Hard water stain removal is for the marks a normal clean will not shift: the white spots and bands that minerals leave on windows, shower screens and glass pool fences. We test a small area first and tell you honestly whether it will come off before we start.
Hard water is rare in Melbourne, so we do not see this often. When we do, it usually comes from bore or tank water, sprinklers or pool splash.
What the marks are
Minerals, mostly calcium and magnesium, left behind when water dries on glass instead of running off it.
Every time it happens, another very thin layer is added. Do that for a season and you have a visible film. Do it for years and it gets much harder to shift.
That is why a spray and a cloth eventually stops working. You are wiping the top of the deposit, and the layers underneath stay put.
What comes off, and what doesn’t
From a metre away, two different problems look the same.
Deposits sitting on the glass come off. It takes the right product and a lot of patience, but the glass underneath is fine and comes back clear.
Left long enough, the minerals start to eat into the glass surface itself. Then the marks are in the glass, not on it. That is a job for a glazier, and replacing the pane is the only real fix.
We test a small area first and tell you which one you have. If your glass is etched, we will say so up front and we will not do work that was never going to succeed.
Where it comes from on windows
Sprinklers, nearly every time.
A pop-up head that clips the bottom of a window, or spray drift on a breezy morning, puts mineral-heavy water onto hot glass and the sun bakes it dry. It happens in the same place every watering, which is why hard water marks on windows usually show as a band across the lower part of the pane.
Bore water and tank water make it a lot worse than mains water.
Please do not use a scourer
Scouring pads, coarse steel wool and abrasive powders will take the marks off and take the surface of the glass with them.
Scratched glass cannot be repaired. It catches the light in a way that is more obvious than the staining was, and the only fix is a new pane. If you want to try something yourself first, vinegar on recent marks is safe. Anything older is worth a phone call before you start.
Stopping it happening again
On windows, move the sprinkler. Adjusting a single head so it no longer hits the glass solves most cases for good, and it costs nothing.
On shower screens, keep a squeegee in there and give the glass one pass after the last shower of the day. It takes the water off before the minerals can dry onto the surface. Dull advice, and it works better than anything you can buy.
Having it looked at
Tell us where the staining is, roughly how long it has been there, and whether a sprinkler reaches that window. That is usually enough for us to know what we are dealing with before we arrive.
Call 0450 246 246, or request a callback.