How to Steam Clean a Toilet & Bathroom Area

The one thing you don’t want in your bathroom is a toilet with brown stains under the rim. These usually happen when you have hard water. You have to really know how to clean a toilet (and your entire bathroom) to be able to get rid of those. With a steam cleaner, you can clean this, and it’s easy!

Steam cleaning toilets works great and its easy! The high temperature from the pressurized steam breaks down dirt, limescale, and kills 99.9% of germs in your toilet and bathroom. This chemical-free method is effective at sanitizing your entire bathroom.

How to Steam Clean a Toilet

What do I need?

When using steam, all you need is a steam cleaner with the right attachments to do all the cleaning. A few microfiber towels will also come in handy after loosening up all the limescale, dirt, grime, and mold. No need for chemicals and bathroom cleaning solutions.

My pick is for the best portable steam cleaner for cleaning bathrooms is the BISSELL Steam Shot Deluxe Hard-Surface Cleaner. It comes with all the attachments you need and it is a great deal! I reviewed it and other handheld steam cleaners here.

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Before you get down to deep cleaning your toilet, ensure you plug in your handheld steam cleaner. Allow the recommended time for it to be ready to produce steam at 212 °F.

So, here’s how to steam clean your toilet. Follow the steps carefully to remove stains, kill germs, and get a squeaky-clean bathroom.

1. Place the angle nozzle attachment on the hose of your steam cleaner.
2. Steam the toilet bowl and underneath the rim at high pressure to loosen the stains.
3. Direct more steam on the hinges and the toilet seat edges to loosen rust on screws.
4. Direct water from a running hose to wash off the loosened dirt into the toilet bowl.
5. Flush everything down the toilet drain.
6. Wipe off any remaining drops of water or steam with a microfiber cloth. This will leave your toilet clean and dry.

Don’t forget to re-do any parts of your toilet that still have stains and repeat the procedure.

Some people prefer to use vinegar to clean their toilets. If you have to, do not put vinegar in your steam cleaner. Instead, sprinkle it on your toilet before steaming it.

With good steam cleaning action, you can get any dull porcelain toilet surface shiny. This deep cleaning method can restore your bathroom and toilet surface as clean as new again.

Pro tip: Choose a steam cleaner with an angle nozzle attachment for toilets, sinks, and hard-to-reach areas.

Steam Cleaning Other Bathroom Areas

Done cleaning the toilet? That’s not all. Did you know that germs splash all over your bathroom floor when you flush with the lid open? It’s probably one of those mistakes you’ve been doing without knowing.

That means your bathroom floor also needs thorough steam cleaning to disinfect it. There are other dirty shower and bathroom problems you’ll need to attend to. They include:

• Black mold on shower flooring
• Brown spots on bathroom grout
• Shower curtains full of scum
• Dirty shower sinks

You can clean all these with the same steam cleaner you used for your toilet. So, below is a guide on how to clean different bathroom areas with steam.

Steam Cleaning Sinks and Faucets

It can be quite a difficult task to clean around faucets on your sink. As a result, they always accumulate dirt that forms a brown ring around them.

But with a steam cleaner, the work of cleaning a bathroom sink is a lot easier. All you need is a portable high-pressure steam cleaner and the right brush attachment.
Here’s how to steam clean your bathroom sink and faucets.

1. Attach a scrub brush on your steam cleaner.
2. Blast steam and scrub all over the sink using the steam cleaning brush. Ensure the jets of steam pass along any seams and gaps between fixtures.
3. Scrub the faucets as well, paying attention to any stains on them for extra action.
4. Splash clean water on the sink and faucets to get rid of the loose dirt and grime.
5. Wipe and polish the sink and faucets with a microfiber cloth.

This procedure will leave your sink sparkling clean and well sanitized. After the job, the faucets will be as shiny as new. That’s the power of steam cleaning with the right accessories.

Shower Curtains

Ah! Shower curtains can mean to accumulate slime and grime from your shower foam. That’s why you see all those spots of dirt on different areas.

If you’re used to opening and closing shower curtains, it is now time to clean them. And yes, a steam cleaning also applies to these, but be careful! If your curtains are made of plastic a blast of steam may damage them.

As part of your bathroom deep cleaning process, here’s how to steam clean shower curtains:

1. Warm-up your garment steamer.
2. Hang and spread the shower curtains on their rods.
3. Apply steam over the surface with the steamer of the curtains at a distance of about 6 inches. Do this from top to down along the length of your curtains.
4. Wipe the curtains with a microfiber cloth to remove any loose dirt remaining on them.

You can steam clean both plastic and cloth curtains. If you do not have a garment steamer, check out my favorite one – the Pax Home Handheld Garment Steamer.

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Cleaning the Bathroom Floor

You must already know – grout lines can look really nasty in any bathroom. They scream germs and dirt at the first look. They even attempt to accumulate limescale (calcium mineral deposits) on them.

If you find the bathroom floor slippery, it is because there’s plenty of soap scum on them.

But there’s a perfect solution to this – a steam mop. And it works magic in cleaning your bathroom floors if it is made of tile. You want to aim for large amounts of concentrated steam to blast grime and wipe it away.

So, the best solution is a powerful steam mop that works well for tiled floors. I would recommend the multipurpose Bissell PowerFresh Slim Hard Wood Floor Steam Cleaner System for this kind of job.

Another alternative is the Wagner Spraytech 915 steamer. This one comes with great accessories for almost every other surface you want to clean in your house. And that includes removing wallpapers.

With that said, here’s how to deep clean tiled bathroom floors naturally.

1. Prepare your steam mop ready for steaming.
2. Run the steam mop for a good amount of time all over the floor.
3. If there are any stained spots, change the mop attachment and use a spot cleaning one.

Shower Doors and Walls

I used to be a fan of WD-40 for my glass shower doors. It gets the job done and leaves those glass doors free of hard water stains. But that’s not the only thing you can use for shower walls and doors. Steam cleaning is the best option for chemical-free cleaning.

Here’s how to steam clean shower doors and walls:

1. Run a steam cleaner over the shower doors to loosen soap scum and water spots.
2. Wipe off the loosened dirt with a microfiber towel.
3. Run the steam cleaner again, this time with a microfiber attachment to get those clean swipes.

If you like, spray a little vinegar on the walls and glass doors before running the steam mop. It will help with breaking down the soap and hard water scum.

FAQ

Can you steam clean glass shower doors?

Yes, glass shower doors get water spots all the time. If the shower area is small, they get dirty with soap scum. Steam cleaning them breaks down the scum and spots, leaving them sparkling clean.

Should you steam clean a fiberglass tub?

Fiberglass bathtubs are also notorious at accumulating gunk, calcium deposits, and soap scum. They can also stain from bath bombs and other sources of pigment.

Steam cleaning will sanitize your bathtub made of fiberglass. It will also get rid of any visible stain spots in there.

Before cleaning anything installed in your house such as flooring and toilets, check the warranty. Some surfaces get damaged by high temperatures and this may void your warranty.