How to Clean a Pebble Shower Floor

A pebble shower floor is aesthetically pleasing, however, not quite easy to clean. Because of how the pebble flooring is installed, there’s a high percentage of grout that needs cleaning out, plus multiple gaps and spacing where dirt, grime, or residue can build up over time.

Cleaning a pebble-stone shower floor requires you to invest time to thoroughly scrub the floor and spaces to remove body oils, dirt, soap scum, shampoo residues, and other remnants. Otherwise, you will have to deal with mold and mildew sooner rather than later.

With the right cleaning equipment and guidelines your pebble stone flooring will be sparkling before you know it. Take a look below as we get into further details on what to use when cleaning, and how to clean your floor efficiently.

What to Consider before Cleaning

Before commencing cleaning, you have to ensure you’re following the right steps depending on the type of installation used. Precisely, there are two ways pebble stones are installed;

• Epoxy
• Grout/ sealant

For either of these cases, cleaning occurs differently in that for epoxy, there’s no need for harsh cleaning. Therefore, a pressure washer and a mild detergent will do. Alternatively, hot/warm water mixed with soap can easily remove dirt and residue from the pebble stones.

As for a seal coat/sealant, there’s a large portion of exposed grout that holds into a lot of dirt, grime, and soapy residue. Cleaning will be more intense than the former installation by epoxy.

Since grout sealing is used with porous pebble stones, cleaning will be more thorough to remove any stains and dirt.

This may require a paste from baking soda and vinegar or a proprietary clay-based poultice removes stains from some pebble flooring.

Type of Cleaning

The next step is to identify which type of cleaning you want to do. There are three distinct types;

Mild Washing

Here, you simply wash the shower flooring using mild detergents. This is best for use with small pebble stones to avoid harsh chemicals from corroding the surface of the stones.

Mild Detergents have a more alkaline base as compared to acidic allowing for easy and smooth cleaning.

Avoid harsh household cleaners and bleach because it will etch the surface of the pebble stones causing its appearance to deteriorate every time you clean it.

Other locally manufactured pebble stones such as travertine, limestone, marble, or even granite, can also be affected.

Steam Cleaning

As you can guess, the method uses a handheld steamer to clean and loosen dirt using changes in temperatures. It’s just like using hot water except in form of steam.

The steamer is held approximately three to six inches right above the pebble stone flooring surface where you steam over any dirt and soap scup till the dirt loosens, the rest is easy to clean out by water.

Stone Cleaners

Lastly, this is a more professional way of cleaning out where you use industrial hydrochloric acid along with ph neutral or basic proprietary cleaners to clean out the floor.

Just as you would use the paste, let the cleaning mixture sit for some time to loosen dirt and grime from the hiatus in the flooring. Follow up with the step by step guidelines below.

Step by Step Guide to Cleaning the Shower Floor

Now that you’ve identified what you need for your cleaning process, let’s begin.

Step 1: Collect Water and Add a Disinfectant

Using a container, fetch about a gallon of water and add a mild detergent of your choice. If you don’t have one, you can use vinegar or a mild household cleaning liquid. Gently mix the two together in the container to form a solution that lathers.

Note: If you want deep cleaning, you have to start by applying a paste of your cleaning agents first and letting it sit to loosen the dirt. Then come in with this step by step guide.

Step 2: Begin Washing

Next up is to pour your water and soap mixture all over the floor, corner to corner. The antiseptic detergent should get into every gaping or crevice on the bathroom floor. Pebblestone flooring is very well known to have dark spots and gaps where dirt, grime, and soap residue accumulate over time.

You may leave for the solution to sit for some time or you can move ahead with the next step. If you have hard water deposits especially near the drain, pour some vinegar and let sit before you begin scrubbing.

Step 3: Gently Begin Scrubbing

Using a soft nylon-bristle scrub brush, gently scour the pebbles and the grout to get rid of the dirt. You can move in a back and forth motion or circular motion so as to really get around the stones and corners.

The brush should be sufficient to remove accrued dirt, body oils, soap scum, molds, and mildew.

After brushing, pour over warm water and repeat brushing over any spots that aren’t clean yet.

Step 4: Rinse Out the Soap

When you’re done scrubbing, pour water all over the bathroom to get rid of soap and all the dirt you’ve just cleaned out. Alternatively, open the shower and let the water flow away along with the dirt and soap. You could use either warm or cold water.

Step 5: Finish Up

You can wind up by drying up the floor so it’s not left damp, offering a favorable breeding place for mold and mildew.

If you’re unsatisfied with the results, you can call an expert cleaner to remove the persistent stains. In such a case, they would use strong acids such as hydrochloric acid and hydrogen chloride to thoroughly remove the dirt. However, this is just in extreme cases.

Tips to keep Pebble Floor Clean

Seeing how tiring the cleaning can be, here are a few tips to help you keep the shower floor clean.

• Water breeds mold and mildew therefore, ensure you dry the floor after you use the shower. Even if you can dry it out completely, get as close to it as possible. Do this as well with the shower door or curtain.
• Hard water stains are best removed by vinegar. If you notice the bathroom is accumulating white and layered hard-water deposits, spray a solution of water and vinegar and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Rinse it out and your bathroom is all clean. Hard water stains encourage staining and accumulation of other dirt spots. Therefore, deal with the stains as soon as you see them.
• Maintaining gentle care with the pebble stains. Most flooring solutions use natural stone meaning they can get etched easily if you overly scrub them. What’s more, scratching too hard or using abrasive cleaners can damage the sealant meant to keep the stones in good shape.
• To avoid rough spots use soft cleaners, sponges, or clothes to clean and dry out the bathroom floor. This way you keep the flooring aesthetically pleasing for longer.
• Don’t attempt to vacuum clean your pebble stone shower flooring. This can easily harm the sealant or damage the pebbles. Damaging the sealant isn’t very bad for your flooring because it’s what kept the holes in the pebble stones filled up to avoid the accumulation of dirt and water.
• Regular maintenance is encouraged to maintain the look and authenticity of the stone flooring. After every bath, gently and quickly wipe down the floor with a soft towel or washcloth to reduce and prevent any build-up. Don’t use any abrasive liquids in the bathroom to also maintain its appearance. Constant bleaching is also discouraged.
• Ventilation is also key to keeping the stone flooring fresh and clean always. Ventilation limits the risk of dampening breeding grounds for mold and mildew. After every shower, endeavor to keep the room ventilated and allow for the free circulation of air. Ventilation can also help when dealing with strong chemicals. The less the oxide scent is around, the better.

The most crucial thing when keeping pebble stone shower flooring clean is to occasionally clean the bathroom.

Follow a routine to clean the floor, dry, and aerate. Once a week, wash the shower door and curtains to also avoid inviting mold and mildew into the shower environment. These tips should ensure a clean and appealing bathroom floor.