New build and toilet stains

Postik

I've very recently moved into a second hand "new build" which is approx 4 years old.  The previous owners put some blue toilet cleaner down before they left.  I noticed that even after flushing for several days there were streaks of blue cleaner still down the inside of the pan.

Without going into too much detail, today I did a number 2, and after flushing and using a toilet brush I noticed it had stained the inside of the pan brown.  Furthermore, scrubbing the blue streaks with the brush didn't remove them either.

I then used my own cleaner (Harpic Power) which kind of removed the original blue streaks and the poo stains, but proceeded to stain the entire pan a tinge of blue.

I then put regular bleach down which instantly removed the blue, but obviously that is just masking any stains which are there.

I felt the inside of the bowl with finger and it is textured!  Not "limescale dirty" textured, but actually made that way.  Why on earth would anyone make a toilet that is textured rather than smooth?  And what can I use to clean it that doesn't just involve masking the issue with bleach?

Thanks :-)

diystarter7

High that cleaner you used may have damaged you toilet pan as we used it and went out forgetting to flush the toilet for several hours. Took several attempts of hard work to make it like new again.

We have several w/c's in our house and do not allow anyone to do a "number 2" in the one off the hall.

Thanks

Ebe_Scrooge

All sounds very odd.  I'm wondering whether the enamel/ceramic/whatever it's made of has actually deteriorated, perhaps due to a manufacturing fault?  Or if there was a coating on it that's failed?

Bleach is as good as anything for getting rid of stains, and obviously will kill any bacteria that may be lurking.

But if it really bothers you, you could consider replacing the toilet with a new one?  If it's only 4 years old, odds on you should be able to find the same model, so it'll still match with the rest of the bathroom.  And doing a straight like-for-like swap is actually very easy - eminently DIY-able if you have a modicum of experience and/or common sense

Mutton_Geoff

Postik said:

Without going into too much detail ...

And then you did 

Postik

Thanks for your replies. There are actually 3 toilets, and they are all the same. I am wondering if the previous owners used limescaler remover and left it on too long (perhaps went on holiday or something) and it destroyed the finish. Or it was a bad batch of toilets. Seems very odd as in my old house I would leave the cleaner on overnight and never had an issue.

diystarter7 said:

High that cleaner you used may have damaged you toilet pan as we used it and went out forgetting to flush the toilet for several hours. Took several attempts of hard work to make it like new again.

We have several w/c's in our house and do not allow anyone to do a "number 2" in the one off the hall.

Thanks

How did you get it like new again?

diystarter7

Postik said:

Thanks for your replies. There are actually 3 toilets, and they are all the same. I am wondering if the previous owners used limescaler remover and left it on too long (perhaps went on holiday or something) and it destroyed the finish. Or it was a bad batch of toilets. Seems very odd as in my old house I would leave the cleaner on overnight and never had an issue.

diystarter7 said:

High that cleaner you used may have damaged you toilet pan as we used it and went out forgetting to flush the toilet for several hours. Took several attempts of hard work to make it like new again.

We have several w/c's in our house and do not allow anyone to do a "number 2" in the one off the hall.

Thanks

How did you get it like new again?

Hi

As per my first post on this thread, it took hard work, ie elbow grease and we used flash bathroom. Mrs Diy gave up but I persevered and used old credit card, the corners of these -  pur hot water over the areas and get  old cotton material and ideally white as they will colour fast the w/c and you don't want that - then gentle and hard work on your hands and knees - use the flash bathoom cleaner as less abrasvie - saved us getting new w'c.  Now urine stains etc just wash away.

