When we moved into our new place, we knew the bathroom needed work. What we didn’t realize in the haze of our homebuyer bliss, though, was just how much work.
The sink, toilet and bathtub were all original, and based on old product catalogs I’m guessing they date back to around the 1910’s or 1920’s. (Someone on Houzz pointed me to these catalogs and they’re so freaking cool! Not only are they great for dating old appliances and fixtures so you can find replacement parts, but it’s just a neat glimpse into life during a different time.)
Anyway, once we moved in, we began to sort out what to keep or refurbish and what to replace. We wanted to keep as many of the original fixtures as possible, both to save money and to preserve some of the charm of such an old house.
One of the items we decided to keep was the old porcelain sink in our bathroom. In its current state, it kind of reminded me of a jailhouse sink with its rigid faucet handles and yellowed finish. Oh, and a giant ugly rust stain.
I knew from reading this post on Young House Love that some rust stains can be removed without having to refinish the entire fixture, so I decided to give it a try.
First, I tried a 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar on the rust stain, which I’d seen on a few websites. No luck there. This stain was old and stubborn.
Next, I tried a tip I’d seen on Reader’s Digest and attacked the stain with a lemon dipped in salt. I scrubbed the lemon-salt mix onto the stain and let it sit for a few minutes, then came back and scrubbed with a damp, coarse sponge. The stain started to rub away just the tiniest bit. There was hope.
After the lemon, I took the sponge and dipped it in CLR, which I picked up at in the cleaning aisle at the supermarket. The bottle says it shouldn’t sit for longer than two minutes, so I wiped it over the stain, waited briefly and took the sponge to it. Little spots of rust started to break away. Yes!
Progress!
I rotated back and forth between the lemon and the CLR several times, putting some serious elbow grease into my scrubbing. After about an hour and to my disbelief, the stain I had been working on was almost completely gone. I guess I didn’t expect it to work that well!
There are a couple surrounding areas that are still stained, so I plan on going back and attacking those next weekend.
Voila, the (almost) finished product…
With a little more work on the spots and an updated faucet and handles, I think it will look like a completely different sink.
Note—if you have a sink with a finish, like a shiny gloss, I would definitely spot test this method first because I could see the salt scrub doing some damage to it. If your sink is stained as badly as mine was, though, I’m guessing there isn’t much of a fancy finish left on it to worry about 🙂
Product used: CLR Calcium Lime and Rust Remover
Here’s a video I shot while the process was going on. Enjoy and good luck cleaning up your own rusty sink or tub!
