No matter how hard you work to keep your bathroom spotless, the toilet bowl is the hardest to keep clean.
Unwanted stains in your toilet bowl are the worst kind of stains, especially if they are poop stains.
These stains can be difficult to remove from the toilet bowl, and they may even be embarrassing when you have guests over.
Luckily, we’ve done the research, and learning how to clean poop stains from the toilet bowl is easy.
All you need is a little time and a couple of everyday household cleaning items to get your toilet bowl spotlessly clean once more.
What You’ll Need
You’ll need a few household items to clean poop stains from your toilet bowl.
- Water
- Distilled white vinegar
- Toilet brush
- Cleaning Gloves
You probably have the few things that you need lying around in your cleaning closet or sitting beside your toilet bowl.
If so, this will cost you absolutely nothing.
Continue reading below for step-by-step instructions on how to clean poop stains from your toilet bowl.
1. Lower the water level in your toilet bowl
The first thing you should do is lower the water level in your toilet bowl.
If you leave the water in the bowl, you will dilute your cleaning solution, which will reduce its effectiveness.
The easiest way to lower the water level in your toilet bowl is to pour a gallon of water into the bowl quickly, and doing this will cause most water to leave the toilet bowl without allowing the bowl to refill.
2. Pour in three cups of vinegar
Now that the toilet bowl is primarily empty pour in three cups of distilled white vinegar.
Vinegar is a natural stain fighter, and unlike other cleaning products on the market, vinegar won’t hurt the environment.
I recommend using Lucy’s Family Owned – Natural Distilled White Vinegar that I found on Amazon.
I’ve had great results using this brand plus it gets excellent reviews on Amazon.
Put on a pair of waterproof plastic cleaning gloves and then scrub the stains.
The vinegar works best if it is sitting directly on the stain.
Pro tip: Pour the vinegar into the toilet bowl slowly. If you pour the vinegar in quickly, you may end up just sending all of it down the drain. Pouring the vinegar slowly keeps the vinegar inside the toilet bowl, where it will be able to sit on the stains and help you get rid of them.
3. Allow the vinegar to sit
Allow the mixture to sit in the toilet bowl.
You can allow it to sit for anywhere from 5 minutes to several hours.
Scrub the stains intermittently to encourage them to release from the toilet bowl.
You should notice that the stains start to fade and dissolve on their own.
4. Scrub out the remains of the stains and flush
Once you have allowed the vinegar to sit for a while, scrub the stains with your toilet brush.
Be thorough as you scrub away any remaining debris.
Once the stains are completely gone, and the vinegar is nasty looking, flush the whole mess down the drain.
The toilet will refill with fresh, clean water, and you can now enjoy a clean toilet free from any off-putting poop stains.
Here is a video demonstrating how to clean poop stains from your toilet bowl.
00:09—Pour a gallon of water into the toilet bowl to drop the toilet’s water level down.
0:32—Pour in enough vinegar to cover the stains. Make sure to pour slowly.
0:52—Scrub the stains in the vinegar.
1:27—Allow the vinegar to sit for about 5 minutes.
1:30—Scrub the stains again.
1:36—Allow the vinegar to sit for at least another 5 minutes.
2:03—Flush the toilet to get rid of the vinegar and the stains.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all brown stains in the toilet bowl poop stains?
No, not all brown stains in your toilet bowl are poop stains.
Most of them are probably lime build-up.
Many homes have hard water, which is full of minerals that can be rough on plumbing.
As the hard water evaporates, it leaves behind sediment.
The sediment starts off too thin for humans to see, but the minerals attract other sediment and debris.
Over time, the sediment builds up into stains that can be difficult to remove.
So, the brown stains and ring-shaped stains in your toilet may not be poop stains.
Instead, they could be a natural result of having hard water constantly running through your plumbing.
Luckily, the above methods work well for removing lime stains, so you can keep your toilet bowl clean regardless of what kind of stain it is.
Can I Use Bleach to get rid of poop stains in the toilet bowl?
Yes, you can use bleach.
We prefer using vinegar because it is natural and better for the environment, but you can also use bleach to clean poop stains out of your toilet bowl.
If you choose to use bleach, you can follow most of the steps we used to clean away the poop stains with vinegar.
Pour ½ cup of bleach into the toilet bowl.
Allow this to sit on the stains for some time.
You can scrub the stains to encourage them to release, but the bleach is strong enough to dissolve the stains if you let it sit for long enough.
Once the stains are completely gone, flush the toilet to remove the bleach and enjoy your stain-free toilet.
Can I Use Borax Powder To Remove Poop Stains From My Toilet?
You can also use borax powder.
Borax is not quite as common as bleach or vinegar, but the borax powder can also help you get rid of toilet bowl stains.
Borax is a powerful cleaning agent that is usually stocked at hardware stores.
Suppose you choose to use borax powder, empty all the water out of your toilet bowl.
Sprinkle the borax powder over the stains and then scrub.
You will need to scrub persistently, but you don’t need to scrub so hard that you thoroughly scrub out the borax powder.
Allow the powder to sit on the stains for a while, and then flush your toilet to wash away the powder, debris, and stains.
