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Learn how to remove hard water stains from your toilet with this quick, easy method! Guaranteed to remove even the worst built-up hard water rings in less than 5 minutes – without scratching the porcelain! Watch the video below to see it in action.
You can also check out how to remove hard water stains from glass shower doors.
Hard water can be found all over bathroom surfaces, including showers, sinks, faucets, and, worst of all, the toilet. Unattractive and extremely frustrating, the last thing any one of us wants is to host a holiday party with a toilet that looks as if it hasn’t been cleaned for months.
You’ll find countless cleaning products available, and even more blogs and websites claiming that such-and-such a solution or product will rid your toilet of the dreaded ring; some even without using chemicals at all.
Most of these claims are false, I’m sorry. I know this from personal experience because I promise, before learning about this trick from my friend at The Home Depot, I had literally tried everything.
This trick works so well, in fact, that it will almost look like you went out and bought yourself a brand new toilet! But don’t take my word for it,
Reader Comment
I run an apartment complex, where unfortunately people don’t know how to clean their toilets, I thought I was going to have to replace the toilet, but I was able to clean the toilet and it looks brand new. This will save me tons of money, and time, it literally only took me two minutes to clean the hard water stains.
-Kali
Table of Contents
Difference Between Hard and Soft Water?
Hard water: that which contains an appreciable amount of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium.
Soft water: that which contains less dissolved minerals. Or, when treated, the only ion it may contain is sodium. Naturally falling rainwater is soft water, for example.
How does water become hard? Water becomes harder as it moves through the ground and into our waterways. Along the way, this water picks up minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and lime.
Given that hard water contains essential (and super important) minerals, one may wonder why we soften our water when it’s hard.
Hard water is tough on appliances (dishwashers and washing machines, for example) and is hard to clean. Making it less effective and using more energy due to the mineral buildup left behind.
Supplies Needed
Before I say anything else, I thought it important to mention that the toilet that you see pictured in these images is “clean”. This includes the before and the after images.
In other words, I cleaned the toilet with actual toilet bowl cleaner before removing the hard water ring.
Anyway, I Googled, “how to remove toilet bowl ring” or “how to remove hard water stains from the toilet”. Everything I found led me to some cleaning product or a pumice stone.
Since Home Depot is Octavian’s favorite store in the world, we headed there. So that we could spend as much time as possible in the gardening equipment aisle, I asked a nice man who worked there where I could find the pumice stones. Then I asked him if pumice stones actually remove hard water rings from toilet bowls.
He stopped me right there.
No, no, no, no, no pumice stone, he said. Too much risk of scratching the porcelain.
Thank goodness, this toilet angel from Home Depot had a better idea – Fine-Grit Drywall Sanding Screens. YOU GUYS, this man saved my toilets!
Here’s how you can save yours.
How to: (Step-By-Step)
- Gather all of the necessary supplies.
- Put on a pair of rubber or latex gloves and cut 1-2 small square pieces from a sheet of Fine-Grit Drywall Sanding Screens. Set them aside.
- Carefully open the Barkeeper’s Friend and sprinkle it inside your toilet.
- Wearing the gloves, gently yet firmly, begin scrubbing away the hard water buildup in a circular motion with the Drywall screen. Don’t press TOO HARD. Our goal is to remove hard water stains, not destroy the porcelain.
- Continue until all of the built-up hard water stains have been removed.
- Flush.
What Doesn’t Work?
- Bleach
- Toilet bowl cleaner
- Vinegar solution overnight
- Those tabs that turn your toilet water blue
- Baking soda
- Borax and vinegar
None of the above worked. In fact, I later learned that bleach may make toilet rings caused by hard water worse – or even permanent!
Yay! Sparkling CLEAN toilets!
Seriously, though, that’s all it took. So easy.
If you loved learning how to remove hard water stains from toilets, you may also enjoy this How to Remove Hard Water Stains from Glass Shower Doors post.
How to Remove Hard Water Stains from Toilets
Video
Equipment
Materials
Instructions
- Gather supplies.
- Put on gloves and cut 1-2 small square pieces of Fine-Grit Drywall Sanding Screens. Set them aside.
- Carefully open the Barkeepers Friend and sprinkle inside your toilet.
