In our travels around Muskoka, cleaning homes and cottages and all sorts of other spaces, we've noticed something about water. It changes, from home to home, considerably. Unlike living in a larger town or city where water in the tap is processed at a central location and delivered to every home, water supplies in the greater Muskoka area are individual, varied, and often challenging.
Water here can be as hard as nails, or run to the other end of the spectrum and flow softly from your tap. As professional cleaners we have to be prepared to handle every condition, from lake water with varying mineral content, to deep drilled wells to shallow dug wells to town water. We've figured out some terrific solutions to cleaning the deposits left behind by water and we'd like to share some with you.
Hard water deposits? No problem.
When you're dealing with hard water in a bathroom or kitchen, the mineral deposits left behind when the water evaporates are usually solidified calcium, lime and magnesium. They look like a white crust. These deposits not only look unattractive but they can build up and impede the proper flow of water in a toilet, hot tub or a washing machine.
The effective and inexpensive solution? Vinegar, the duct tape of cleaning materials.
Most hard water deposits can be removed completely by soaking the affected area with vinegar (or a vinegar-saturated rag), letting it sit for a few minutes to an hour (depending on the size of the deposit) and then simply wiping away the excess with a clean cloth.
A common complaint about hard water is the residue it leaves on highly visible surfaces like glass shower doors. But did you know that soft water can be a culprit in the shower too?
Soft water is not so innocent.
Water softeners are often used in homes and cottages as a way of dealing with the hard water supply. But soft water can present its own challenges in terms of cleaning. The sodium that's left when water is run through a softener can leave stains similar to hard water deposits on surfaces like your gorgeous shower doors.
Here's a natural solution that won't break the bank.
1. Apply some fresh lemon juice to the affected area of the glass.
2. Then mix together a bit of baking soda with vinegar to make a paste.
3. Work the paste into the glass with a soft cloth or a sponge.
4. Rinse off the area and dry it right away.
5. Bob's your uncle; soft (and hard) water deposits are removed.
Did you know?
You can also use a dryer sheet rubbed onto a glass surface to remove hard and soft water deposits? Give it a try and tell us what you think!
If you'd like to learn more about domestic water in all its glory, try the Cascadian Clear Water Blog; it's comprehensive and useful.
If you have a cleaning question please send it to us and we'll post up the solution here so that everyone can benefit from it. Check back with us soon when we tackle the holiest of stains ... red wine.