Vitreous china

In detail

Vitreous china is the glazed ceramic that toilets and basins are made from, and it is unusually robust: the manufacturer describes it as scratch- and abrasive-resistant with a surface that will not stain or fade. That produces a permission almost nothing else in a bathroom gets — soft abrasive cleaners may be used when necessary, while strong abrasive cleaners will scratch and dull the surface. That permission is narrow: the blanket rule people carry around — never use an abrasive in a bathroom — is wrong here and right almost everywhere adjacent to it. The real fragility is the hardware. The same guidance says to wipe splashes of cleaner from plastic or plated surfaces immediately, and to use toilet bowl cleaners on the inside of the bowl only: the china tolerates the cleaner, the seat hinges, the plated waste and the tap next to it do not. In-tank cleaners are excluded outright because they can damage the flush valve and other working parts, which is a mechanical failure rather than a cosmetic one and happens out of sight. Scale also happens out of sight: deposits clog the rim holes and trapways, so a toilet that flushes poorly may have a water problem rather than a hygiene one.

Hacks and claims involving this

• Never use an abrasive in the bathroom Disputed
• Putting a cleaning block in the cistern Does not work