How to Clean a Toilet and Keep It Stain-Free

Cleaning your home is a skill and knowing how to clean a toilet is the most important of all. Tip: The space around the toilet bowl is one of the dirtiest in the house. According to a household germ study conducted by NSF International, 27% of toilet seats and 14% of handles reached an unhealthy level of soiling. But it’s not just dirt that should make you want to clean bathrooms; A sloppy cleaning of the toilet bowl can lead to bigger concerns. “A dirty toilet can cause plumbing problems,” says Ben Goldzweig, owner of Gold Plumbing in Cleveland. “If a lot of scale has built up, it could clog the small holes on the inside of the toilet bowl and the hole for the toilet nozzle on the floor, causing problems with flushing.”

That’s why you shouldn’t slack off when cleaning the toilet. With the right cleaning supplies and tools, and a bit of elbow wrinkle, you can have a sparkling clean toilet bowl in no time. Here’s how.

What is the best toilet cleaner?

For a toilet that just needs a refresher, Goldzweig recommends a homemade formula of 1 cup white vinegar and 1 cup baking soda, followed by 2 more cups of vinegar to create a bubbly cleaner. Use the toilet brush to get under the rim and over spots above the waterline. Leave this on for about 10 to 30 minutes to break down the stains.

While white vinegar and baking soda are usually solid players when it comes to cleaning tips, this DIY hack doesn’t always cut it when it comes to serious toilet bowl stains. You’ll need a stronger all-purpose cleaner to remove limescale stains and limescale deposits, and especially something with hydrogen peroxide or bleach. Make sure you use a bathroom-specific sanitizer and follow the directions on the bottle.

Start by completely coating the inside of the toilet bowl with the Clorox toilet bowl cleaner with bleach. Start by squirting the cleaning solution along the top of the bowl and dripping the cleaner down toward the toilet water. Next, take a toilet brush and physically rub the solution onto the surface. The bristles should produce a light lather. Go deep under the toilet rim with a hand brush. There are these little water holes on the underside, and this step helps prevent calcium and mineral buildup. Leave the cleaner on for about five minutes, then rinse and the mess is gone.

When your toilet bowl is Yes, really stained – think rough rings or nasty stains – it needs a thorough cleaning. In this case, a simple toilet cleaning product may not do the trick and you will need to use undiluted bleach. For a one-stop cleaning solution, pour a cup of bleach around the bowl. Then tackle every inch with a toilet brush or hand scrub brush. Leave it on for five minutes and then rinse it off.

How do you clean dirty toilets?

You can start with a disinfectant toilet cleaning solution or make your own by adding a spray nozzle to a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. This way you can spray all over the toilet bowl and get under the rim, and you can even spray the toilet brush when you’re done. As tempting as it may be to add cleaning products to the tank, skip this step as it could void manufacturer warranties, warns Goldzweig.