Bathroom taps are probably the most commonly used water taps and also the most ignored ones. If they are clean or freshly installed, they tend to uplift the overall appearance of your bathroom. If not, you would feel like you are in a zombie movie set.
A clean water tap, if ignored, also gets dirty with time and develops a stubborn coating as a result of prolonged use. People would know this, especially the young professionals who do not have time to do a deep cleaning, as they are too much sucked into work. After a while, those bathroom taps start looking ugly and hard to ignore. That is when you know it is about time for water taps cleaning.
Why do taps get dirty?
If your bathroom taps look dirty, consider these reasons while you wonder how to clean water taps.
Hard water stains – if the quality of water reaching your household is hard, i.e., high in minerals and salts, these minerals start to accumulate on your bathroom taps. And to add to that, if you use hot water, the steam from the water containing those salts and minerals tends to settle on other areas of the tap.
Limescale deposits – With time, one would notice a hard chalk-like substance deposited over the tap filters around it. That is calcium carbonate and other salts that may often slow down the water flow of your taps due to heavy accumulation.
Dirt and grime – More often than not, we tend to touch the knob of our bathroom taps with oily or dirty hands. This results in the deposit of dirt, especially on the knobs. It is essential to clean it while you are on tap cleaning.
How to clean water taps?
Let’s find out how to clean taps in your bathroom and remove those stains that are bringing down the overall aesthetics of your bathroom.
But before you start learning how to clean steel taps, make sure you have these tools handy for the work. Don’t worry, they are not industrial tools, but ones you will easily find in your house. We recommend:
- An old toothbrush
- A dishwashing sponge with a hard scouring surface
- A microfiber cloth
- A spray bottle
For water tap cleaning, here are the ingredients that you would require. Don’t worry; you won’t need to run to the market again. You would find them right in your kitchen:
- White vinegar or lime
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Dishwashing liquid
Simple, right?
Now let’s dive into what exactly needs to be done for water taps cleaning:
1. How to clean water taps with white vinegar or lime?
Step 1: Take equal quantities of water and white vinegar in a spray and shake the bottle to mix the components. If you do not have vinegar, you can use lime juice. This method is very effective if you struggle with limescale deposits on your taps.
Next, spray evenly on the surface of your bathroom taps and let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour for the acidity of these ingredients to act upon the tough stains or limescale deposits. Clean it with a microfiber cloth.
2. Water taps cleaning with dishwashing liquid
If the stains do not go entirely with vinegar or lime, what you can do is mix a few drops of dishwashing liquid in a bowl of lukewarm water and soak a dishwashing sponge with a hard scouring surface and scrub the dirty parts of the tap. You may require the old toothbrush we mentioned earlier to get to the corners and hard-to-reach spots. Next, rinse the tap thoroughly with lukewarm water and dry with a towel or tissue paper.
3. Clean water tap with baking soda
Baking soda helps remove the grime deposits on your taps due to its alkaline nature. All you need to do is mix 3-4 tablespoons of baking soda with 250 ml of water and apply the paste-like mixture to the bathroom taps. Make sure you give it a couple of hours at best to sit through and act on the stained surface.
Next, scrub the tap using a scrubber or a sponge with a hard scouring surface and a toothbrush to clean hard-to-reach spots. Clean it with water to see the stains disappear, making way to a sparkling clean water tap.
4. How to clean taps with salt?
Pour salt over the affected areas of the tap and let it sit for a few hours. This allows the salt to break down deposits due to hard water and also helps remove germs. Next, scrub it using a scrubber and rinse the taps thoroughly with lukewarm water to get clean, shiny taps.
To keep your taps in top shape is a task. That is why it is essential to do it frequently, as it saves the energy otherwise wasted in water tap cleaning after a long time.