The most of the time when we speak about water damage, it is usually concerning something that water has wet or had prolonged contact with. This kind of water damage is usually from flooding or leaking of some sort. These kinds of problems can destroys things, be costly to repair, and take a lot of energy to fix.



Another problem that can be caused by water is not as severe, but it can be really annoying and unpleasant to look at. Depending on what is in your water, you can get stains from rust, lime scale, and nasty soap scum.. These three things can build up on the things that water is supposed to come in contact with like your bathtub, toilet, faucets, and sinks.

What makes lime scale, rust stains and soap scum on these surfaces so aggravating is that they can be really stubborn and hard to remove. Even when you do get them clean, they keep coming back. This kind of staining is caused by hard water build up. It is not the water, but what is in it that is the problem. Hard water usually has an abundance of minerals in it like iron, calcium, and magnesium. When hard water is combined with soap that is allowed to dry, this can cause the hard dried soap scum that is like cement to remove.

These minerals will attach themselves to almost any surface that is wet by hard water. Over time they will build up and leave that white hardened scale wherever they have been. Regular wiping down and most of the time pretty fierce rubbing will not remove this build up once it has a good hold on a surface.

There are things you can do to get rid of these stains and keep them gone. It will require some special cleaning solutions and a little elbow grease as well the first time they are removed. Chlorine bleach can set in rust stains. Get a product that contains diluted hydrochloric acid. Do not mix with bleach. Follow instructions very carefully using a toilet brush with nylon bristles.

To clean scale deposits on faucets, use a stronger cleaning product like Lime-away. Clean the screens inside the faucet too, this can be done with the cleaner or soak it overnight in vinegar, rinse it and replace it. This will make the water flow better.

For cleaning all these stains from the bathtub or shower, use liquid comet or lime-away. These products will need to be rinsed thoroughly. Shower heads can also be soaked in vinegar.

Once you have these hard stains removed, be sure to wipe the surfaces down when they are wet and regular cleaning with a product like Scrubbing Bubbles will help keep them from getting build up.