Toilet bowls can stain despite regular cleanings. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to clean toilet bowl stains using one simple tool: a pumice stone. And yes, this works on tough, stubborn toilet stains as well. (Proof of that below.)
Cleaning toilets is part of our regular cleaning routine, so it can be frustrating when (despite those regular cleanings) the toilet bowl starts staining. These brown toilet bowl stains look awful and don’t come off with regular toilet bowl cleaner. Luckily, there is a simple method that naturally removes tough toilet stains without any fancy cleaning products or harsh chemicals.
What You Need to Clean Toilet Bowl Stains
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- Pumice Stone– I actually used a pumice stone from the beauty section of the store… you know, the ones you’re supposed to use on your feet? It worked well, but I later found out there are pumice stones specifically made for cleaning stubborn toilet stains. They have a handle and everything 🙂
- Disposable Gloves– Recommended when sticking your hands in the toilet.
How to Remove Stubborn Toilet Stains Naturally
Let’s start off with a before picture. (Yep. Sneak peek into my toilets.) I have a much more disturbing toilet to show you later in the post, but I thought I’d start with a more “typical” looking stain.
These stubborn stains are the result of calcium build-up and other mineral deposits from the water. Unfortunately, toilet bowl cleaner is not going to remove them.
Okay… let’s get started!
Before attempting to remove the toilet stains, clean your toilet. I clean my toilets with vinegar and baking soda, but you can use a store-bought cleaner if you prefer.
With the toilet cleaned, grab a pair of gloves and a pumice stone.
With gloves on, wet down your pumice stone by running it under a faucet; or simply dip it in the toilet bowl water. It is important to only work with a wet pumice stone to avoid scratching the porcelain.
Once the pumice stone is wet, started scrubbing the toilet stains.
You will notice some of pumice stone will rub off on the toilet bowl as you clean, so flush the toilet every once in awhile to see any areas you may have missed. Here is the toilet after using the pumice stone to remove the toilet stains.
… and here is a side-by-side comparison.
Time for an embarrassing moment.
We have an unfinished basement with a finished bathroom. (I know. Weird.) This means the downstairs bathroom never gets used. Every few months, I go down to clear the cobwebs, and each time I lift the toilet seat, my skin crawls. Because no one uses the toilet, water stains build up, and they’re nasty. Warning: Graphic image below. And yes, this toilet has been cleaned. Yikes!
I’ll be honest, I typically just clean this toilet and let the stains be, but since I’m showing you this technique, I thought I’d also share how well it works; even on the most stubborn toilet stains.
Here’s the after. Promise. Same toilet.
And for a little side-by-side comparison…
Pretty good, right? Now let’s all applaud the fact that I didn’t drop my phone in the toilet while taking pictures for this post… because trust me, it is something I would do.
Here Are A Few More Ideas for Cleaning Toilets
Naturally Clean Toilets with Vinegar & Baking Soda | DIY Toilet Bombs | DIY Cleaning Wipes
Common Question About Cleaning Toilet Bowl Stains
Will A Pumice Stone Scratch the Toilet Bowl?
As mentioned above, it is important to only use a wet pumice stone. This allows the pumice stone to soften so it won’t scratch the porcelain toilet bowl. Using a dry pumice stone creates a harsh abrasive that definitely could scratch the toilet.
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Really great advice!
(Since your family never uses this bathroom, you might want to think about turning off the water shutoff valve to your commode so you won’t ever have to do this again. WOOHOO!)
Your blog is completely helpful and lovely!
My problem is hard water deposits up under rim. Often have like black mold/mildew growing on them. Nothing else has taken these off. Maybe wet paper towels soaked in BF paste. SOS pads?
Just wondering if the pumice stone damages the porcelain finish on the toilet bowl?
I like your humor ! It was nice reading you. Thanks for the tip !
Thank you for the tip. Would never had thought of pumice stone. I just wanted to add another product I had great success using. “Barkeepers friend”. It saved me from replacing my toilets. I had tried every product out there. I even had a Plummer tell me I would have to replace them. As a last resort I tried BF one day not expecting anything to happen. Within minutes they were glistening. They had been stained for about 4 years. One of my greatest achievements! Pretty bad when one gets excited over clean toilets. Lol
I have heard that Barkeepers Friend does a great job on porcelain. I tried a DIY version to clean a porcelain sink and now I wondering if the homemade recipe would work on toilets as well. Here’s the post on the porcelain sink cleaner recipe (which many reported worked as well/better than Bar Keeper’s Friend 🙂 ): https://bit.ly/30ZO2fe
I was advised to use a pumice stone on my toilet years ago. After 15+ years of doing so, as needed, I noticed that the toilet started getting rust spots all over the bowl. I found out the hard way that it’s not a good idea to use a pumice stone on your toilet very often & don’t scrub hard. I now have a new toilet & will never use pumice on it again. Good luck to everyone who does. I hope your outcome is different than mine was.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I certainly don’t do this very often, and thus far haven’t had a problem, but good advice that doing this often, for many years, could damage the porcelain.
