Loo cleaning - not for the faint hearted

[wasabipeanut]

OK, we are moving to a new house and the loos have suffered from what one may tactfully call irregular cleaning. We are talking serious stains.

The way I see we have 2 options. The first is to buy new ones which is a faff but the 2nd is to find a way to get them clean. Any ideas? I have a feeling that some quite scary chemicals may be required.

Any advice?

bottle of coke down the loo is meant to be good

How long do you leave it for?

we had the same problem

coke didn't work, I think you might be able to get some acid stuff from a hardware shop you can use, and use one of those foot stones for the really hard stuff

I emptied all the water out, tipped a whole bottle of parazone (black bottle I think) down the toilet, left it overnight (open the windows up!) and then scrubbed like a mad thing the next morning which removed most of it

Yes - go to a good old fashioned hardware shop and they sell you a lethal chemical.

Empty out as much water from loo as you can and then pour this stuff down. You'll have sparkly loos!

Cool - thanks ladies.

We live in an area which has black peaty water so toilets and sinks stain quickly.
I use wet and dry sandpaper, rubber gloves and a good scrub then Parazone into the cistern.

oo sandpaper a good idea

The Harpic in the black bottle is fab. it says leave for 10 mins or something, but I leave it overnight.

Yes, Harpic is good (I have only used the limescale one, not the one for bad staining though)

Buy the Cillit Bang loo cleaner. It is amazing stuff.

oh it was harpic not parazone

if you use a sponge you can get all of the water out and scrub like a mad woman

Swarfega

My dad always recommends "spirits of salts" - very much a lethal mixture but it works.

"Spirit of salts" is caustic soda, which you get from the hardware shop. It is acid and sort of burns the limescale off. Works very well.

If you repeatedly plunge the loo brush down the u-bend, then the water disappears which aids cleaning (and is a bit easier than using a sponge )

All good tips - you must all have fabulously clean loos!

harpic is good, also denture tablets are good for upkeep, probably not so much a huge initial clean.

you could just flush it and hold the ball cock up so it doesn't refill.

Well I found an old pack of Limelite capsules under the sink today and thought "aha, loo stains". Put a kettle of hot water down the loo plus the limelite, then after half an hour attacked the stain with a scourer - much improved!

essentially the problem is stained limescale so you need to dissolve it or scrape it. An old pumice stone can help too, did that in the old house that was a bit like your one.

Harpic power plus is actually the life saver. You leave it for an hour for really bad stains + it should lift off, when you give it a scrub.

Cilit bang stuff is brilliant. Biological washing powder is also really good on most kinds of stains.

I used to love Cillit Bang but find I now can't breathe in the same room as it. Actually gasping for breath.

we had serious stains in our loos when we moved in, the toilet was black! harpic power plus tablets (2 overnight, twice) plus scrubbing the next day did the trick and the loo is now sparkling

Caustic soda - that's what you need. Nasty stuff but does the job.

If it's stained limescale (which is most likley), then what you need is an 'acid'. Forgive the GCSE chemistry lesson, but limescale is alkaline, as are most soapy cleaners, so they won't help. Empty the water out and put something acid down and it will dissolve it- I used an old bottle of picking vinegar I found in the cellar when we moved in. Then after a few hours it should come off with relatively little scrubbing (Although the smell made me retch more than DSs nappies...!)
have fun!