Do it over a couple of days and hold the pan as well your don't want that to move

Good luck

diystarter7

Hi OP

I recall the dread bottle as i tossed it into the bin - it was similar to this but had the words "GEL" - our fault for leaving it too long and no flush


 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harpic-Professional-Toilet-Cleaner-Original/dp/B07XCD5PKP/ref=asc_df_B07XCD5PKP/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=463088163330&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8643132644218480108&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9044985&hvtargid=pla-953580606958&psc=1

Longwalker

Postik said:

Thanks for your replies. There are actually 3 toilets, and they are all the same. I am wondering if the previous owners used limescaler remover and left it on too long (perhaps went on holiday or something) and it destroyed the finish. Or it was a bad batch of toilets. Seems very odd as in my old house I would leave the cleaner on overnight and never had an issue.

diystarter7 said:

High that cleaner you used may have damaged you toilet pan as we used it and went out forgetting to flush the toilet for several hours. Took several attempts of hard work to make it like new again.

We have several w/c's in our house and do not allow anyone to do a "number 2" in the one off the hall.

Thanks

How did you get it like new again?

Theres a few cleaners on the market that really are not good on porcelain , I wont mention it but the one that has dubbed adverts and always goes with a bang is one of them. Just sear get it resurfaced but in the case of a toilet, it will be cheaper to replace 

Apodemus

Postik said:

Not "limescale dirty" textured, but actually made that way.  Why on earth would anyone make a toilet that is textured rather than smooth?  

I'm afraid nothing would surprise me any more about the state of "design" in British plumbing.  It seems to be all about the look and not the functionality.  We have a bath where any water that lands on  the edge flows out rather than in.  Bath taps that are impossible to turn off with wet hands.  "Mixer" taps on the sink that are cunningly designed to keep the two streams of water separated, giving you a scalding hot hand and a cold hand.  A new electric shower which seems to have been designed so that its safety overflow is directly above the electrics and a shower-head rail that can only be connected to the wall by the (very flimsy) soap dispenser.  Oh, and a toilet where the flushing water misses a triangular section of the bowl. 

Section62

diystarter7 said:

Postik said:

Thanks for your replies. There are actually 3 toilets, and they are all the same. I am wondering if the previous owners used limescaler remover and left it on too long (perhaps went on holiday or something) and it destroyed the finish. Or it was a bad batch of toilets. Seems very odd as in my old house I would leave the cleaner on overnight and never had an issue.

diystarter7 said:

High that cleaner you used may have damaged you toilet pan as we used it and went out forgetting to flush the toilet for several hours. Took several attempts of hard work to make it like new again.

We have several w/c's in our house and do not allow anyone to do a "number 2" in the one off the hall.

Thanks

How did you get it like new again?

As per my first post on this thread, it took hard work, ie elbow grease and we used flash bathroom. Mrs Diy gave up but I persevered and used old credit card, the corners of these -  pur hot water over the areas and get  old cotton material and ideally white as they will colour fast the w/c and you don't want that - then gentle and hard work on your hands and knees - use the flash bathoom cleaner as less abrasvie - saved us getting new w'c.  Now urine stains etc just wash away.

Do it over a couple of days and hold the pan as well your don't want that to move

If the glazed surface has been removed or wasn't there to start with then no amount of "elbow grease" will restore it to  a "like new" condition.

It is the equivalent of suggesting that having used a power sander to remove the paint from a car to bare metal, it can be restored to "like new" by hard work with T-Cut or Turtle Wax.

Once the surface material has gone it has gone.  Potentially it could be replaced by a professional repairer (analogous with having the car resprayed), but the cost would be prohibitive compared to the cost of a new toilet pan.

If it worked for you then whatever problem you had was very different to what the OP is describing.  They could scrub the surface with "flash bathroom" for centuries and it still won't re-glaze the pan and make it non-porous.

Section62

Postik said:

I felt the inside of the bowl with finger and it is textured!  Not "limescale dirty" textured, but actually made that way.  Why on earth would anyone make a toilet that is textured rather than smooth? 

Are you absolutely sure it isn't limescale? Are you in a hard water area?

Limescale can do a very good job at covering surfaces of sanitaryware so it looks like it should be there.  But if not, it seems very unlikely a manufacturer would make a porous toilet bowl intentionally, so you'd have to put it down to a bad batch and poor QC, or else someone has put something very industrial into the toilet.