How to Clean Toilet Stains and Maintain Your Bathroom

My specialty is designing beautiful bathrooms. It is important to understand that even the best bathroom design will not look its best unless it is well maintained. One area where my clients commonly struggle is keeping the toilet clean. Knowing how to clean toilet stains is one of those practical things you can do to protect the investment you have made in your new bathroom. This practical know-how will help you keep your bathroom looking its best.

Understanding What Causes Toilet Stains

Here’s what you need to know about what you are dealing with. Not all stains are equal and techniques that work with one type of stain can do little to another. In Australia, hard water stains are the most common. These are the white chalky mineral deposits that you see forming at the waterline. You also see rust stains which are the reddish-brown stains caused by iron in the water or rusting parts in the toilet. Then there are the dark patches caused by mould and mildew. These are more common in bathrooms with poor ventilation. Discolouration from use is a result of dirt and bacteria. As you can see, different stains need different treatments which is why a scatter-gun approach to stain removal rarely delivers the results you want.

Cleaning the Toilet Bowl — Products and Techniques That Work

The bowl is usually where people focus their cleaning efforts. For everyday cleaning, a good quality toilet cleaning product placed under the rim and left to sit for 10-15 minutes before cleaning with a toilet brush should take care of most things. For more stubborn hard water stains or mineral deposits, I find white vinegar works wonders. Pour 2 cups of white vinegar undiluted into the toilet bowl and leave it for several hours or overnight before cleaning and flushing. If you have really tough stains, try applying bicarb soda directly to the stain and then adding the vinegar. The fizz reaction that results will help shift the mineral deposits. If you want to know how to clean toilet bowl stains that have been building up for months, you can use a porcelain pumice stone on vitreous china, but never on coloured or glazed toilets. The products like Harpic or White King also do a great job for everyday maintenance, but I would always start with the more gentle treatments first.

Cleaning the Cistern — The Part Most People Forget

This is probably one of the most neglected areas of the toilet. A dirty cistern can affect the functioning of your toilet as well as contribute to staining in the bowl. If you have lifted the lid of your cistern and found a dirty grimy, stained or mouldy interior, you are not alone. If you want to know how to clean toilet cistern, the process is quite simple. Start by turning off the water supply and flushing the tank. Spray the inside of the cistern with white vinegar and water, leave for 30 minutes and scrub with a non-abrasive brush. Be sure to give the valve components a good clean, but be careful you don’t damage or dislodge anything. Flush the toilet to rinse off the area, and give it a few flushes to make sure the system is working as it should. I suggest you do this every 3-4 months and it will really make a big difference to the cleanliness of your toilet between cleans.

When Your Toilet Smells Like Sewage — What to Check

If you notice a sewage smell coming from your toilet, it’s not just offensive, it’s also a telltale sign that something is not quite right. The most common reason for this smell is that the P-trap or S-trap is dry. Each toilet has a water seal in the trap which prevents sewer gases from coming into your bathroom. If the toilet has not been used for some time (a guest bathroom perhaps) that seal can evaporate. Simply flush the toilet a few times to restore the seal and you’re good to go. If after flushing the toilet a few times, you still have the smell, there’s likely a bigger issue. Perhaps the wax ring seal at the bottom of the toilet is damaged, the bowl is cracked, or the vent pipe on your roof is clogged. All of these scenarios will allow sewer gases to escape and these are all jobs for a licensed plumber. On the design side, I always advocate for good airflow in every bathroom. Running an exhaust fan for 20 minutes after you use the toilet is one of the best ways to manage both moisture and odour.

Maintaining Your Bathroom Beyond the Toilet

Toilet maintenance is just one aspect of how to keep your bathroom in good shape. The fixtures and fittings you choose during a bathroom renovation will also play a big role in how easy your bathroom is to look after. Double vanities with solid surface or stone benchtops, for example, won’t stain like laminate ones do, and are far easier to keep clean. They won’t harbour bacteria the same way porous products will and will look great as they age. A bathroom bidet sprayer is also a great investment. Not only will it keep you clean, but you can also use it to give the toilet a quick clean inside and out. It’s just one of those things that’s worth the investment for the convenience alone. In terms of how to clean toilet stains on an ongoing basis, I suggest a wipe over with a suitable cleaning agent once a week, and a deeper clean once a month and your bathroom will always look as good as the day it was finished.