How to Clean Hard Water Stains
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I saw this happen to my friends who are on well water, the minerals in the water turned her bathtub orange! Scrubbing won’t take that kind of stain off. What you have to do is fill the tub with hot water up to the top of the darkest part of the stain, and then add bleach and let the bleach water stand in the tub for a couple of hours. Be careful to close the bathroom door so your pets don’t drink the bleach water. The tub may never be perfectly white again, but it will look better once you’ve done this. I know they make special products for taking off these kinds of stains, but if your water is just going to keep staining the tub then it’s really not worth it to spend the extra money. Bleach is cheap, and you probably already have a big jug of it sitting around in the laundry room.
Once I ran out of cleanse, since I had company coming I wanted my bathroom to nice and neat. The only cleaner that I had available was TIDE Laundry Detergent. Figuring TIDE was not abrasive, I poured some in the tub, then used a sponge to distribute the cleaner evenly over the entire tub and stainless steel fixtures, I let it soak for about 20 minutes. To my complete delight, I found that it not made the tub a beautiful bright white, the water stains on the fixtures were completely gone. My tub, stainless steel fixtures, toilet & sink have never looked better. My best friend says that TIDE has water softeners in it, that is why it cleans clothes, etc. so good.
Most bathroom cleaners say they remove water spots, but a lot of the milder ones that foam and bubble won’t take off tough hard water spots all at once without a lot of scrubbing or scraping. Be sure you get a cleaner that says it removes hard water deposits or mineral deposits or limescale.
This will take the stain off. Make a paste out of vinegar and baking soda, then spread the paste on the stain and let it set for about half an hour. Wipe the paste off and then scrub the spot clean, and most if not all of the stain should be gone.
Home remedies and regular bathroom cleaners sometimes aren’t enough, and that’s when you need a descaling agent. CLR and Lime-Away will usually work, or you can get tougher products at your local hardware store. Be careful using them, though, because most of the really good descaling products are a lot more dangerous than scrubbing bubbles.
I know people are always saying to use vinegar to clean everything, but vinegar stinks! Lemon juice smells much better. You can just cut a lemon in half and scrub the hard water spots off with the cut end, or you can put lemon juice in a spray bottle and spray it directly on the stain.
I have been in the cleaning business for years and I have found that the best cleaner is a mixture of off brand pine sol and ammonia with water in a squirt bottle. It not only cleans all stains but cuts through most anything. Also use the Mr. Clean sponges to help insead of a cloth.
If it will take you 2-3 days to complete your project, when you are finished for the day, remove excess verathane from your brush, then wrap your brush in tin foil (do not clean it!) and put in the freezer. Next day your brush will be soft enough to use again. This saves you having to clean your brush each day!