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Clorox stained my bathtub, can it be removed?


Intro / synopsis: Dozens of people have reported success at removing rust stains with hydrogen peroxide [on eBay or Amazon]


thumbs up sign You are my HERO! It's so dumb, I couldn't find my normal tub cleaner, so I used Mr Clean. That is the only thing I could think of, and had to quick clean my tub cause company coming. Just did a quick cleaning, maybe I didn't rinse it off properly or what, but the next morning omg, it looked terrible!

Found my good tub cleaner and scrubbed and scrubbed so my tub looked nice and clean. Then after it dried, ugly brown streaks all over again.

I found this thread and immediately went up and poured the peroxide in the tub. OMG it was like magic! Just pouring it on and color was perfect! Its been 12 hours and still looks clean. Thank you so much.

Becky Andrew
- Ashley, North Dakota
December 28, 2022







⇩ Closely related postings, oldest first ⇩



Q. A friend told me to use 1/2 clorox and 1/2 water to remove mold spores from the tub. I sprayed this mixture on last night and woke up to find that I now have a brown stains in the center of my tub due to the clorox I used last night to kill mold spores. I tried scrubbing it off with Comet, it helped some, but it's still there... anything I can do to remove this stain? My tub is an original porcelain tub, the tile on the walls are fine, but the tub got stained.

Summer Black
- Decatur, Georgia
2004


Iron Out

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A. Household bleach is an alkaline material and consequently will precipitate iron out of water. It sounds like that's what happened since iron stains are rust colored. A mildly acidic household product made for removal of iron stains may take care of it.

Read the label for C-L-R, or LimeAway and see if it is recommended for this.

Hopefully we don't have to warn you of the personal dangers of mixing bleach with other cleaners (read the label). Good luck.

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

Ed. update: Hydrogen peroxide seems to be a more promising answer :-)



Q. Re. the stain in bathtub - I recently had my landlord reglaze my tub and set down a sponge full of bleach. It left a yellow spot. Is there a paint? Or will hydrogen peroxide [on eBay or Amazon] with cream of tartar [on eBay or Amazon] remove it?

Georgia Lolafredo
- Los Angeles, California, USA
2004


Q. I have enamel bath tub, there brown stains and I have tried a number of stain removers but with avail. I also tried to scrub with sand scrubber and again no success. I need your help.

Thanks

Sasyad Hussain
- Ewa Beach, Hawaii, USA
2007


3%
Hydrogen Peroxide


on eBay or

Amazon

(affil links)

A. Hi, folks. Yes, dozens of people have reported amazing success at removing bathtub stains with hydrogen peroxide. See thread 8229 as well.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, finishing.com
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey


thumbs up signHydrogen peroxide did the trick for me!

Eric Campbell
- Richmond, Virginia
January 18, 2012


thumbs up sign Several years later I came to this forum to find the same answer: Hydrogen-Peroxide was the solution to my bathtub stain.
I made it with Clorox. It wasn't the brown stain I read in previous comments, mine was yellowish, but I thought it was damaged for good, since nothing else I tried removed the stain, there or four inches long.
It wasn't magic, I had to scrub several times but it did it.

Alex Rodriguez
- Arlington, Massachusetts, USA
May 1, 2017


thumbs up sign  I was worried ... I stained the tub with a bleach cleaner, which caused yellowish streaks. I tried the hydrogen peroxide [on eBay or Amazon] and the streaks completely disappeared, no scrubbing required.

Sharon M O'Sullivan
- Schenectady, New York USA
April 17, 2019


thumbs down sign Really? Because I just tried the same thing and nothing happened ... So frustrating!

Theresa TT
- Tinton Falls, New Jersey
November 4, 2022

Ed. note: This site enjoys a 30-year+ legacy of camaraderie, community, & aloha which is unfortunately incompatible with anonymity :-(
Welcome! and feel free to read everything here anonymously ... but please don't post unless you are free to use your real name & town :-)




Q. I left bleach soaking in my tub and the drain turned black and it stained my tub black what can I do?

Trisha kenney
- Chalmette. Louisiana
July 25, 2019


A. Hi Trisha. Can you tell us whether you did or did not try the hydrogen peroxide [on eBay or Amazon] please? Thanks.

Regards,

pic of Ted Mooney
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey




sidebar

Q. I have a blue tub and parts of it have turned white (when it is dry). I think it is from using Ajax which would have bleach in it.
The color turns back to blue when it is wet (water on it), but the white comes back when it dries.

white spot on blue bathtub

Can anyone explain what is happening here?

