Got stains that won't come out of your sink? Use nail polish remover on a cotton ball and it will come right off, no matter what the stain.
By Anna K.
Editor's Note: This would work on a porcelain sink but acetone might damage other types of surfaces.
CAUTION - READ THIS FIRST:
Once I dyed my hair in the sink and stained it, (oops). I cleaned up the best I could with a bleach cleaner. Later one teeny tiny spot remained. I put dab of nail remover on a Q-Tip swab and it looked soo pretty and clean!
Well, here's the thing. 3 HOURS later, my roomate (homeowner) and I were watching a movie when we heard popping
sounds from bathroom. The sink literally blew up. It sent slivers of porcelain everywhere and it was sharp and found days later in odd places. OUCHIE!
So take this warning and, do what you will, be careful.
This page contains the following solutions.
Got a stain on your tub or sink? Clean them quick and easy. Add cream of tartar and hydrogen peroxide and make a paste. Spread the paste over the stain and scrub lightly with a brush.
Dab dishwasher gel on any stains in your sink, and let it set overnight. In the morning the stains will be gone! By Linda
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How do you get the gray mark out of your kitchen sink. My sink is just a year old and the marks are getting worse. I use cleanser but it doesn't budge them. Please help.
My manufacturer recommended using Barkeepers Friend on my porcelein sink. Works great.
I use Electrosol liquid dishwasher detergent. It completely removes all stains and deodorizes the sink. My sink is white composite material, and comes up like new every time.
I read on a post recently to use regular tooth paste (not the gel type). I tried it this weekend and it worked!!!
Use some smooth cook top cleaner on a paper towel, rub & within seconds, the scratches will disappear, guaranteed! This also works great on bath/jetted tubs also.
My wife likes to use Windex to clean everything! Well, she was cleaning the guest bathroom sink and there was an area where the porcelain enamel had rubbed off unbeknownst to her. Once the spray hit that spot, it absorbed the blue spray and now there is a big discolored blue spot where the enamel had rubbed off. Does anyone have any suggestions how I can remove the stain? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
By Morgan F.
You can try getting a small container, sold in hardware stores, of white enamel touch up paint for just for this purpose for chips.
Syd's 2 cents
Got a big stain off my sink. I ordered Barkeepers Friend online. My sink is shiny, looks like new again. It's three years old.
I've used all kinds of products to get rid of this. Nothing has worked. When I used the bathroom there was no mark. Within a few hours this mark has come!
I've used wired and normal cloth to see if the mark comes off, no luck. I've used bleach, baking soda, elbow crease, etc.!
Any recommendations? Could this be a manufacture concern?
Did you leave a metal razor or something in the sink?
If the sink is brand new and there is no reason for the spot (like no metal left in the sink), I would call the maker and see what they recommend/
If the sink is not new and you don't care about potential damage from the fix--you could try a paste of Dawn dish soap, baking soda, and vinegar. About tablespoon of the soda and a few drops of vinegar and Dawn to make it like cake icing, spread it on, leave it sit for 15 minutes, then take an old tooth brush and gently scrub.
That should do it.
Post back with an update!
I'm not sure we're really getting the picture here; You say you used the bathroom and there was no mark but when you returned a few hours later this mark was there.
Your sink looks too shiny/new to have a problem like this especially on new porcelain.
If none of this applies to your situation, then most likely following Pghgirl's suggestion will remove the mark - if it's really removable.
First off, what is this sink made of -Porcelain or acrylic ? Acrylic scratches very easily. Porcelain is much more durable. How to get rid of the mark makes a difference of what the sink material is. Never use anything abrasive on acrylic..it will scratch and dull the surface. Using anything metal, like SOS pads or metal brushes will leave gray marks on porcelain. Also, is the gray mark where the faucet has dripped? If yes, the faucet might have had something up inside the nozzle that made that stain. As far as cleaning the mark off, use the least aggressive methods first, then work your way to more potent methods. And if the sink is really quite new, if under a warranty, contact the maker or installer for warranty coverage.
It sure looks like there is more to this than being told here right now. If you look very closely at the stain you can see small black scratch marks mixed in with this stain. Normally when I see this it means that someone has taken a steel pad to try and clean the sink and has scratched it up so badly. The reason I am saying this one is because someone did this to my toilet bowl with a steel scrubber that is used to scrub the bottom of pans with and left the exact same color stain and marks inside the toilet bowl.
Please help! My boyfriend is a mechanic and there are motor oil stains in our bathroom sink! Does anyone know how I can get these pesky stains off the porcelain?
I would try mechanics hand cleaner, the goop in a jar that gets motor oil and grease off your hands. It is available at the auto parts store. Put some on a rag or paper towel and rub it into the stains. Wipe clean with another paper towel or rag and see if it is gone. Repeat as necessary. Hopefully that will dissolve the oil so it comes out.
