GLEAMING, POLISHED TAPS are an instant route to a bathroom or kitchen that looks the part. But once you’ve shined up those taps, how do you keep them that way?

Each fortnight, Laura de Barra brings her lifestyle and home maintenance expertise to the Glenveagh Home Magazine on TheJournal.ie – and this week she’s sharing her advice for keeping your bathroom taps shiny, starting with the dreaded limescale.

Tackle tough limescale: 

If a white, chalky-looking layer has formed on your tap, usually at the base, that girl is suffering from limescale build up. 

Although limescale often looks like a pretty big problem, it’s easily solved. Limescale build up is caused by the dissolved minerals present in hard water (hello, magnesium and calcium, thanks for wrecking our heads when combined). When that water is left to rest on taps, it will evaporate and crystalise to leave behind calcium carbonate deposits.

Have you heard of the phrase misery loves company? Well limescale LOVES limescale and these deposits are super attractive to hard water, so build-up can quickly start after the first deposits occur and are left to settle in. 

What can you do about it? If it is currently present, you can either buy a store-bought cleaner… or as I prefer to do, go the ‘natural cleaner’ route. Enter lemon and vinegar, but please be sure your tap is the type of tap that can take these acid-based queens, metal coatings like faux gold, for example, cannot. Most metal coatings don’t tend to suffer from water marks, but always double check as it can result in dull patches.

What you will need: 

• Lemon
• Microfibre cloth x 2
• Old tooth brush 

If the deposits are light, cut a lemon in half and rub over the tap, making sure it’s working in to the limescale.  Pay close attention to the spray nozzle here, if there is hard water gathering on the body of the tap, it is definitely also gathering where water comes out. Whilst it’s not an eyesore, build up here should also be cleaned away as it can clog and stop water flowing freely. (Stick your other lemon half over the nozzle and leave to soak in for a couple of hours if it’s particularly heavy) Go over the tap a few times to make sure the acidity from the lemon has been able to break down the calcium carbonate and then take your old toothbrush and scrub the now loosened deposits away. Repeat if needed. Buff dry. 

Tackle even tougher limescale:

What you will need: 

• Distilled white vinegar
• Small container (a wee lunch box is grand)
• An old rag
• Old toothbrush 
• Microfibre cloth

If the deposits are heavier, fill a container with 50/ 50 vinegar and water. Soak an old rag in the mix and the wrap it around the tap, like a seaweed body wrap. Cute. Leave this for a few hours – overnight is best. If you were to apply directly to the tap, it will just run off, so a wrap is ideal. As heavier build up will need more scrubbing, take your old toothbrush and start to remove the layers of limescale. The taps may need another body wrap for more stubborn marks. Again, pay particular attention to the spray nozzle. Make sure she is also soaking in the vinegar. 

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Wipe out water marks:

What you will need: 

• Distilled white vinegar
• Lemon
• Spray bottle
• An old rag
• Old toothbrush 
• Microfibre cloth

Are you wiping down your taps and still seeing water marks after? Sometimes these are not just water marks and are early signs of limescale so run a lemon over the tap to remove these marks. Then, if you want to keep your taps sparkling like new, wipe them twice weekly with a damp microfibre cloth to clear away very any new hard water deposits and then buff with a dry microfibre cloth to ensure there is no lingering water to evaporate and leave a deposit behind. 

Deal with dim taps

If you have no water markings but taps that lack that sparkle and shine, you can still apply the above to bring them back to life. Squeeze a half a lemon to 1 part vinegar 3 pars water and spray over the taps, then wipe down and buff for a gleaming finish. 

Careful with your coated taps

If you have metal coated taps, these will usually not have water or limescale marks but will have perhaps a grime build-up. This grime will usually be due to soap or airborne dirt and can easily be removed with warm soapy water. That’s right, just use washing up liquid. This will cut through the grease, but not be harsh on the finish. 

Prevention is better than cure

If water marks really irk you, or you live in a super hard water area, I would recommend buffing bath and shower taps after use or every couple of days, if you can bear it. A weekly vinegar and lemon spritz will also do the job just fine to keep marking and limescale at bay.

A final word of warning

A word of warning; plated taps in bathrooms are super on trend now. Just open Pinterest to see glorious metro tile rose gold combos. Before you make a big purchase like this, I would always recommend checking with the manufacturer about how they need to be cared for. If the above – buffing after use – does not seem like something you are up for, but gold bathroom detailing is, make sure you opt for one that doesn’t need high maintenance.

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