Comments on: Tub-stain Tears

Question: Tub-stain Tears

forallmankind — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:25:13 -0800

Good lord I'm in trouble! Last night I soaked a few white shirts in Clorox, rinsed them, and then hung them up over the tub to drip dry. One of the shirts had a little black design, and when I got up in the morning I found this hideous stain in the enamel of my tub which looks like was caused by the bleach/ black dye combination drip dripping all night, and which my landlord will *freak out about* when he sees it! Any ideas?

By: Good Brain

Good Brain — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:29:22 -0800

Bon Ami + elbow grease?

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:29:32 -0800

Have you tried pouring a little Clorox over the stain? Guard your eyes and use adequate ventilation.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:33:04 -0800

Bleach giveth and bleach taketh away. I'd recommend filling up the basin with a water/bleach mix and letting it stand for a while, or even overnight. **USE ADEQUATE VENTILATION** if you leave it standing for a while. This cannot be stressed enough.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:33:37 -0800

Seconding Bon Ami.
Blood, dye, rust: B.A. kevorks 'em all!

By: found dog one eye

found dog one eye — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:34:05 -0800

If the previous suggestions don't work, try some Bar Keepers Friend. You can probably find it at the grocery store. It has a bit of oxalic acid in it, and will take out nearly any stain.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:36:08 -0800

ikkyu2: I have tried Clorox Clean Up to no avail. I'll go try a stronger solution and report back...

By: nathan_teske

nathan_teske — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:37:25 -0800

I second Bar Keepers Friend, but just mix it up into a nice pasty consistency and apply it to the stain --- do not scrub. It's abrasive and will scratch the hell out of the tub's finish.

By: mrmojoflying

mrmojoflying — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:40:51 -0800

enamel of my tub

Is this porcelain enamel? If not, you might be in trouble. As a last resort I would use Barkeeper's Friend as a scouring agent and some 00000 steel wool. This will undoubtedly cause minor scuff damage to your landlord's property, but should be a lot less noticeable than the stain. Good luck.

By: The corpse in the library

The corpse in the library — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:43:41 -0800

How about a Magic Eraser? They're weirdly good.

By: suki

suki — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:47:21 -0800

I got rid of some similar stains in my enamel sink by covering them with Comet, letting it sit for a couple of hours, then scrubbing it off.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:51:20 -0800

OK - regular strength Clorox has no immediate effect. I'm rather in agreement with Civil_Disobedient and I did try leaving toilet paper soaked in Clorox Clean Up on it for an hour or so - maybe an overnighter will have more effect. I'll pick up some Barkeepers Friend too. Thank you for the suggestions so far....

By: peep

peep — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:59:03 -0800

Ditto corpse! I would be SHOCKED if the Magic Eraser didn't work. It's basically like 10,000 grit sandpaper. $4 for 4 - give them a try!

By: frieze

frieze — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 17:32:53 -0800

Yeah those magic erasers are aptly named. This looks like a job for one.

By: Mach5

Mach5 — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:11:13 -0800

4th-ing magic eraser. it is truly amazing.

By: needs more cowbell

needs more cowbell — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:18:47 -0800

Paper towels saturated with full-strength bleach and allowed to sit overnight have worked pretty well for me. Not bleach-water mixture, not a cleaning product with bleach in it, but full-strength bleach. Probably horrible for a lot of reasons, but it seems to work.

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:20:26 -0800

and the winner is....

Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions - I live to see another day!

By: lobstah

lobstah — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:29:38 -0800

Hey, you missed that rust stain ! ;P

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:44:49 -0800

Hey - the old Magic Eraser doesn't work on it's own you know! (Honestly, I did put in about 10 minutes on the rust stain for karmic alignment, but I'd already done 30 on the original stain and it just got old all of a sudden. A future project then, I think...).

By: electroboy

electroboy — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:35:28 -0800

Am I the only one that didn't think that stain was that bad?

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:25:12 -0800

I kinda looked at it and thought that with the general condition of the tub (ie, rust stains) the new addition wasn't the end of the world. But some landlords (we had one) would charge you for damaging the dead flies that were on the windowsill when you moved in.

Glad you got your answer, the magic eraser is indeed magic. (Can't wait to discover in ten years millions of child are being born with Mr. Clean based deformities; miracles of modern housekeeping always have a price attached.)

By: Smilla's Sense of Snark

Smilla's Sense of Snark — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 01:08:35 -0800

Am I the only one that didn't think that stain was that bad?

Nope. If that was hideous, my tub immediately after rinsing the latest Unnatural Haircolor Experiment would be TOO SCARY FOR THE INTERNET TO HANDLE. Seriously, it looks like the aftermath of the shower scene in Psycho, at least if Janet Leigh were some sort of alien with blood colored like grape Kool-Aid... (A bit of bleachy-scouring-powder like Comet or Ajax takes care of it, though.)

If the Magic Eraser doesn't do the trick for you on the rest of the rust stain, that's another spot where Barkeeper's Friend should do the trick.

By: santojulieta

santojulieta — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:40:47 -0800

Magic Eraser will change your life!

By: nadawi

nadawi — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 12:43:06 -0800

Magic eraser is what we use at the portrait studio to clean the backgrounds and those things are GROSS! I would trust it just about any stain/scrubbing job. Glad to see it worked for you.

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:20:30 -0800

Magic Eraser! DO NOT apply directly to the forehead!

Bon Ami is what we use to great effect on our big-ass enamel sink, so I'd have recommended it, if the Eraser didn't already do the job.