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Removing Hard Water Stains Naturally

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Cleaning Tips

26 May
8K108 

If you have unsightly water stains built up around your faucet, I have an easy solution for removing them in no time… and all you need is vinegar!

Easy Way to Remove Hard Water Stains from Faucets. Faucet with a lot of hard water build-up

It’s time for another cleaning tip. Today we’ll take at look at removing hard water stains from your faucets. The process is super easy, and you probably have everything you need in your kitchen. Despite having a water softener, we get some unsightly build-up, as you can see…

Before Image of a faucet with a lot of hard water build up.

So… let’s clean!

What You Need to Remove Hard Water Stains

Removing hard water stains is actually a super easy process, and all you need is some vinegar and paper towels. #hardwaterstains #cleaning #cleaningtip

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  • Vinegar
  • Paper Towels
  • Small Bowl

Before starting this process, it is recommended that you test a small (unseen) area to make sure the vinegar doesn’t cause any harm to your finish. Also, if you have granite counter-tops, do not let the vinegar touch the granite as it can etch granite surfaces due to its acidic nature.

How to Remove Hard Water Stains on Faucets

Start by pouring some vinegar into a bowl. Add several paper towels (one paper towel for each area you need to work on). The paper towels should be thoroughly soaked with vinegar, so add more if needed.

Small bowl with vinegar soaked paper towels used in removing hard water stains from faucets

Apply the vinegar-soaked paper towels to the build-up areas and leave it there for one hour.

Faucet head covered in vinegar soaked paper towels which are used to removed hard water stains

Once the hour is up, you can remove the paper towels and use them to gently rub off any remaining build- up (it should come off very easily). If you have any seams, like I do, use a toothpick and scrape out the gunk (again, the vinegar seems to break down the build-up, so it’s very easy to remove). You can see everything I got out in the picture below (obviously before I wiped off the gunkiness… new word).

A toothpick being used to remove mineral build-up from faucet head seams

That’s all there is too it.

Love a good before and after? Here you go.

Before and After image collage of a faucet head and sprayer after using an easy process from removing hard water stains and mineral deposits with vinegar soaked paper towels

How crazy is that?!
For more amazing kitchen cleaning tips, check out this post!

 

Love it? Pin it!

Pinterest Image: Before and After images of removing hard water stains and mineral deposits on a kitchen faucet and sprayer. Remove hard water stains with one pantry ingredient. It is SO easy to do and the results are incredible!

32 Comments

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Comments

  1. Barb says

    June 25, 2020 at 2:44 PM

    Do you ever add baking soda to the vinegar?

    Reply
  2. Joyce says

    June 2, 2020 at 7:17 AM

    Thank you for all the good tips. I especially like the one for the hard water buildup on the faucets. I didn’t know what to use on this and it is such an eyesore!

    Reply
  3. Amy Remick says

    April 22, 2020 at 2:42 PM

    Worked like a charm!! Thank you so much. Wish I would’ve done before and afters!

    Reply
  4. Gabriella says

    February 29, 2020 at 9:56 PM

    Do you have a way to remove water stains on metal faucets. Cannot afford to replace. Just moved in so they have probably been there for quite some time. I’ve tried all the suggestions on the web but they don’t work. Thank you.

    Reply
    • tiffany Ettleman says

      September 13, 2020 at 11:34 AM

      I too have this problem. I remolded our bathroom and booth some high end brush nickel fixtures. Our sliders and fixtures are now filled with water spots that I can never get rid of. We have a water softener filtration system on our home that uses salt. I know this is the problem , but we also don’t want to LOWES our system to get rid of hard water spots. Please help.

      Reply
  5. Alice Douse says

    February 8, 2020 at 11:22 AM

    Thank you 🙏. I’ve struggled with buying harsh bottles of chemical laden detergents and wouldn’t. This vinegar trick works great!!!!!👍🏼

    Reply
  6. Erin says

    November 25, 2019 at 1:00 AM

    Would this work for a shower head?

    Reply
  7. Flor says

    July 21, 2019 at 3:42 PM

    Will vinegar be safe on Bronze showerhead?

    Reply
    • Erin says

      July 25, 2019 at 8:25 AM

      I have never tried this method on bronze, so I can’t say for sure. Because vinegar is acidic in nature, there are certain finishes in which vinegar is not recommended.

      Reply
  8. Kathleen Castanon says

    August 5, 2018 at 11:09 AM

    Brilliant cleaning tips! I feel the same you do about the dirty home. Therefore I am cleaning and maintaining all the time. I like to enjoy staying in my home, not to feel like guest inside. Thanks for the interesting post.

    Reply
  9. Mavis Johnson says

    June 3, 2018 at 8:32 PM

    Love your cleaning method and it’s environmentally safe

    Reply
  10. Tracy says

    March 8, 2018 at 7:53 AM

    What a great tip! I will be doing this!

