Clean your toilet once a week, inside and out: the bowl, under the rim, both sides of the seat, the flush handle and the base. A busy family toilet also needs a quick wipe of the seat and surrounding floor every couple of days. If someone has a stomach bug, clean and disinfect it daily until they're better.
A weekly clean works for most homes because stains and the waterline ring don't get a chance to set. Leave it a month and you're scrubbing at mineral deposits and dried splashes that a weekly clean would have wiped off in a minute.
Toilet cleaning schedule#
| Task |
How often |
| Swish the bowl with the brush |
Every few days in a busy bathroom |
| Wipe the seat, lid, handle and the floor around the base |
Every 2 to 3 days in a shared bathroom |
| Full clean: bowl, rim, seat, hinges, outside, base, floor |
Weekly |
| Descale the waterline and rim holes |
Monthly in hard-water areas, or when a ring appears |
| Clean the toilet brush and holder |
Monthly |
| Flush a toilet nobody uses |
Weekly, so the water doesn't evaporate and leave a ring |
| Disinfect high-touch surfaces |
Daily while someone has vomiting or diarrhea |
How to clean a toilet properly#
You need a toilet bowl cleaner, an all-purpose spray (or warm water with dish soap), a toilet brush, gloves, and cloths or paper towels used only for the toilet.
- Put on gloves and open a window or turn on the fan.
- Flush, then squirt bowl cleaner under the rim and down the sides. Sterling, part of Kohler, says in its toilet care instructions to use bowl cleaner on the inside of the bowl only.
- Leave it for the contact time on the label. Most need a few minutes to do anything.
- While it works, spray the outside. Start at the top and work down: tank lid, flush handle, outside of the lid, top of the seat, underside of the seat, the rim the seat rests on, the hinges, the outside of the bowl, the base, and the floor around it.
- Wipe each area in that same order with a fresh section of cloth, so you're always moving from cleaner surfaces to dirtier ones.
- Brush the bowl. Get right up under the rim, where the rinse holes are, and down into the hole at the bottom.
- Flush and rinse the brush in the clean flush water.
- Do the floor around the base last, including behind the toilet. Urine splashes collect there, and it's usually the source of that stale smell in an otherwise clean bathroom.
The parts people forget are the hinges, the bolt caps at the base, and the underside of the seat. Many seats have hinge covers that flip up, or a quick-release that lets the whole seat lift off. Use it once a month and clean what's underneath.
Keep the toilet cloths and brush for the toilet. Don't use them on the sink, and wash cloths separately from kitchen cloths.
Getting rid of the ring and limescale#
A brown or grey line at the waterline is usually mineral scale from hard water, sometimes with stains stuck to it. Bleach-based bowl cleaners barely touch it, because scale needs an acid to dissolve. Sterling's advice is to use a commercial cleaner made for hard-water deposits and follow the package directions. Those rim holes can clog with the same scale, which is why a toilet sometimes starts flushing weakly.
Two rules for descalers:
- Never put an acidic descaler in a bowl that still has bleach cleaner in it. Flush between products. The CDC says to never mix bleach with other cleaners, because the vapors can be very dangerous to breathe.
- Don't scrape porcelain with metal tools or scouring powder. Scratches in the glaze give stains something to grip, and the bowl only gets harder to clean.
If your bathroom floor is marble, limestone or other natural stone, wipe up any drips of bowl cleaner straight away. The Natural Stone Institute notes that many toilet bowl cleaners contain trace hydrofluoric acid, which attacks every type of stone.
Do in-tank toilet tablets work?#
They make the water look clean, and they can wear out the parts inside the tank. Sterling says not to use in-tank cleaners because they can damage the flush valve and other parts. A damaged flapper lets water trickle into the bowl all day, which you'll pay for on your water bill. Skip them and keep brushing.
How to clean a toilet when someone is sick#
Cleaning with soap or detergent removes most germs along with the dirt. Disinfecting kills germs left on the surface. In a normal week, cleaning is enough. The CDC's household cleaning guidance says disinfecting is likely not needed unless someone in the home is sick.
When someone has vomiting or diarrhea, that changes. The CDC's norovirus guidance is to clean the area first, then use a bleach solution of 5 to 25 tablespoons of household bleach per gallon of water, left on for at least 5 minutes, or an EPA-registered disinfectant labeled for norovirus. Do the seat, handle, door handle, light switch and tap, not just the bowl. Wear gloves, keep the window open, and use a fresh solution each day.
Signs it needs more than cleaning#
While you're down there cleaning the base, notice whether:
- water keeps appearing around the base
- the toilet rocks when you sit on it
- the tank keeps running or refilling on its own
- there's a crack in the bowl or tank
Those are plumbing problems. Wiping up a leak every week doesn't fix it, and the floor underneath can rot. Call a plumber.
The toilet brush needs its own clean once a month or it just moves dirt around. For the rest of the room, our bathroom cleaning guide covers the sink, shower and floors. A weekly ChoreLists.com reminder for the toilet and a monthly one for the brush is all most homes need.