Jack May
- BOSTON Massachusetts
September 4, 2022


A. Hi Jack. I suspect, since the color returns when wet, that the Ajax roughened it more than bleached it (Ajax is, after all, an abrasive scouring powder). Reflected light can tend to scatter off a rough surface causing this lack of color saturation ... but when the surface is wet, the reflecting surface is smooth, so the light doesn't scatter and the color saturation returns.

adv.
Faded siding or trim? Everbrite might fix it without repainting

Everbrite restores aluminum siding

One of our supporting advertisers (Everbrite [a finishing.com supporting advertiser]) offers a clearcoat product used to restore the color to chalky finishes on aluminum siding. A simple test they suggest is that if the color of the siding looks good when wet, the clearcoat will probably save it.

Although it's not intended for bath tubs, I would suggest getting a small amount and coating a small section of your tub. If it restores the color, proves reasonably durable, and doesn't introduce any slipperiness hazard, maybe it will be an answer?

There may be a similar product specifically made for bathtubs rather than siding, but I can't easily find it; all the bathtub refinishing kits I found so far are complicated and white :-)

Luck & Regards,

pic of Ted Mooney
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey


Q. -- this entry appended to this thread by editor in lieu of spawning a duplicative thread
Our off-white bathtub ended up with white streaks after cleaners left tilex on it for 30 min. We have tried hydrogen peroxide, Barkeepers Friend [on eBay or Amazon], scrubbing etc without any luck. It has been over a year and the stains/discolorations don't seem to be going anywhere.

Tilex stain on bathtub

The stains look worse when the tub is dry and seem to fade when its wet. Any ideas would be helpful. We have thought about resurfacing the tub as it looks ugly right now.
LA AR
- Baltimore, Maryland
November 25, 2022

Ed. note: This site enjoys a 30-year+ legacy of camaraderie, community, & aloha which is unfortunately incompatible with anonymity :-(
Welcome! and feel free to read everything here anonymously ... but please don't post unless you are free to use your real name & town :-)


A. Hi, Laar. We appended your question to a thread where your question was asked and answered immediately above :-)
Luck & Regards,
pic of Ted Mooney
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey


Q. What was the answer to correcting your tub with the white marks. My tub is the same exact way. I could not find your answer to your question about your tub.

toilet bowl cleaner stained bathtub a   toilet bowl cleaner stained bathtub b   toilet bowl cleaner stained bathtub c  

Pat Townsend
- Charlotte, North Carolina
July 15, 2023


A. Hi Pat.
There is not actually any final "answer"; this is simply a public forum where some people choose to come back and relate their results (yay!) and some people do a drive-by drop off of a question and never return (boo!).

My suggestion to Jack and Laar was that if the stains fade when wet, try Everbrite [affil links] on a small sample area and let us know what you learn ... so far they haven't responded. Boo :-(

Considering the inevitable shadows in photos, it's very hard to clearly see the whiter areas in an already white bath tub, but it looks to me like your problem isn't a spot or two but streaks, runs, and patches everywhere ... so I'm less confident that a clearcoat can fix it, but give it a try!

Luck & Regards,

pic of Ted Mooney
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey


Q. Well as I clean it seems as though it's getting somewhat better but you can still see the light stains. My daughter was cleaning the tub with toilet bowl cleaner, and she left it on too long which has left light stains around the tub. I have been cleaning but stains reappear when dry. Also I guess all the times I clean it took the gloss away. What do I use to get the gloss back?

I'm not understanding the clear coat? Is there a brand I need to get? So I would need to get Everbrite?

Pat Townsend [returning]
- Charlotte
July 20, 2023


A. Yay, thanks for coming back, Pat. Toilet bowl cleaner should never be used in a bathtub; it's hydrochloric acid and much much too strong; the materials that tubs are made from cannot withstand it. Furthermore it's quite dangerous.

Everbrite [affil links] is a brand name of one clearcoat material. It is designed for aluminum siding, not for bathtubs; I conjectured that it might work, but it might not, or it might be too slippery for a bathtub. I'm not promising a solution, just suggesting a possibility that you can test.

There are bathtub re-glossing sprays [on eBay or Amazon] , but as far as I can see they are all white, not clear. Since your tub is white rather than blue or off-white like the previous posters, you might try that as a second possibility.
Luck & Regards,

pic of Ted Mooney
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey


Q. Yes that is why I was so upset that she used the toilet bowl cleaner, I still to this day don't know why she used it. I will try what you said to use. Thank you!

Do I need to sand the tub down before I use the gloss spray? Just wondering before I use gloss spray?

Pat Y. Townsend [returning]
- Charlotte North Carolina
July 26, 2023


A. Hi again, Pat. You'll have to read the instructions for the particular product you use, but I would assume that they want the tub clean but not sanded.

I think you should expect an improvement from a re-glossing spray, but please try to keep your expectations reasonable -- bathtub manufacturers don't get their showroom look from employees with no previous experience just holding down a button on a spray can :-)
Luck & Regards,

pic of Ted Mooney
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey


thumbs up sign Okay, Thank You.

Patricia Y. Townsend [returning]
- CHARLOTTE North Carolina
July 28, 2023






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