Today I made cookies, cleaned the kitchen, did the laundry (precious little since I’m staying on top of it as of last week), and then after a long pause where I tried to postpone what I knew would likely be a depressing task, I went to clean the bathroom.
Last week’s bathroom cleaning was a pretty superficial job, so the despair didn’t have a chance to kick in. This week I did a deeper clean, and it didn’t take long for my mental wheels to start spinning.
We live in an old house. Our tub is one of those nice big old porcelain-coated cast iron babies. If it weren’t positioned against an outside wall in our uninsulated house, it would be a great place to take a nice soak. A soak in a hot tub is my favorite cure-all for the blues. Alas, I have not really been able to partake of said cure-all due to the tub-against-uninsulated-wall thing. The hot water cools so fast it’s not even worth filling up the tub. It’s sad. I miss relaxing hot baths making everything better. The porcelain is also fairly worn off after so many years of scouring powder exposure, making it that much harder to keep clean.
Also due to our house being old, our bathroom doesn’t have a vent fan, just a window, which I honestly prefer. My sound sensitivity can’t stand the tick of a clock let alone the whir of a bathroom vent fan. But when the option to prevent moisture from hanging out in your bathroom after you shower is keeping the window open a little bit all year round, guess what? We don’t. Moisture builds up. And mold. Fucking mold. God how I hate mold.
And I don’t know how to get rid of it. I think that at some point it gets in the caulk that seals around the top edge of the tub/bottom edge of the tiled wall, and then forget it, no amount of scrubbing is getting it out. We’ve ripped out and replaced the caulk several times, but it’s a pretty time- and labor-intensive solution to the problem. Would even something horrible like bleach work? We tend to use baking soda and vinegar for most of our cleaning, but this mold thinks that baking soda and vinegar can kiss its ass, so that’s no help.
And here’s where I get stuck. Obvious solutions: install vent fan, rip out and replace caulk, insulate walls. But. BUT! Of course there is a but. We are planning to add on to our house, and that wall next to the tub? Yeah, it’s one of the ones getting knocked out for the addition.
So it’s like, why do all this stuff to a space with a wall you are going to knock down? And will we decide to put in a second bathroom on the second floor or just expand/reorganize the one we have? When is that all going to happen? How are we going to pay for it? The little bit of research I did led me to find out that we can’t get a loan to do the addition unless we’re either married or I put Andy on the title to the house, something I’d honestly rather not do unless we’re married.
So then I get to this place where we have to get married so there won’t be mold in the fucking tub. It’s not a good place to be. Mondays might not last as Domestic Diva Day. I might rather postpone situations like today until at least Wednesday or so, get a little momentum going for the week before I halt myself in my track with this kind of self-inflicted mental torture.
In happier news, we had a nice cozy weekend, made some good food (leftovers reheating now), and I spent another couple hours on paper culling on Saturday. Time to go eat now, I think that will help.
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Oh, the f-ing mold. How I hate it. We have the same problem despite having the window cracked open all the time (no vent either). Replace the caulk every 6 months or so. Bleach helps a little but it’s not worth the aggravation. Andrew can’t understand why we won’t let him take baths. I don’t want his face near that nastiness no matter how much I’ve scrubbed beforehand.
Oof, tough stuff. As far as I’m concerned, the fact that you clean your bathroom once a week is miraculous. I don’t know anyone who does that. Where’s your nomination for sainthood?
Thanks, you guys. I definitely feel better knowing I’m not the only one who struggles to keep mold at bay and to clean the bathroom regularly. Kay, I’m only on week 2 of weekly bathroom cleanings, so alas I don’t think I’m eligible for sainthood just yet
After I wrote this post and ate dinner, I did go back up there with Andy, and I cleaned the sconces while Andy got the rest of the moldy caulk for just the splashguard scraped off (I couldn’t find the right tool). Andy’s going to buy caulk so we can put the splashguard back on, and I’m going to do some vent fan research.
Hey – we have no bathroom fan either in our circa-1950’s house. I use a mild solution of water and bleach to get rid of the mold (I mop the ceiling and wash down surfaces wearing gloves).
The other trick I use on porcelain is pumice stone – it’s very effective at cleaning, without removing or even scratching the surface. Plus it’s more earth-friendly than bleach.
As for the bathroom fan, I did some research at Lowe’s a few weeks back and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. You can get a vent and installation kit for about $150. I talked to an electrician friend who said they’d do the installation (including cutting the hole, etc.) for about $400. It sounded like a good deal since that’s less than my car repairs usually costs.
Good luck on the project, Darcy. Love your Domestic Diva Day idea – you inspired me to make cookies!
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Oh, Darcy! I laughed so hard when I read this:
So then I get to this place where we have to get married so there won’t be mold in the fucking tub.
And then I thought, “Oh, crap! I don’t know if she’s being funny on purpose or not…” So, hopefully, you ARE. What a completely absurd situation!
Hugs for the ick and the mold. Gah! Is it that black stuff? I always called that mildew. Maybe not the same thing. We tend to get black gunk around the caulk in this part of the country, but it cleans off fairly easily, so it doesn’t sound like the same.
I’m embarrassed and ashamed that my bathroom (or house, for that matter) doesn’t get the cleaning-love that yours does. After I get over the embarrassment and shame, I’m hoping to be inspired.
@Jen – you MOP the ceiling? Of the bathroom? I’m confused…And about the pumice stone, I’m afraid I have to show my ignorance. I have a pumice stone for my feet…is it the same thing? Seems like it would harm the porcelain surface. Again, I’m probably just unclear on the concept. But, I have a porcelain kitchen sink that would love to be sparkly-clean if you wouldn’t mind filling me in!
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