Clean Rust Stains from Porcelain with Natural Pumice

Written by:  • Edited by: Niki Fears
Updated Feb 11, 2010

If you have stubborn rust stains in your toilet or bathtub, chances are even conventional cleaning products won't remove them. Here is your easy, all-natural solution: rub them out with a pumice stone.

pumice
click to enlarge
Stains from rust and other deposits can form on the inner surface of your toilet, bathtub, and sink, especially if you have hard water. If your water has a high content of dissolved iron and other minerals, eventually the minerals deposit on your bathroom surfaces and cause stains.

Most bathroom cleaning products are not effective at fully removing hard water and rust stains from porcelain. Harsh chemical solutions exist to dissolve these stains, but why use toxic cleaners when some old fashioned scrubbing will do the trick naturally?

Pumice is a naturally occurring volcanic rock that is most often used to exfoliate dry, dead skin from feet. Pumice stones are available in nail care or foot care sections of large supermarkets or at drugstores and nail salons.

A pumice stone works wonders at removing rust stains from porcelain. Don't worry - the surface of your porcelain toilet, tub, or sink will not be damaged (the surface of the porcelain is much harder than the pumice stone).

How to Remove Rust Stains with Pumice

To get rid of those stubborn rust stains, all you need are some rubber gloves and your pumice stone. Put on the gloves to protect your hands and wet the pumice with water. Scrub the inside of your toilet bowl wherever rust or mineral stains occur. Within minutes the hard water stains you thought were impossible to remove will be gone.

Use the pumice stone to remove other stains from porcelain, including stains in your sink or bathtub. Rust rings from shaving cream cans will disappear. Stubborn ring-around-the-bathtub lines can be removed with pumice. You can also clean hard water mineral deposits around your faucets, but take care not to scratch the faucet itself.

Pumice stones can also safely be used to remove rust stains from ceramic tile surfaces. Do not use pumice forcefully on the tile grout, as pumice can damage it.

Though any standard pumice stone will work to remove rust stains from porcelain, Pumie brand pumice stones are made especially for this use. Pumie stones are available at most hardware stores.

Image courtesy flickr.com creative commons licence

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambuj/345353816/


Comments

Showing all 4 comments
 
Porcelain Tiles Dec 13, 2011 6:42 AM
RE: Clean Rust Stains from Porcelain with Natural Pumice
Porcelain<br> tiles are the most common tiles used for the home improvement. The Porcelain tiles add<br> a value to the home and also it i mainly used for flooring purpose.
Carpet Cleaning Severna Park Nov 3, 2011 1:37 AM
RE: Clean Rust Stains from Porcelain with Natural Pumice
I never thought that those porcelain could clean the rust stains. We all know that rust is tough to be clean. But with this stuff, it is possible to remove the stains easily.
Shawna Jun 15, 2010 10:39 AM
Using pumice to remove rust stains
I've tried everything to remove rust stains in my shower and nothing worked. This was fabulous. It came right off! I can't believe I bothered with all the rest of those chemicals that were "guaranteed" to do the job. Thanks!
Hillary Bergen Jul 4, 2009 1:42 PM
Using pumice to remove rust stains
Thank you so much for your suggestion! I haven't tried it yet (I'm helping a friend with her bathroom), but we wanted to try the greener side of things first, instead of jumping right into heavy duty chemicals.

I've used pumice to clean a number of things; here's another use:

Pumice stone
Boiling water
Heat-safe container (Pyrex measuring cup is best)

Cut or break off a small piece of pumice. Sometimes you can crush it up a bit if you have a mortar and pestle.

Place what you have into your heat proof container and add boiling water A BIT AT A TIME! Use a wooden spoon to crush and reduce the pumice to a paste. You can use the boiling water to make the paste as thick or as thin as you want. Remember to TEST the mixture on a small part of the surface you want to clean.

Use an inexpensive toothbrush to apply this paste in hard to reach areas. Thin it out and mix with some Dr. Bronner's liquid soap and TEST THIS MIX on a small area you wish to clean.

This was the only thing that cleaned my shower floor which I think is some kind of textured fiberglass/plastic compound. The pumice was able to scrub away at the crud, while the Dr. Bronner's did it's usual good job.
 
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