    Reply
  11. Kay says

    February 11, 2017 at 9:04 PM

    If your shower head is gunked up with had water deposits you can pour vinegar in a plastic bag and put over the shower head. Tie or rubber band it so the shower head stays submerged in the vinegar. Leave for several hours and come back to a clean shower head. I do this when the water spray is going in an odd direction due to the holes being closed up.

    Reply
  12. Rebecca Harrington says

    September 28, 2015 at 9:22 AM

    Great tip! I started looking for information how to clean water stains when my bath was a disaster. I love your blog. Your posts are soooo useful. Thank you. I am going to clean now! Wish me luck! Best regards!

    Reply
    • Erin Meyer says

      September 28, 2015 at 9:45 AM

      Good luck!

      Reply
  13. Tiffany says

    September 6, 2015 at 5:02 PM

    Does the vinegar not remove the oil rubbed booze finish?

    Reply
    • Tiffany says

      September 6, 2015 at 5:03 PM

      Geez, phone!

      DOES it not…. Bronze

      Reply
      • Erin Meyer says

        September 7, 2015 at 11:44 PM

        That’s happens to me ALL THE TIME when I type on my phone! Anyway, to answer your question, it did not take off any of the finish, but others have reported different results. I would suggest testing this method on a small area that people don’t see (the back of the faucet, for example) and see what happens. I would also strongly encourage not leaving it on longer than one hour. Vinegar is acidic which is what would wear off the finish. The longer it stays on, the more chance of it harming the finish. Thanks for your question Tiffany!

        Reply
    • Peggy says

      September 21, 2017 at 8:55 PM

      It made a difference in the finish where i put the vinegar and soaked!

      Reply
  14. Brittany @ DIY Just Cuz says

    July 19, 2015 at 1:52 PM

    Thanks for this cleaning tip! It will be immensely helpful to me as we definitely have some hard water!!

    Reply
    • Erin Meyer says

      July 20, 2015 at 1:41 PM

      Glad I could help! Have a good Monday!

      Reply
  15. Nancy says

    July 15, 2015 at 9:42 AM

    I haven’t tried this, I was afraid it might etch the counters or the finish of the faucets…
    I just might try it….
    Nancy
    wildoakdesigns.blogspot.com

    Reply
    • Erin Meyer says

      July 15, 2015 at 12:28 PM

      Some people mentioned this has happened to them. I believe certain finishes may be more “sensitive” to the acidity of the vinegar. I have not experienced this, however.

      Reply
  16. Mary says

    June 12, 2015 at 11:49 AM

    Looks great Erin. I have the same problem , but with all the water stains I have I would have to spend a fortune on commercial products. Thank God for Vinegar!!!

    Reply
    • Erin Meyer says

      June 12, 2015 at 12:09 PM

      Amen! Is there anything vinegar can’t do? Have a great weekend Mary!

      Reply
  17. Sandy Sandmeyer says

    June 1, 2015 at 8:19 PM

    I can’t wait to try this on my hard water stains. We have a huge problem with that in Florida. Thanks for sharing this at the #AnythingGoes Link Party!

    Reply
    • Erin Meyer says

      June 2, 2015 at 5:47 AM

      I was actually quite surprised how well this works. Hope it works for you! Thanks for hosting the #AnythingGoes link party. We’ll see you again next Monday.

      Reply
  18. Angela L. says

    May 27, 2015 at 10:20 PM

    Just tried it tonight. Amazing. I wish I would have worn gloves though. Now my hands smell like Easter eggs.

    Reply
    • Erin Meyer says

      May 28, 2015 at 7:06 AM

      Yeah- vinegar does not have the best smell. I might try the gloves next time I do a hard water removal as well. Glad it worked for you though! P.S. – We use Koolaid for Easter Eggs (I actually have a post on it)- smells SO much better.

      Reply
  19. Stephanie @ this abundant life says

    May 26, 2015 at 2:59 PM

    Wow! Thanks for the tip. We have horribly hard water here and I fight with it constantly! I am going to try this on our fridge water dispenser. There is actually a little hard water stalactite growing from it. DRIVES.ME.NUTS. Thanks so much for the idea!

    Reply
    • Erin Meyer says

      May 26, 2015 at 3:24 PM

      I hope this helps… Great idea to use it on the water dispenser (I’ll have to try that too). Let me know how it goes!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 8 Need To Know Cleaning Tips For Your Kitchen! - Casa Watkins Living says:
    June 17, 2016 at 7:05 AM

    […] to clean kitchen faucets by soaking overnight with an ingredient already in your cabinet!  Erin of Lemons, Lavender, and Laundry shares how to clean porcelain sinks and how to remove hard water stains from […]

    Reply

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Hi there! I'm Erin. Welcome to Lemons, Lavender, & Laundry, where we believe you can create a home you love... on a budget. [Read More...]

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