Our cleaning lady used an SOS pad inside the toilet, and now there are gray stains! I let it soak twice with toilet bowl cleaner and scrubbed, and it helped a little, but is still there.
Have you tried the Mr Clean Magic Eraser? Certainly worth a try.
Mary,
Are you sure that it's stained and not the enamal scratched off by using the SOS pad.
Teresa from Va.
You might try a pumice stone for toilets. Wal*Mart sells them for less than $2.00. Good luck!
I was looking on the internet how to get rid of urine stain on my 2 yr. old sons potty chair. They said to use straight vinegar. Well needless to say, over time the potty chair stunk of urine even with regular cleaning. I filled up the chair enough to cover the bottom of base with vinegar and the rest hot water.
You may have to live with grey stains or replace the toilet. The SOS pad may have scratched the finish beyond repair.
We had a tub that the previous owners used abrasive cleaners on. The glaze was damaged. We painted it with Klenk's Tub paint. (Tons of preparation work involved there... I have dreams of sanding that tub.) That worked for about two years, until the paint was chipped by a sharp, heavy object.
You can also get tubs professionally resurfaced. It probably wouldn't pay to resurface a toilet (I don't think they're that pricey) unless it is a particularly amazing toilet!
I'd use some Barkeepers Friend or Bon Ami cleaner and use it on a sponge and scrub the grey places. It may just rub out.
Susan from ThriftyFun
Do you still use that cleaning lady? I would complain to her for ruining your toilet. Maybe she can figure out how to get rid of the stains but it may be that it is scratched rather than stained.
I am a cleaning lady; the gray in your toilet is the same as a pot marks in your kitchen sink, you can use Barkeeper's Friend (works excellent on rust) comet or any of your other household cleansers.
What was she trying to clean in your toilet that she had used SOS?
BABBIE
I read somewhere else to try a copper brillo pad. FYI - doesn't work. Made a few little marks. I then had some vinegar so I just poured it in there and let it soak, occasionally using the toilet brush and a sponge to wipe the areas. It worked!! It was actual stains because the longer it soaked, the dark particles left behind by the steel wool were at the bottom of the toilet. Thank you everyone!
Oh, and FYI, no, I am not asking her to come back to clean! It was her 2nd time cleaning here. Who uses an SOS pad to clean a toilet??!
Babbie: There was a stubborn ring in the rear of the toilet...however, I already was planning to use a pumice stone to get rid of it. I believe that's what she was trying to get rid of. I was very worried because our place is a rental and I do not want to have to pay for a new toilet when we move! Also, I did try ajax, lysol toilet bowl cleaner, bleach, mold/mildew remover and none of it worked, until I used the vinegar.
The only guaranteed product is Spirit of Salts! I moved into a house with a toilet so dirty I assumed I would never be able to clean it properly. I put in two cups of Spirits of Salts, let it sit for two hours, flushed and scrubbed out with toilet cleaner.
Believe it or not, Rust remover for clothing will WORK on metal scratches on porcelain. God bless you. : )
I have a house cleaning buz. myself and one day I notices scatches on one of my client's Porcelain tub. I sprayed some Grease Lighting cleaner, let it soak for about 3-5 minutes, then I scubbed really hard with a Mr. clean magic eraser and then I cleaned with w/dawn soap to make it shine.
this exact thing happens to my white porcelain sinks. use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser with comet cleanser and the gray will scrub out.
This works - as long as you didn't scratch the porcelain ( I know it looks like YOU DID) - I was so worried - but THE WORKS (it's a frothy cleaner tub and shower cleaner) took it out so easily. It looks like it was scratched but this cleaner removed it!
I had a cleaning crew come yesterday and they used an SOS pad on my enamel coated steel tub, now it has gray scratch marks all over it. When I noticed it, they said it was there when they started, (it wasn't grey when they started it was badly dirt stained because it has a non-slip surface on the bottom (hate that)). Now what do I do?
Is there anything to try before calling someone to resurface the tub? I'm so mad, I don't know why they would use an SOS pad on anything they SCRATCH all surfaces. Do they really think, I rather have a scratched surface than a dirty or stained one?
Cleaning professionals, help me out here, this crew obviously does not know how to clean things without damaging things.