- Wearing the gloves, gently yet firmly, begin to scrub away at the hard water buildup in a circular motion with the Drywall screen. Don’t press TOO HARD. Our goal is to remove hard water stains, not destroy the porcelain.
- Flush and be amazed!
Just need an answer……is the Barkeepers Friend safe for a septic tank? We have the old fashioned country
plumbing. Really would like to use your method for removing our hard water stains.
Hi Sharon,
Per Barkeepers Friend’s official website: “Oxalic acid cleansers are acidic instead of alkaline, which makes our products more effective against rust, tarnish, oxidation, mineral scale, hard water, and lime deposits than most other cleaning products. Unlike other acidic cleaners, Bar Keepers Friend doesn’t use fillers or bleaches, making our products biodegradable and safe for septic systems.”
This is amazing! My parents had terrible hard water stains and nothing would clean it. They were going to get new toilets until I read this post. Now it looks brand new. Thank you!
This is awesome! I never tried the pumice stone due to concerns about damaging the “throne”, and Barkeeper’s Helper by itself didn’t eliminate the buildup entirely. I’ll be picking up some sanding paper ASAP.
Thank you so very much for sharing this solution! Your post gave me the info and courage to try it. I really should have taken before and after photos. My hard water stains were embarrasing and after trying everything else; I thought I was just stuck with them until the toilet needed to be replaced. The bathroom was beautifully remodeled before we moved in 5 yrs ago….
I have mobility challenges and very limited scrubbing ability. I used baking soda instead of barkeeper, because i have had great results with baking soda on porcelain. Also needed larger item to grip so I used a green scouring pad folded inside the sanding cloth. This helped keep the area damp.
So thankful this did not require any real effort or scrubbing power. I found by lightly scuffing the stain with the sanding paper and baking soda I could use the green scouring pad to easily remove the entire stain. Very little effort with outstanding results!
Oh Happy Day!
Hi Wendy,
Thank you for the kind comments! I am so glad this worked well for you.
Thanks again,
Jessica
I’ve never been excited to try to clean anything in my life, especially toilet bowls – it’s too frustrating! I’ve been on the look out for a long time as to how to get rid of these stains once and for all. I tried vinegar but no go. I asked my husband if I could drain the toilet to let something sit on it (whether it was vinegar or some other product as seen in so many you tube videos etc), but he was not keen on the idea of messing with our older valves. I’m a fan of Bar Keepers Friend so I’m excited to give this a try and see what happens. (Okay, I’m not so excited about putting my hands (though gloved) inside the toilet bowl but that’s okay! I’m wondering if a similar method will work on a fiberglass shower stall – you know the ones with the little pattern in the bottom that stains and you can never seem to get rid of? I’ve left baking soda and vinegar on them for hours which helped some, but not enough. At any rate, I’m going to try this method this week!
Hi Amy,
Good question! I don’t think I can give a good answer as to if this would work on a fiberglass shower stall as well as it works on toilets.
If you want to give it a try given the uncertainty, please make sure to try it on a small less noticeable area of the bathroom shower stall – just in case.
Warm regards,
Jessica
Would this work on bathroom shower tiles ?
Hi Ron,
Good question! I don’t think I can give a good answer as to if this would work on bathroom shower tiles, as it probably depends on the type of tile – i.e. ceramic, stone, quartz, etc….
If you want to give it a try given the uncertainty, please make sure to try it on a small less noticeable area of the bathroom shower tiles – just in case.
Thank you so much for that wonderful advice.There is nothing uglier that ring in the toilet when you know you’ve scrubbed and rubbed and it still looks horrible.I have been on a quest for nearly six months, to get rid of these hard water stains and I have tried every method out there (except the Pumice stones).Your tip was the answer I needed and I very successfully got rid of the “ring”. Many thanks!
Hooray! Jessica, thanks for the tip. I was getting so frustrated trying vinegar and other chemicals and endlessly scrubbing with no apparent effect. With minimal effort, the hard water ring is finally gone.
Where can I find Barkeepers Friend?
Hi Jan,
Amazon has it here: https://amzn.to/4t7oPuE
Warm regards,
Jessica
You are the best! Thank you so much for sharing this! My toilets have had hard water stains since we moved in about a year ago and nothing has worked to get them out. They were so embarrassing. I tried this and it worked amazingly! My toilets look fantastic and now I don’t have to worry about guests thinking I’ve never cleaned my toilets before haha!