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Home Remedies for Cleaning Calcium Deposits on Porcelain

Alicia Howe

Calcium deposits are caused from hard water landing and drying on your porcelain surfaces. Hard water is unfiltered water that contains a high amount of dissolved minerals, such as calcium and magnesium. When hard water hits your porcelain, it leaves calcium and magnesium deposits, which, if not cleaned regularly, will create what is called lime scales. The longer these lime scales sit, the harder they are to remove.

Home Remedy Mixtures

Mixtures that can be created from ingredients already found in the household can often remove calcium deposits. Mix white vinegar with borax or with lemon juice, and let it sit on the stain for two hours. If the stains are in a porcelain toilet, drain the toilet and fill it to the water mark with this mixture. If this mixture does not remove a stain, mix baking soda and vinegar into a paste and cover the area with this.

Home Remedy Scrubs

Scrub a pumice stone on the calcium deposit stain until the stain disappears. Make sure the surface is dry when you begin to scrub. After applying the above mixtures to a surface, softly scrub them with a soft brush, like a toothbrush, or a sponge. Never use a brush that is hard enough to scratch the surface.

Other Ideas

Before using your product of choice, wash the stained area with warm water and then wipe dry. This will make the removal of stains easier. Pour bleach on white porcelain that has visible stains. The bleach will whiten over the stain and hide it.

Store-Bought Products

According to glasspolishingservices.com and helpgetridof.com, lime scales are nearly impossible to remove from regular cleaning products because they need a product that will deactivate the minerals, such as a sequestrate like Calgon. After using Calgon to remove the stains, you can dump a tsp. of it into a gallon of water to wash down surfaces on a regular basis.

Most toilet bowl cleaners contain a mixture of phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid. Toilet bowl cleaners can be purchased and used on any surface as long as the surface is washed multiple times afterward with warm, soapy water. Use gloves and goggles when handling acidic products.