From TikTok to forums devoted to Mrs Hinch and plenty of other places besides, it feels like nowadays everyone loves a cleaning hack, and often there are as many suggestions to fix a problem as there are internet posters talking about it.
But having exhausted the various bathroom sprays in my local supermarket to tackle a long-running issue with mould in our bathroom, I was surprised to see a surprisingly unanimous response to the best product to tackle the unsightly problem.
HG mould removing spray works on black mould and mildew on all kinds of surfaces including tiles, silicon seals, grout and plaster. With it currently available on Amazon for just £4.65, reduced from its usual £5.99 price tag, it felt like the perfect time to give it a try.
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When it arrived in a plain looking black and white bottle it looked a bit underwhelming, but with more than 24,000 Amazon reviews and a star rating of 4.6 out of 5, and hundreds of devotees on cleaning forums and Facebook groups who was I to judge a book by its cover?
Having spoken to experts on what causes mould around the house I already knew the reasons why our bathroom was mould central. But despite a lot of elbow grease and a collection of different suggested sprays, potions and, frankly, old wives tales (it turns out in the end I'd rather have mould in my bathroom than it smell like a chip shop), we hadn't found anything that would successfully tackle the spores that had been growing on the ceiling, tiles and grout in the shower for years before we moved into our new home.
And once winter fully set in and we realised the room became pretty much the coldest in the house, I was happy to give up trying anything new for a while. I'd been told the reason the mould had got so bad was basically a perfect storm - our bathroom had the ideal post-shower steamy conditions every bathroom had, but with none of the things that you can usually easily use to combat the humid conditions that allow mould to spread - an opening window, radiator or extractor fan.
The bathroom window has never opened while both the heated towel rail and extractor fan were broken from the day we moved in. After a cold winter it's fair to say that our feature window, now with black mould between all the grouting, was a feature for all the wrong reasons.
But, having finally got someone in to tackle the towel rail and fit a new extractor fan we were ready to try and banish the mould, feeling like the fight was finally worth it as it wouldn't grow back so quickly with at least a couple of weapons now in place to slow down its return.
I envisaged a few hours of faff, rubber gloves, and a lot of elbow grease. Little did I know.
Having taken the before photos I put on some rubber gloves and made sure I'd taken off my favourite cardigan just in case, the spray does contain bleach after all, and then liberally sprayed it around the window and on the mouldy patches of the ceiling.
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While the HG BBQ spray which I've used previously foams up and sticks to the surfaces it's cleaning, the mould spray is very runny. So you can give it a good spray but I had a large handful of kitchen roll in the other hand to mop up the puddles that dripped down onto the window ledge once I'd finished applying it - and if you've got any nearby towels or anything you're worried about getting bleach on you're probably wise to move them out of the way.
Also, as a word of warning, it definitely smells strong and (unsurprisingly) bleach like. As someone with mild asthma I didn't hang about once I'd sprayed it and, ironically, if my bathroom window did actually open I would have made sure it was throughout the process.
Once I'd given everything a thorough spray I stepped away for half an hour, expecting that on my return I'd have to use a cloth to fully tackle the mould once the spray had soaked in.
When I came back I was actually genuinely amazed. Without even having to wipe at it the mould was gone. It was incredible and frankly a cleaning revelation.
It might be a sign that I'm old but the joy I got from seeing my bathroom free of black marks and gleaming was worth every penny of that fiver, and actually probably a lot more. I'll definitely be keeping some spray in my cupboard in case I need it again.
HG Spray is on offer at Amazon now but is also available to click and collect at B&Q for £5.40 if you can't wait.
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