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We live in the modern age of economy, technology, and the internet, so we often rely on these tools to help us solve our everyday problems. And it is also absolutely fine to call a handyman and simply pay to solve the issue.
But do we nowadays depend too much on other people, and could we solve an easy problem like cleaning a corroded faucet on our own?
Sinks in our homes can surprisingly become the origin of all kinds of diseases, corrosion, and rust.
And of course, that is a big problem, considering how much time we spend on cooking and cleaning the dishes in the kitchen or washing our hands in the bathroom sink.
That being said, let’s see how can you clean a corroded faucet. Let’s begin.
Things You Need for Cleaning a Corroded Faucet
Before you even approach the faucet, you’ll need to gather a couple of things first. In other words, you will need to get all the necessary items for the cleaning process. Here they are:
- Salt
- Soft Cloth
- Lemon Juice
- Nylon Bristle Brush
- A Plastic Bowl
- An old piece of cloth
As we can see, this cleaning process requires you to work with mostly natural ingredients such as lemon juice and salt. Therefore, you don’t have to deal with chemicals or any other possibly dangerous stuff.
How to Clean a Corroded Faucet
1. Remove dirt and other debris
The first thing you need to do is to remove all the dirt and grime that’s located on the rusty part on your faucet. This is actually quite easy to do since all you need is to take a soft and clean cloth and dampen it until it’s ready to wipe the dirt.
Once you do that, you should apply the cloth onto the faucet part that’s covered with corrosion and try to get as many particles of dirt as you can. This way, you will make sure that everything is properly prepared for the cleaning process.
2. Create a mixture
After you get rid of the dirt and grime from the faucet, it’s time to create a mixture with lemon juice and salt. This step requires you to take a plastic bowl, no bigger than a regular one you use in the kitchen, and mix ingredients inside it.
First, take ¼ a cup of salt and pour it in the plastic bowl. Second, you will need to take approximately two tablespoons of lemon juice and add it in the bowl.
After that, you need to mix these two ingredients until they form a paste.
3. Spread it onto the faucet
Once you created the mixture, it’s time to use it in order to clean the faucet from the corrosion.
Now, take the paste you created and spread it evenly all across the area where the corrosion is located. Make sure to cover all the parts of the corrosion.
If you run out of paste and you can’t cover all of the parts where corrosion is, just make more paste and apply it to the faucet.
Don’t forget to do this slowly since you don’t want to waste any paste on the good parts of the faucet.
Also, you will need to allow the paste to sit on the faucet for at least 30 minutes. This way, the paste can do its job and soften the corrosion parts so you can scrub them later.
4. Scrub the faucet
When 30 minutes passes, you will need to take a nylon bristle brush and start scrubbing the faucet.
This way, you will ensure that the paste and the corrosion part are equally scrubbed. The scrubbing will definitely remove the corrosion from the faucet which will leave you with a perfectly cleaned faucet.
Keep in mind that this isn’t the last part, you will actually need to put a bit more effort in order to properly clean your faucet from the corrosion build-ups.
5. Rinse everything off of the faucet
After you’re done with the scrubbing part, it’s time to rinse everything off of the faucet. Make sure to do it thoroughly since you will need to determine whether are there any corrosion build-up left.
In case there are some, just scrub with the brush for a bit longer.
However, if your faucet is totally cleaned from the corrosion build-up, it’s a good idea to use an old piece of cloth in order to wipe it.
This way, you’ll ensure that every piece of dirt or corrosion build-up is properly removed from the faucet.
6. Wipe the faucet
The next thing you need to do is to take another soft cloth and properly wipe the faucet. A soft cloth will easily soak everything from the faucet and it will leave you with a perfectly dry and cleaned faucet.
If you, in any case, aren’t satisfied with the result, you can always use a nylon bristle brush to scrub a bit more. But, don’t forget to apply the paste first, and, apply it only on the corroded leftover parts.
7. Repeat everything if necessary
On some occasions, the corrosion build-up is quite strong and hard to deal with. That might be the reason why you need to repeat the process once again.
However, you’ll probably get it from the first try, but if you don’t, you can always try a couple more times until you get your faucet back to a normal condition.
If you want to repeat the process, make sure not to skip any parts. It’s quite important to follow this quite in a given order and do exactly as we explained.
Conclusion: On Cleaning a Corroded Faucet
And now, we have successfully proved how we can deal with this simple problem on our own, using things from our house and without having to hire someone.
But be aware that even if you replace the whole faucet, the hard water problem could still continue to occur.
After you have successfully eliminated the corrosion on your own, think about installing a water softener system, however, for that, you would probably need professional assistance.
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