If you live in Denver, house cleaning is a luxury that can help you free up time to make the most of the beautiful surroundings. The less time you spend inside scrubbing your bathroom, the more time you have to hike, bike, and enjoy the great outdoors. When you hire experienced house cleaners, they’ll know how to tackle one of the most time-consuming cleaning tasks: removing soap scum. But before you pack away your cleaning products for good, read on to learn more about this nagging household ailment.

How It Forms

Soap and water go together like peas and carrots, and they’re much better at cleaning to boot. But this cleansing duo also has a dark side: together, they create a vile substance that can take over the entire bathroom—soap scum. 

Most bar soap contains plant oils, which, when combined with the calcium or magnesium deposits found in hard water, form a cloudy, white or gray film that sticks onto shower walls, doors, and curtains. If left untreated, the buildup can collect mold or mildew, body oils, and even bacteria.

How to Remove It

Unfortunately, once soap scum has built up on a surface, there’s only one way to remove it: scrub, scrub, scrub. Some cleaning companies in Denver may incorporate unconventional solutions such as baking soda, lemon juice, and vinegar—the acids in the latter two help break down the buildup better than many other cleaning products. 

You can probably expect this from green companies like Eco Clean 4U and Exec, which are both dedicated to using eco-friendly cleaning products (Eco Clean 4U has even been known to use that natural baking soda and vinegar combo to clear clogged drains). But no matter how you tackle it, removing soap scum is a difficult and time-consuming process, so prevention is the key to keeping showers scum-free.

How to Prevent It

The easiest way to prevent soap scum buildup, easily enough, is to switch from bar soap to liquid soap. Liquid soaps are often chemically formulated to avoid reacting with mineral deposits. In addition, wiping down the shower walls and doors with a squeegee after each use will help prevent most—if not all—soap-scum buildup. Installing a water-softener showerhead can help, too, by removing those mineral deposits that react with soap in the first place.