How to Remove Mineral Deposits from your Toilet

So you’ve opened a search engine and typed something like “remove mineral deposits from toilet“. We thought you might. Working in the cleaning industry for many clients, we find that one of the chores they hate doing the most is cleaning the bathroom. They think it is the worst, mostly because cleaning the bathroom also involves cleaning the toilet. Often times, people are frustrated by their inability to remove a mineral deposit from toilets. 

If not done regularly, efficiently, or effectively, you may find that avoiding cleaning your toilet will lead to mineral stains. Further, depending on your area, it’s possible that mineral deposits can occur anyway because of the water that might be flowing through your toilet. Mineral stains can be stubborn. This is why we have written this article on how to clean mineral stains from your toilet. 

If, despite your best efforts, there are mineral deposits in your toilet, you shouldn’t feel too bad. It’s probably not your fault. Sometimes what you think would be traditional cleaning methods are just not enough. Mineral stains are most often caused by hard water. “What is hard water” I hear you asking? 

Essentially hard water is the presence of larger than normal amounts of calcium, lime, magnesium and iron in your water supply. These minerals attach to the surface of your toilet and turn that ugly brown colour when mixed with air. You will get similar brown or green stains from lime buildup. Limescale build up is caused when hard water evaporates and lime is left behind. 

These days you may find a number of products on the shelf that can help, or claim to help. Many of them are designed specifically for this purpose. We do recommend that you check the ingredients and instructions though as many of these can contain harmful chemicals. So, you need to be careful how you use them.

Below we have outlined below processes that you can follow to remove mineral deposits from toilets using products you probably already have in the cupboard, or in the fridge.

Remove Mineral Deposits from Toilet

Clean Mineral Stains from Your Toilet – Options & Instructions

In this section we have outlined a number of options that you can try in order to remove mineral deposits from toilets. Some of the ingredients that you can use to create these cleaning solutions include vinegar, baking soda, borax, and potentially with cola. We outline a number of these natural solutions below. 

You should also get yourself a scrubbing brush with nylon bristles. Whilst you may think that wire bristles will give a better clean, you risk scratching and damaging the enamel within your toilet bowl.

Clean Mineral Stains – Recipe 1. Vinegar and Baking Soda

The simplest option you may have, an option that is useful in many cleaning situations, is to prepare a mixture of vinegar and baking soda. As is the case for cleaning many other surfaces, these two ingredients can be incredibly useful to remove mineral deposits from toilets.

Step 1 – Firstly, pour approximately one cup of vinegar into the affected toilet bowl. You should then use a toilet brush to swish this around the bowl. After using the toilet brush, allow the vinegar to sit for about a minute.

Step 2 – After you have added your first cup of vinegar, add a cup of baking soda and another two cups of vinegar. These two ingredients will react together and you will notice it fizzing. Leave the ingredients to react and then sit for about 10 minutes. 

Step 3 – After 10 minutes, use the toilet brush to again swish this solution around your toilet bowl. Pay special attention to any stains that are above the toilet bowl. Don’t flush the toilet yet. You should let the solution sit for another 30 minutes

Step 4 – After this time, you should make sure that any final stains are removed with a toilet brush, or a nylon scrubbing brush. Then just flush the toilet as needed to rinse the bowl.

Clean Mineral Stains – Recipe 2. Cola

If the first option doesn’t work, another option you have is to use cola to remove mineral deposits from the toilet. (Although many people don’t want to think about this option as they don’t want to consider how cola might be treating their insides if it’s useful for cleaning mineral stains in their toilet.)

Step 1 – The first thing you need to do is turn off the water supply for your toilet and then flush your toilet. You want your toilet bowl to be basically empty. NOTE: The easiest way to do this is to locate the water inlet mixer (like a tap knob) next to the back of the toilet and turn it anti-clockwise to close the toilets water supply – you don’t need to turn off all the water for your home. 

Step 2 – After your toilet bowl is empty you want to fill your bowl with a few litres of cola. You need to leave it to sit there for an extended period of time so the acid in your cola can eat away at the mineral stains. We recommend doing this at the end of the day and leaving it to sit overnight. 

Step 3 – Once you wake up, it’s time to turn back on your water supply and flush the cola away. You should clean away any residual mineral stains with a toilet brush or, if required, a stiff nylon scrubbing brush.

Clean Mineral Stains – Recipe 3. Vinegar and Borax

If you need something a bit stronger, you might want to try this option of creating a solution of vinegar and borax to remove mineral deposits from your toilet. Borax is a high quality cleaning product that can work wonders on stubborn stains. We outline the process below:

Step 1 – The first thing that you want to do is pour ¼  cup of borax in your toilet bowl . You should use a toilet brush or scrubbing brush to spread this around the bowl

Step 2 – After ensuring that the borax is adequately spread throughout the bowl, the next step is to add a cup of vinegar to the toilet bowl. Allow this new solution to sit for at least 20 minutes

Step 3 – Once the solution has been able to sit for about 20 minutes, you should scrub the bowl to remove any residue and then flush your toilet. 

Optional extra steps for super stubborn stains

If the mineral stains in your toilet are particularly stubborn you may want to create a borax paste as a stronger solution to remove the most stubborn of stains.

Firstly, you need to clear out your toilet bowl of water. For most toilets, the easiest way to do this will be to shut off your toilet’s water supply and then flush. Once the water has drained out of the bowl you need to spread the paste across your bowl, paying special attention to those areas caked in stubborn stains. 

To create this paste you need to mix half a cup of borax with enough vinegar to make a paste (but don’t mix the paste until you have followed the step above as it will harden quickly.). 

Once you have let the paste sit for approximately 20 minutes after it has hardened, use a stiff nylon scrubbing brush to scrub off the caked on paste. You should then turn back on your water supply and flush away the residue.

Persevere is key when you clean mineral stains from your toilet.

If you have let mineral stains set in for a long time, you may require patience and perseverance to clean mineral stains from your toilet. It may not work the first time. You may need to try more than 1 of the options outlined above. Persistence is key but you will get the job done.

Once you have been able to clean mineral stains from your toilet the first time, it will become easier to do in the future. You just need to make sure you do it more regularly so that you don’t run into the same problems in the future. 

It can be a difficult process to clean mineral stains from your toilet. In this article, we have shared with you a number of suggestions that can help you if hard water is present and you have to remove mineral deposits from your toilet. If you have decided it’s all too hard and it’s time to get in the experts, please don’t hesitate to get in touch so we can discuss how we can help to keep your toilet clean as part of our regular cleaning services.