Hi Erin, I have tried everything to get the grayish brownish stain from the bottom half of my toilet and nothing seems to get the stain out. The discoloration is only below the waterline. We are on a water well and recently got a water softener, and the problem started soon after the water softener was installed. Do you have any more DIY tips that might help me remove the stain in this toilet?
Thank you so much for any help you can offer :o)
Hi Theresa-
I have one other idea you could try if it’s a white porcelain toilet. You’d have to turn off the water and flush the toilet so there isn’t water where the stains are located. Then, you could try this trick I used in the following post: https://bit.ly/30ZO2fe
While I realize, this was on a porcelain SINK, I would assume it would work on a toilet as well, as long as it’s white porcelain. Hope that helps.
So is it a different kind of pumice stone? I have one I purchased for my feet but I haven’t used it. Would that work?
I use the same type of pumice stone you would use on your feet. The ones specifically made for toilets seem to have handles added to them for easier use. I assume the pumice stone used is the same.
Thanks so much! I will definitely be trying this!
This changed my life! We have hard water and the stains would not budge. I tried the pumice stone and the stains scrubbed off! I’ve never been so excited to clean my toilet! Haha! My husband comments every time he uses it how amazed he is at the shining bowl!! Thanks so much!
Love from a happy toilet cleaning mum!
YAY!!! You made my night! I am so happy to hear this worked so well for you! Thank you so much for sharing your success!
Can you use a pumice stone on a black toilet? How hard do you rub with it?
Thanks.
I am not sure how this would work on a black toilet as I don’t know how the black color is created. I’m not sure if it would scratch or chip it. If you do want to try it out, I always recommend trying it on a small area that isn’t real noticeable. As far as scrubbing, it really depends on how bad the stains are. For minor stains, gentle scrubbing is all you need. For really bad stains, you’ll need to put a little more effort into it.
There is an easier way to remove toilet stains and tub grime. Mix 1 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup dawn dish washing liquid and put it in a spray bottle. Simply spray it on the tub or toilet and let it soak for bout 5 minutes and viola. You don’t even have to scrub it hard. It just comes off. Effortless cleaning!
I use a similar combination to clean my showers and tubs (I just do equal parts vinegar and Dawn). I will certainly try your idea and see if it works. Thanks.
Great article! I will vouch for your method. This was the only way I removed the rings around my toilets (the curse of well water). I found my stone in the cleaning supplies at our local Walmart
I like your pumice stone with the pointy end and curvy. Where can i get one like that? Our toilets all have odd shaped holes at the bottom’ of the bowl that are difficult to get to because they are deep and curvy….., but dark, almost algae looking stains build up in there and are visible. I cannot get good coverage of the curves with a standard straight toilet bowl brush, so i figure a straight stick won’t clean it well either. I have tried drop-in cleansers and they have little effect On this one area….and i am pretty frustrated about it. My hand can barely get in that area, but even then, i cannot reach all the curvy parts very easily or very well.
I wish I could tell you where I got the curvy one, but I’ve had it so long, I can’t remember. Here’s one that might work, but it’s not quite the same. (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/30UKHy5
I can vouch for the method, Ijust got done with my now sparkling white toilets a few minutes ago. I started with block shaped pumice and it got curved pretty quickly. FWIW, I did two toilets worse than the Erin’s with just under one stick, about 10 minutes of elbow grease per toilet. Thank you Erin, that was way cheaper than replacing the toilets (which I was strongly considering).
Yay!!! I’m so glad this method worked so well for you!
Does it not scratch the bowl?
I have never had an issue with it scratching the bowl; just make sure the pumice stone is wet before using it on the toilet bowl as this softens the stone. There are also pumice stones made specifically for porcelain if you would feel better with that. Here’s an affiliate link so you can see what I’m talking about: https://amzn.to/39znCos
Thanking you for this time saving tip. I’ve passed this along to our kids. It’ so much better than using harsh chemicals! Great grease fighter in the garage too for cleaning pieces parts. Pour a bowl of it and plunk the parts in it. Swizzle around, wait 20 min. and clean as a whistle!
Where did you find the pumice stone meant for the toilet?
Pumice stones are often found with bath/spa supplies. I recommend keeping the one you use for your toilet away from any that you may use on your feet 🙂
Long pumice stones can be found in walmart in the toilet cleaning area
Amazing! Thank you! No one ever wants to “talk” about solutions for the really yucky problems.
You are so welcome. I can’t believe more people aren’t showing off their toilet stains on the internet 🙂 Kidding.