Good lord the loo is awful

[IrisBlue15]

We've moved into a rented property and the loo upstairs really smells.

It looks spotless - the whole house does (or did before all the boxes arrived!). But we live in a hard water area and I think there's a lot of brown lime scale hidden in there. Every time I use the loo brush (don't!) brown flakes pop off from right up under the rim and I think it's this limescale build up that smells.

What can I do? What products would you recommend? I don't want my loo to smell like a urinal in a pub the morning after a cup final!

Do you have a handheld steam cleaner? They are really good at blasting our crap from hard to reach places.

might also be the floorboards underneath the floor covering? If you have lino down and it is butted up to the loo then wee drips will go underneath

Sounds disgusting but limescale remover let it sit and use a toothbrush

I have no steam cleaner, but I do now want one. A lot.

The Lino seems to be welded to the floor, no getting round that.

And I was afraid someone would mention toothbrush scrubbing. I was hoping for a lovely liquid I could pop in the cistern and it would dissolve all the crud.

Ah well, marigolds on then.

Kitchen towel soaked in vinegar and pressed into the gap. You might need more than one application though.

Domestos limescale is excellent (was black bottle/green lid last time I bought it). Squirt on, leave and loo brush off... Cheap and completely removed long term brown limescale stains from a loo we inherited - and we lived with the stains for many years before finding this stuff, as other leave in tablets etc etc didn't touch it.

Caustic soda and lots of it. leave overnight and if the loo hasn't dissolved, the limescale will. After that, regular weekly descaling with something from Mr Muscle that turns the loo green then blue when it hits limescale.

NB, caustic soda can be quite virile so don't go crazy but it does do wonders in hard water areas.

Be really, really careful with caustic soda. It can give you serious burns. You must add it to the water (never add water to caustic soda!) and wear goggles and protective clothing.

But it does shift even 4 months of builders-who-never-cleaned-the-lav build up.

This happens here occasionally (hard water, I do clean!) and I use spirit of salts.

Harpic tablets in the black box are good. I would put one in, let it froth up then use loo brush to put some of the froth under the rim, leave for as long as you can then scrub. I am in a hard water area, it's a constant battle against the limescale!