I had some odd yellow stains in my white enamel kitchen sink which did not respond to the usual bleach cleaner/Bon Ami cleanser. I tried peroxide, bathroom cleaner, cooktop cleaner, Soft Scrub, window cleaner, mildew inhibitor, Borax with lemon juice, OxyCLean with lemon juice, white vinegar and baking soda; I even dabbed on a bit of acetone (which is not something I wanted to do) and tried Awesome cleaner and pure bleach, which I let sit. NOTHING. Then I came home and it was as pure as the driven snow. My husband had bought and used a bit of BarKeepers' Friend. Unbelieveable.
I have a hair removal cream stain on my white sink. It has been there for 3 weeks. Now the stain is dark grey. What can I do? Please help me!
By Jolanta
Have you tried Magic Eraser? It removed some of the stains in my bathroom that products had left behind. Some of the stains had been there for over 10 years, and it took them right off.
Use Barkeepeer's Friend and a scouring pad. Took out iodine stains.
How do I get white stains out of a brown porcelain sink?
Most likely this is mineral build up.
The only way I could get these out was with a pumice stone. I would rub the stain out.
Also some recoomend using a mixture of vinegar and baking soda, making a paste, and leaving it on to break down the sediment: homeguides.sfgate.com/
Try a Mr Clean Magic eraser
In a porcelain kitchen sink with stains, do the stains stay off once removed with peroxide? If the kitchen sink is used often, do the ugly stains stay off?
By Joycealaina
No. You have to clean it after each use. I use soft scrub on mine every night before bed (I do the flylady routine, end your day with a clean shiny empty sink). You can help it stay cleaner longer if you avoid putting things in it such as tea, coffee, blueberry.....as they cause stains. Also, if you use a sink mat in it, that will help prevent pots and pans from scuffing it.
The finish of the sink is probably gone. Unless you have it professionally reglazed, you will have to scrub out stains constantly.
My hot water heater makes my hot water yellow which has in turn yellowed my white kitchen sink that's only 3 years old. Bleach, vinegar, and baking soda did nothing. Help!
By Mick from LHC, AZ
It sounds like you either have sulfur water or your hot water heater needs to be flushed. As long as you keep using the same water source without correcting it, you will continue to have this issue. Try using comet to scrub it out.
Try Barkeeper's Friend. It doesn't scratch.
It appears that some eye medicine my mom used has made stains on my bathroom sink. I tried several things, but nothing works. Any suggestions?
By Gloria
We have a white kitchen sink, yes strange, but it is white. We rinsed a bowl and a plate then left them in the sink before we went overseas for 3 weeks. When we returned we found circular yellow stains where the blowl and plate had been. Tried scrubbing with Jiff, Ajax Professional Mould Remover and OzKleen Mould power, all to no avail. I then wiped the sink as dry as I could and sprayed on 30 Seconds Indoor Mould Remover, thinking this won't work either. But about 3 minutes later, I couldnt believe my eyes. THE YELLOW WAS COMPLETELY GONE. You can buy this product at Bunnings.
I have used hand soap dispensers on my porcelain bathroom sinks. Unfortunately, they have left yellow circles/rings on the sinks now. I have tried many things, but I just can't find a solution to remove these stains. Please help. My bathrooms are only 3 years old. Thanks.
By Lisa Hanson from Georgetown, KY
If the stains are on the sink itself like my stains from soap dispensers are try using dishwasher gel. Put some on the area, with a rag rub it in, let it sit a bit and then rub and rinse off. This is all I ever use to clean my sinks and tub after wondering one day why the side of the sink the dishwasher drained on was always so clean. Sadly, I no longer have the dishwasher, but I do have my gel to clean with. I use a store brand, but any kind should work.
This is a common problem for me under my RubberMaid mat. I just use bleach!
Jim in Jax
I have the same problem and I use baking soda with water vinegar made into a paste. Mix it, let it set for 10 min, and rub with a cloth. Works for me. Good Luck.
I have a blue stain around my new sink in the bathroom upstairs, but I don't have it in my main floor bath. Any suggestions? I would be grateful. Please help. Thanks in advance.
By brenda chouinard from Lac Baker, NB
There are a number of ways to remove stubborn rust discoloration from a porcelain fixture. This is a page about cleaning a rust stain on a porcelain sink.
I am not at all proud to let you see the mess I let my kitchen sink get into. I am kinda happy to let you in on how I cleaned it up.
I have a friend that has two yellow stains in his sink (each about three inches in diameter) that will not come off. We do not know the source of the stains as they were there when he moved in.
He has tried bleach, baking soda, lemon paste, and Soft Scrub all to no avail. Any suggestions?Try scrubbing them with Comet.
