Expert Tips for Spring Cleaning in your Bathroom

Spring is the perfect time to take hold of bathroom cleaning. America Now News recently featured a few expert tips to making sure your bathroom is in its best shape for the summer:

"Don't overdo it. Avoid using too many cleaners and dilute the products you do spray in the bathroom. The fumes in cleaning products can affect the lungs, Duberg explained. It's also important to open windows or turn on a fan while cleaning to avoid breathing in fumes. "These chemicals are carcinogenic, they can affect your endocrine and nervous system," she cautioned.

Don't let things go. If basic cleaning, such as removing visible dirt, occurs regularly, spring-cleaning to remove scum, mold and lime scale, which can breed bacteria, isn't as big a challenge.

Read directions. Read cleaning product labels carefully and be sure to follow the manufacturers' directions on how they should be used. "The label will have information on how long the sanitizer needs to stay on the surface and how to dilute the product," Duberg said.

Take extra precautions. When someone is sick, surface areas should be cleaned more frequently. Paper towels should be used to dry hands rather than a cloth towel to prevent the spread of germs. Toothbrushes should also be dried and put away. "If you leave it out in the bathroom, the aerosols from flushing the toilet with the lid up (there are approximately 3 million bacteria per square inch in most toilet bowls) will float over all the surfaces including your toothbrush," Duberg said. "It's time to break the cycle of infection."

Use bleach properly. Bleach is effective against germs, but it isn't safe for children or pets. When using a 10 percent bleach solution, wash the surfaces with hot, soapy water afterwards. Bleach solution must also be made fresh and used within 24 hours.

Try vinegar. Vinegar can be an effective surface cleaner. Mix one part white distilled vinegar with nine parts water to create a safe and inexpensive cleaning product. Undiluted white distilled vinegar mixed with baking soda can also be used to remove scum. "The fewer the cleaning products, the better," Duberg said. "Vinegar is inexpensive, is not harmful to kids and pets, and always leaves a shine."

Tips from America Now News.

Bath Planet in Business New Haven

Bath Planet was recently featured in an article in Business New Haven on February 26th, 2013 entitled “Rub-a-Dub-Dub: Bath Planet Cleans Up”.  The article was coordinated with Bath Planet Senior Vice President Rick Hirschhaut and Bath Planet Dealer Brad Pompilli and reporter Felicia Hunter.

The article talks about how Bath Planet grew during the recession and was prepared when the housing remodeling boom hit.  They talk about how Brad Pompilli’s Connecticut dealership is booming.  The article also gives information on how much certain services cost, and how much it costs to become a dealer.

"Most CEOs might consider that advice counterintuitive. But it's worked for Bath Planet Senior Vice President Rick Hirschhaut, who oversaw the opening of his company's first licensed dealership in Connecticut last year. More are welcome, he says. 'When the world took a turn in 2008 in the economy, when a lot of people went into their cocoon, we doubled the size of our manufacturing facility and added headcount (staff) instead of reducing headcount,' says Hirschhaut. The reason? 'We knew there was a wave coming and we wanted to be ready for that wave,' Hirschhaut expains. That wave swelled towards the remodeling industry, which has been a very lucrative business over the past few years, says Hirschhaut." 

Read the rest of the article here.

World's Coolest Hotel Bathrooms

Great article posted on the Travel and Leisure.com that also appeared in "Making a Splash" in T+L Magazine about some of the coolest bathrooms around the globe, from Paris to Utah. Click here to read the full article.

World's Coolest Hotel Bathrooms
By: Adam Sachs
I first fell for Tokyo when I arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel at Marunouchi and read the little sign in my bathroom.

“Don’t be afraid of our toilet,” the note begged, politely, reassuringly.

I was far from afraid. I was transfixed, happy. I pressed all the buttons on the toilet, even the ones with the pictures of things I’d never want to have happen or couldn’t really comprehend. When that was done, I drew a bath in the outsize tub at the center of the room, fiddled with the electric shades and dimmers, turned on some hotel music, disgorged all the bath salts, and fetched a Cognac from the mini-bar.

Our bathroom rituals are different in hotels than they are at home because the function of that room is altered and enlarged. The home bath is a way station on the path of the everyday. Traveling, we’re off our routine and in need of comfort, warmth, and cleansing.

(Read More)