Bathroom Care Tips for a Delhi Home

1. Deal with limescale weekly, not annually

Delhi’s hard water leaves mineral deposits every time a surface dries. Caught weekly it wipes off; left for a year it needs chemicals and effort, and on chrome it eventually etches.

• Squeegee the shower glass after use. Ten seconds. It is the difference between clear glass and permanently clouded glass, because scale on glass eventually becomes impossible to remove.
• Wipe taps dry after cleaning rather than letting them air-dry, which is what leaves the spots.
• For built-up scale on a tap or shower head, a plastic bag of white vinegar tied around it for an hour does more than scrubbing.
• Never use acidic descalers on marble or natural stone — it etches permanently. Our marble polishing guide covers what that damage actually is.

Our hard water tips cover the wider problem across the home.

2. Get the air out — this is the one that matters

Most bathroom problems in Delhi flats are moisture problems: black spots in the grout, peeling paint on the ceiling, a persistent smell, swollen door bottoms. All of them are ventilation.

• Run the exhaust fan during the shower and for fifteen minutes afterwards, not just while you are in there.
• Clean the fan. An exhaust fan caked in dust and lint moves very little air. Wipe the blades and grille twice a year.
• Check it actually extracts. Hold a tissue to the grille with the fan running — it should hold. If it drops, the duct may be blocked or going nowhere.
• Leave the door open after use where you can, particularly in monsoon.
• Do not dry clothes in a closed bathroom. It puts litres of water into a room designed to lose a little.

3. Drains: hair first, chemicals last

• Fit a hair trap in the shower drain. Costs very little and prevents most blockages before they start.
• Pour a kettle of hot water down each drain weekly. It shifts soap and oil residue before it hardens.
• A smell without a blockage is usually a dry or missing trap — especially in a bathroom used rarely. Running water for a few seconds refills the seal and the smell goes.
• Go easy on caustic drain chemicals. Used repeatedly they damage older pipework and they do nothing for the commonest cause, which is hair. Our blocked drain guide covers what to try first.

4. Learn the early signs of a leak

Bathroom leaks are the most common source of disputes between Delhi neighbours, because the water appears in someone else’s ceiling long before anything shows in yours.

• Grout going dark or crumbling in one specific spot, especially at the floor-wall junction.
• A loose or hollow-sounding tile. Tap around — a change in sound means water has got behind it.
• A patch of wall outside the bathroom that is cool or discoloured. That is usually the first visible sign, and it is on the other side of the wall.
• Anyone below mentioning a mark on their ceiling. Take it seriously immediately; the cost only grows, and so does the difficulty of the conversation.

Our bathroom waterproofing guide covers what a proper fix involves, and the seepage guide covers telling a plumbing leak from external damp.