HOW TO CLEAN A SCALY TOILET

Have you ever seen a toilet like this?

Scaly toilet

Or this?

Scaly toilet

This predicament is caused by a build-up of calcium (and waste) in the toilet bowl. It seems to happen whether you have city water or hard well water.

But there’s good news! It can be removed. With a little bit of patience and a lot of elbow grease, it can look like this again.

Clean toilet

In my line of work, cleaning apartments, I come across toilets that look like this all the time. It even happens in my own house after a while. So, I wanted to share with you how to remove that disgusting looking calcium build up with minimal blemishing of the toilet finish.

In the past, I only tried to use screw drivers and scrapers, and it can work, but it always makes large black marks on the inside of the toilet bowl.  I’ve found a way to remove it with only minimal use of a sharp object, and preferably not a metal one.

I’ve heard that you can use pumice stone, but I haven’t tried that yet.

 STEP 1

Turn off the water supply to the toilet by turning the valve on the hose. This is usually located underneath the left side of the toilet near the floor.

STEP 2

Flush the toilet. The goal here is the get most or all of the water out of the toilet bowl. You can use a small cup (I use an oven cleaner cap) to scoop the water out. When it’s so far down that you can’t scoop anymore, use a sponge or a rag to sop up the rest of the water.

STEP 3

Pour CLR- that’s Calcium, Lime, Rust Remover into the toilet bowl. You may have to use the whole bottle of it, depending on the size you have. Even then, it might not cover all of the scale. The trick here is to get some old throw away rags, soak them in CLR, and drape them all around on top of the scaly parts. Ideally, you should let this sit for 24 hours. If you don’t have that much time, a couple hours will do. You could use vinegar if you can’t locate CLR. And always wear protective gloves and NEVER mix cleaning solutions together. That is very dangerous!.

CLR

STEP 4

After you’ve let it soak, use a plastic putty knife or a dental tool to start chipping away at the scale. I wouldn’t advise using a metal object because it will leave black marks on the inside of the bowl. After working at it for a while, you may have a pile of scale that looks like this.

Pile of scale

STEP 5

After you’ve removed as much as you can with some sort of scraping tool, there will still be scale all over the inside of the bowl. For removing the rest of it, I use a drywall sanding screen with a medium or fine grit. You can find these at your local hardware store, Amazon, Lowe’s, or Home Depot, etc. This is a picture of the one I use which I purchased at my local Do It Best store. Then it’s a ton of sanding and elbow grease. I’m not gonna lie. It will take a while but it’s totally doable!

Drywall sanding screen

So after your fingers are raw, you will end up with a clean toilet like this.

Now I have to admit, I got very lazy and used a metal tool and that’s why you see some black marks on the porcelain but it sure looks better than it did before!

I hope this helps you tackle your toilet nightmare!

P.S. Don’t forget to turn the water supply back on.