Cleaning a toilet with a pumice stone is an effective method for removing stubborn stains and mineral deposits. Here’s a brief summary of how to do it:
- Gather Your Supplies: You’ll need a pumice stone, rubber gloves, and a toilet bowl brush.
- Put on Gloves: Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from any splashes and to maintain hygiene.
- Wet the Pumice Stone: Submerge the pumice stone in water and let it soak for a few minutes. This softens the stone and makes it less likely to scratch the porcelain.
- Drain the Bowl: Flush the toilet to lower the water level. This will expose the stained areas of the bowl.
- Gently Scrub Stains: Take the wet pumice stone and gently scrub the stained or mineral deposit-covered areas of the toilet bowl. Use a back-and-forth motion, applying light to moderate pressure.
- Keep the Stone Wet: Periodically wet the pumice stone in the toilet water to keep it moist. This prevents scratching and allows for smoother cleaning.
- Flush and Rinse: Once the stains are removed, flush the toilet to wash away any residue. Use the toilet brush to scrub away any remaining particles and ensure a clean bowl.
- Dispose of the Pumice Stone: After use, rinse the pumice stone and allow it to dry. You can reuse it for future cleanings until it becomes too small to hold comfortably.
- Wash Your Hands: Remove your gloves and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
Why Toilet Rings Form
Although all the fixtures in your house are affected by hard water stains, toilets are the most affected. That is why you will have a very conspicuous ring around the toilet bowl’s waterline which is known as a toilet ring.
Why is this though? How and why does a toilet ring form?
As I have already mentioned, brown stains in a toilet are caused by presence of iron minerals in the water supplied to your house.
Now the way a toilet is designed, it should have water at the bottom of the bowl at all times. That is the same water that contains iron. Even if it is flushed, it is replaced with more water with iron ions as well.
The reason the ring forms around the water line is because that is where the iron in the water reacts with the readily available oxygen in the surrounding to form iron oxide. That iron oxide (brown) sticks on the toilet bowl over a period of time resulting in a brown ring.
Removing a toilet ring even with chemicals is not easy. And that is where a pumice stone comes in.
What I however need you to understand is that a pumice stone will not permanently remove hard water stains from a toilet or any other fixture. As long as hard water flows to your house toilet rings and other stains will recur after being removed.
The only way to prevent hard water stains from forming on toilets and other fixtures is by installing a water softener. In a water softener, hard water minerals are removed through an ion exchange process therefore ensuring the water flowing to the house is soft.
How to Clean a Toilet with a Pumice Stone
Follow these steps to clean a toilet using a pumice stone:
1. Soak the pumice stone in water
As I have mentioned already, you want to clean your toilet without scratching off its finish. To do that, you will first need to make sure that the pumice stone is soft.
Pumice stones are softened by soaking them in water and leaving them there for about 15 minutes. Due to their high porosity, they take in a lot of water fast and soften in the process.
You can put it inside a bucket full of water or even drop it inside the toilet bowl since there is always water in the bowl.
Apart from the pumice stone, the surface of the toilet also needs to be wet. Be sure to splash some water on the spot you are cleaning to prevent scratches.
It is important to ensure that you are wearing rubber gloves no matte how much you think your toilet is to prevent diseases. You will also get a good grip of the pumice stone while scrubbing off the stains.
2. Start Scrubbing
When your pumice stone has taken in enough water and the toilet bowl is wet, it is time to start scrubbing. Where you start scrubbing the toilet matters a lot.
I would recommend that you start with the front side of the toilet bowl. I will tell you why that is important.
If you start scrubbing the toilet bowl and you notice that the pumice stone is scratching the bowl, you can always stop and nobody will notice. That would however not be the case with the back of the toilet bowl which is always directly opposite from the toilet user.
To scrub a toilet bowl properly, pick a spot and begin to scrub back and forth. With time, the pumice stone will start to wear out and form a gray paste.
Do not rinse off the paste yet. Instead, use it together with the pumice stone to scrub the entire toilet bowl and only then can you rinse it off.
When you have cleaned the whole toilet, flush it a few times and check if there are spots that are still stained. Repeat the cleaning process until all the stains are removed.
Alternatives to Pumice Stones for Toilet Cleaning
One decent alternative to pumice stone as a toilet cleaner is a combination of baking soda and vinegar. Here is how you use them to clean a stained toilet:
- Use a toilet plunger to forces as much water as possible out of the toilet bowl then soak the rest using old rags or a sponge.
- Make a baking soda and vinegar paste. Mix baking soda and vinegar to form a paste with a thick consistency. The amount will depend on the severity of the stains.
- Use a sponge to apply the paste all over the toilet bowl.
- Wait for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Use a toilet brush to scrub the toilet bowl till all the stains are removed.
- Repeat the process if necessary.
Another method you can use to get rid of hard water stains from a toilet is scrubbing them off using Shaw’s Pads.
Shaw’s pads are cheap, ecofriendly and most important effective. You can easily get them from the manufacturer’s website or online on Amazon.