While flush toilets rank among the most remarkable advancements humankind has ever made, modern toilets still expose you to many organisms that cause a wide range of diseases in humans.
The exposure to that risk exists in part because we take it for granted that the toilet will always be clean—just because it flushes. However, cleaning a toilet requires a little more effort than that.
Two of the most effective methods involve soaking or wiping toilet stains using paper towels and vinegar.
Some cleaning techniques protect you and your family more effectively than others. Read on to determine which is better for your household.
Your Full Guide On How To Clean A Toilet With Paper Towels
Toilet brushes are a breeding ground for bacteria, and if you can avoid using them to clean your toilet, you probably should. Paper towel strategies have been designed for circumstances like these. Grab some gloves before you start!
Use Paper Towels To Soak Off Toilet Stains Step-By-Step
To soak off toilet stains, you will need paper towels and some vinegar. The acid in the vinegar is helpful because it helps break down and dissolve grime left in your toilet, while towels are needed for their absorption capabilities.
And although there are better disinfectants available on the market, vinegar also functions as a disinfectant when cleaning your toilet. Put on some gloves before you start.
Grab a paper towel roll and rip off enough sheets to clean every inch of your toilet that requires cleaning.
When your towels are ready, find any old container in the house and fill it up with some vinegar.
Take your sheets one at a time and soak them in the vinegar.
Once you have dipped the sheets in the vinegar, take them out and lay them over the area of your toilet where you are trying to remove a stain. The wet paper towel should stick to the toilet surface, regardless of how slanted the bowl is.
Leave the paper towel in place for about four hours, allowing the vinegar to get to work on your toilet stain. When the stain starts breaking down, the paper towel will absorb most of the stain’s contents.
Once the four hours have elapsed, remove the sheets from the stained areas of your toilet. If you find that any of the stains remain on the toilet surface, you can use dry paper towels to gently wipe them away.
Do not flush the paper towels because they are not designed to flush down a toilet’s plumbing system. Instead, you should throw the used sheets away in a trash can.
Once most of your paper towel has been removed (because some of it will invariably stick to the toilet surface), you can proceed to flush your toilet.
Use Paper Towels To Wipe Toilet Clean
Cleaning the toilet does not always mean that you need to scrub away at it furiously or soak stains for hours, as a gentle wipe will sometimes more than suffice when dealing with this surface. Paper towels are among the most valuable items used to complete this simple task.
As always, be sure to wear gloves to protect yourself from germs.
Identify the dirt on your toilet surface. If the dirt or grime has not set in, grab a few paper towel sheets.
Wipe the dirt away with the paper towels.
Once you have wiped, throw the paper towels away in the trash can. Do not flush them.
If a bit of grime is still sticking to the surface, you can use your fingernail (under the gloves) to work the stubborn bit of grime off before using another paper towel to wipe clean.
Is It Better To Clean Your Toilet With Paper Towels?
Cleaning your toilet with paper towels is more hygienic and safer than cleaning the toilet with anything else. The bacteria levels on a regular toilet brush are usually very high because a lot of the dirt, grime, and fecal matter on a brush does not actually wash off in the toilet water.
Meanwhile, the chemicals in toilet cleaning products are often highly toxic and can cause you harm, ranging from skin irritation to respiratory problems.
Paper towels can also be easily disposed of, so you don’t have this awkward scenario where germs are just lingering around your bathroom and waiting to spread. Wet wipes are also disposable and can be used in place of paper towels.
If you prefer to reuse, you can employ microfiber cleaning cloths or other reusable cloths instead. Be sure to clean your microfiber cloth thoroughly with hot water and detergent after.
However, cleaning your toilet will sometimes require a little elbow grease, depending on just how filthy your toilet is.
How Do You Clean A Dirty Toilet Without Any Scrubbing?
You can clean a dirty toilet without scrubbing by using automatic toilet cleaners, cleaning tablets, Coca-Cola, vinegar, toilet bombs, baking soda, bleach, muriatic acid, water softeners, and other surface cleaners.
People often assume that their toilets could not possibly be cleaner just because they regularly put their backs into cleaning them. However, some of the most effective toilet cleaning techniques do not involve any scrubbing or wiping at all.
Combining scrubbing with one of these less strenuous cleaning techniques is also beneficial in producing highly favorable results. Always be sure to wash your hands with soap, such as dish soap, and warm water after scrubbing.
How Do You Clean A Disgusting Toilet?
The most cost-effective method to add to your cleaning arsenal is vinegar and baking soda. It doesn’t just remove hard stains and grime—it dissolves toilet paper, flushable wipes, and other paper products that might stick somewhere in the pipes.
Plus, vinegar and baking soda are super easy to use. You only need to pour in a cup or two of baking soda, then free-pour vinegar on it. The baking soda will start bubbling or fizzing, which means it is getting to work on the thick dirt and grime.
Once the baking soda and vinegar are done working away at the dirt, all you have to do is flush the toilet.