It's quite possible that Bar Keeper's Friend will do the job; it works like a champ with metal scratches from plumbers snakes. Just shake about 1/8 cup in the water and wait a few hours. Actually, when I did it I forgot so it was overnight. When I opened up the lid I was completely amazed- didn't have to flush and I was looking at a gleaming white bowl!
The vinegar did work. Oh thank you God! I was just in one of my OCD moments was grossed out by my boyfriend's stained toilet and was horrified at the result. There was no comet, ajax, barkeeper's friend nothing else to clean it but an SOS pad. He had vinegar in his pantry and it worked like a charm. Thank you who ever you are who posted the vinegar suggestion! What a relief!
Vinegar works like a charm! Thank goodness! I was worried I was going to have to buy my landlady a new tub...
I clean houses for a living, for 15+ years, and I would say definitely vinegar and an old sponge, or vinegar and a Magic eraser. And to the people whose cleaning company did this, I'd fire them. That's cleaning 101... you don't want them ruining anything else in your house, especially something that can't be fixed.
I'm 14 and accidentally used an sos pad to get hair dye out of my bath tub it left gray marks everywhere!!!! I let vinegar set on it for about 10 min. And scrubbed it with a mr.clean magic eraser the dye and the marks came out ! :)
Hi Great advice. I bought 'The Works' according to my maintenance man. I'm in a rental complex. Problem is I can't open the lid on it. I'm not a strong woman at all and don't want to ask anyone here. Can you let me know how to do it? Thanks much. Happy holidays!
She did not do this on purpose. It seems she was trying to clean the toilet really well. I have a cleaning lady, and I am so happy to have her. She does a good job, but, occasionally, she does something I am not, totally, happy about, but I am so happy to have an honest, hardworking person to help me.
Magic eraser and vinegar works like a charm
OMG - I used SOS on my cast iron tub to clean every duty black grime from construction workers. To my horror the SOS left gray circles as if I took the white layer off. I read this post and used Magic Easer first, which took 50% off. Then I used white wine vineager which removed the rest. Whew!
Dont worry about it . I just did the same thing. Lol I was freaking out but then I cut off the water supply to the toilet and used some comet and it came right out. It doesnt do anything if you dont cut the water. I tried.
Good luck
Cut off water supply to toilet, flush toilet to remove excess water in bowl. Sprinkle Ajax or Comet on a sponge. Works perfectly
I did just the same thing today, tried everything then had a Bravewave, TOOTHPASTE, rubbed it in with toothbrush sponged it off and Gleaming White again.
I had same grey stain after using stainless steel to remove stains. I used magic eraser with comet and it came out
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I decided to clean the bathtub the other day as there was an ugly ring. I thought that an SOS pad would do the trick, wrong! There are faint grey/black marks everywhere the pad touched the tub. Any ideas on how to get rid of this? I tried bleach, ammonia and comet without success.
baking soda paste should do the trick.. use a damp cloth and sprinkle some baking soda on it and rub a small area at a time... then rinse.
Baking soda will help with that ring around the tub too.
Try Mr. Clean`s Magic Eraser. I had a few black marks in a bathroom sink...tried the Magic Eraser and it worked. Good luck!
I tried the Eraser and the baking soda without much luck. Granted, my tub was shinning but the grey marks were still visible. In a last ditch effort, I tried Fantastik toilet boil cleaner... left it on for a few seconds and scrubbed/ rinsed. Worked like a charm!
Melnago
A copper Brillo pad will quickly remove steel wool marks from tile surfaces.
Baking soda worked great, and it was a very large dark gray stain. Had to empty the toilet of most of the water (dumped a big bucket of water in), then apply the paste. Vinegar did not help, but maybe it had to soak overnight. I was in my usual rush.
Your idea with the washcloth and baking soda works!! Whew!! I thought I was dead!! THIS WORKS. You'll need to use a little elbow grease but looks amazing when done.
thanks for the toilet bowl cleaner suggestion, i was starting to panic about these stains... i used sc johnson mega shower foamer scrubbing bubbles and the stains came right off... i had to use a bit more than usual... i think the key is to use a product that removes hard water stains
