Snot..........sorry I mean Grot Buster (Domestos Grot Buster)

Member Name: ButterBear

Product:	Domestos Grot Buster
Date:	16/10/08 (183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Touch, tackles stains. Can be used on more than just loos

Disadvantages: Takes longer on underwater areas. Doesn't totally remove rust stains

When we first moved into our home the bathroom was, shall we say, unsatisfactory however with so many other rooms needing decoration the bathroom was somewhat neglected, that didn't stop me keeping it gleaming clean though and with small children in the house the toilet was always at the top of the cleaning list. I was always happy using Harpic toilet cleaner, it kept everything clean and hygienic until the time came to decorate the bathroom, the man that came in to do our tiling (badly I might add) not only left dirty footprints all over my house but also flicked tile grout into the toilet bowl, I'm not entirely sure why he felt the need to do that but nevertheless I was unable to keep the bowl as clean as I was used to, it was almost like the grout was encouraging the dirt to gather, no matter how much bleach and scrubbing was used I was never happy with the results.

The time came when in desperation I was forced to change my favourite product for another, I had read a review by another site member (thank you MarcoG) on Domestos Grot Buster and it sounded like it could be quite a useful product, when I saw in my local Wilkinsons store for £1.99 I decided to snap up a bottle and try it out at home, after all it couldn't do any worse then what I was already using.

Domestos Grot Buster comes in a similar design bottle to the regular toilet bleach "duck" shaped bottles with the angled head and nozzle making it easy to apply under the rim of the toilet and other tricky areas, it's black plastic bottle stands out against other more brightly packaged bleaches meaning you're unlikely to miss it on the shelf. It has a very fine blue nozzle for more direct application and a clear unscrew cap that has the usually squeeze sides for security. The product itself is a clear thick liquid, I was very surprised when I went to apply the product as I expected the rush of water blue liquid that usually comes from a toilet bleach, what I saw I can only describe in one less then pleasant way- you know when you're out and about in winter and a snuffly toddler approaches with something slightly unpleasant dripping from their nose that their mother should probably wipe up, well that's what Grot Buster looks like to me.

Being so thick you can't just give the bottle a quick swish around the toilet bowl and hope for a good even covering, you need to take time applying the product and make sure you've covered all the areas well. It's specially designed to cling to vertical surfaces and as such takes quite some time to disperse down the toilet bowl, so you need to be quite generous if you want a good coverage. At first you don't really notice the smell of the product, however once you leave it to get to work it soon starts releasing the unmistakable smell of bleach, in fact I could smell the bleach in my living room while the product was working in the bathroom upstairs.

I had applied a fair amount of the product to my problem areas and returned a few hours later to see the results, the water seemed to have an odd foamy layer on it so after giving the toilet bowl a good scrub with the brush I pulled the flush to get a clearer view. I was delighted, the ring of lime scale, or whatever nasty substance it was, was gone leaving my toilet bowl lovely and clean again, there was still a small amount below the water level but there was a clear difference after using Grot Buster. I decided to tackle to stains under the water level over night and so poured in a generous helping of Grot Buster and left it to do its thing. Next morning we were once again greeted by the foamy layer in the waters surface but once that was flushed away we were left with a gleaming toilet bowl........well almost, unfortunately there is still a blob of grout which would take a chisel to remove but at least it's clean again.

I noticed on the bottle that it is suitable for removing stains on areas other then just the toilet and set to work trying to remove some lime scale build up and rust stains on the bathroom sink. The fine nozzle came into it's own for this task as I was able to apply a thin layer of the product to the tricky areas without splashing product all over the bathroom. As with the toilet I left the Grot Buster to work over a few hours while I knew no one would need to use the sink, there was no foamy layer left this time but when the product was wiped away the lime scale came away with it, the rust stains required a lot of scrubbing and while they are not completely removed there is a significant improvement.

Now it's clear that this product is incredibly potent, not least from the smell it produces, this means it is not unsuitable for certain surfaces including wood, enamel, metal plating, coloured grouting, vinyl, lino, rubber, leather or fabrics. It also comes with the usual list of safety warnings, this is at the end of the day a bleach based product and we all know you need to take care when using them. The instructions do state that the product only needs 5 minutes to work but I like to give a product a nice long time to take effect and do it's job properly, it's important to me having the children around that areas such as the bathroom are kept as hygienic as possible, so allowing the Grot Buster a few hours to work leaves me happy and confident of a good result. I'm not sure on really thick stubborn stains that the 5 minutes would be enough to completely tackle them, especially in areas under the water like in the toilet bowl.

As well as bathroom facilities the Grot Buster can also be used on dustbins, PVC window frames, tile grouting, showers and many hard to reach places like the back of your taps. It's so much more then a regular toilet bleach and is a great product to have around the house in case a stubborn stain cannot be removed by your usual product. It's powerful, can fight germs, dissolve mould and can be used for more then just toilets, for just £1.99 for a 500ml bottle I would say this is the perfect product to have tucked away in your cleaning supplies.

Summary: Highly recommended- just don't let your kids near it!