Limescale is sadly something that can’t be avoided when there’s water involved and bathrooms are a haven for limescale – especially the toilet bowl.
Grubby toilets are not the look we’re aiming for, so it’s important to keep on top of cleaning to make it a quick and easy job to do each time. Here are some tips and tricks for tackling pesky limescale in your toilet!
Depending on how much there is to contend with, your methods of cleaning toilet limescale may differ slightly and will require different levels of elbow grease to bring back that sparkle.
Let’s take a look at all the different ways you can clean limescale – I’ve included some natural methods too as these are my favourite way to clean when possible.
How to Remove Thick Limescale
The power of natural cleaning will definitely be your friend when it comes to descaling your toilet bowl – even below the waterline).
White vinegar. That’s it! Next time you’re out shopping, grab yourself a nice jumbo bottle of plain old white vinegar and you’ll be using it for a whole manner of different household cleaning tasks – just check out our list of 20+ ways to clean with white vinegar and its trusty counterpart bicarbonate of soda, of course.
- Pour about 1 litre of undiluted white vinegar into (pouring around) the toilet bowl.
- Leave it to work its magic for 3-4 hours (so make sure you’ve had a wee before you start cleaning the loo!)
- Use more white vinegar to scrub the sides of the bowl, under the rim and down into the water. You can use your regular toilet brush for this, or you may want to enlist the power of a Sonic Scrubber to tackle scum under the bowl’s rim (only use this brush for toilet-based cleaning… you won’t want to be scrubbing your kitchen down with it afterwards).
- Flush the toilet to rinse away the vinegar and the stains – hello sparkling bowl!
Using a bit of lemon juice with your vinegar will also help cut through limescale while improving the smell a bit too.
How to Remove Limescale from Below the Waterline
Beneath the waterline to the back of the U-bend can be such an awkward place to get clean. Some toilet brushes just don’t seem to reach those spots and from certain angles, you can see unsightly stains.
You could invest in a flexible toilet brush which will help you to get your loo even cleaner without needing to stick your hand into the toilet water – this one here by Joseph Joseph is a little pricey for a brush for the toilet but has been designed with a flexible D-shaped head for reaching every possible spot and using silicone bristles!
The method above would work to break these stains and limescale down, but if you’re cleaning style involves bleach and plenty of it, you may want to add a bit of bicarbonate of soda into the toilet water before you use your usual bleach around the rest of the bowl.
Leave this in the bowl until you see that stains are gone (or at least almost gone) then give your bowl a quick scrub with the toilet brush to loosen any stubborn bits before flushing.
No matter how soiled your loo may be, it can always be cleaned! If you’re new to natural cleaning methods, then take a look at more of our posts to discover how you could reduce the number of harmful chemicals you use when cleaning.
Check out our YouTube video on getting your toilet sparkling clean:
Thirty-something lady with a penchant for flowers and anything involving crafts. I like to clean using environmentally-friendly methods where possible and love sharing my findings, tips and tricks here on In The Wash!
