinse, and then fix the moisture that let it grow. On glazed tile, a diluted bleach solution also lightens the stains.

Clorox’s bathroom guide uses 1/3 cup of bleach per gallon of water on walls and leaves it wet for 10 minutes. The EPA’s mold cleanup advice is to scrub mold off hard surfaces with detergent and water and dry them completely, and notes that absorbent materials may need replacing. In a shower, that means moldy caulk: if black spots sit under the surface of the silicone, cut it out and recaulk. For bigger problems, see our guide on how to clean shower mold.

How to keep shower tiles clean between scrubs

Remove water and soap before they dry. A few seconds after each shower saves most of the weekly scrubbing.

• Squeegee the walls after the last shower of the day, starting at the top.
• Run the bath fan during the shower and for 20 to 30 minutes after. The EPA points to ventilation and more frequent cleaning as the way to stop mold coming back in bathrooms.
• Switch from bar soap to liquid body wash; bar soap leaves more scum on tile, especially with hard water.
• Keep the grout sealed, as covered in our guide on how to clean grout.

Mistakes to avoid

• Spraying vinegar on marble or travertine tiles, which etches dull spots into the stone.
• Wiping the cleaner off right away instead of giving it 10 minutes to dissolve soap scum.
• Scrubbing from the bottom up, so dirty runoff streaks the tiles you just cleaned.
• Using bleach and vinegar back to back without rinsing in between.
• Skipping the final rinse, which leaves a dull, sticky film that attracts new grime.