Limescale is a constant battle to tackle in household bathrooms, particularly around taps, showerheads and toilets.

Though always made up of hard calcium and magnesium deposits, limescale buildup in toilet bowls often looks much worse than around taps.

Rather than looking chalky and white, the deposits can present in an unsightly brown hue, leaving toilet bowls looking filthy even after being cleaned.

One Mumsnet user, like many others, reached their tether end with stubborn limescale buildup around the rim of the toilet, pleading for help from fellow forum members. Sharing a post on the forum, the poster with the alias ‘BewareTheBeardedDragon’ wrote: “Under the loo, rim has limescale that nothing I’ve so far tried can shift and it’s starting to really bother me. Does anyone have any super limescale-busting tips? I’ve tried soaking it in supposedly limescale tackling toilet duck, leaving and then scrubbing. Same with spray on limescale remover. No luck. Anything else I could try?”

To her surprise, several people suggested a similar approach, that doesn’t involve tough chemicals or hours of scrubbing.

One person said: “I’d try soaking some loo roll in white vinegar, wedging it in there and leaving it overnight.”

It’s a cleaning remedy others agreed with – another forum member suggested: “Soak wedges of loo roll in vinegar or lemon juice and push into the rim. Leave overnight. The next day, run around the rim with an old spoon to remove softened limescale. Repeat as required.”

This method resembles a common cleaning tip which involves soaking bathroom faucets in a bag of white vinegar to soften the chalky deposits and reveal the shiny metal underneath.

Distilled white vinegar, which you may already have in the cupboard, is both effective and affordable, priced at just 35p in Tesco and Sainsbury’s. Often repurposed outside of the kitchen for household cleaning hacks, it’s a handy solution for tap and shower limescale too.

Other Mumsnet users battling limescale at home suggested an alternative method to tackle hidden dirt lurking around the toilet rim.

A user with the alias QueenCT claimed that toilet limescale was “her topic” after a lengthy attempt to find the source of a foul stench in her bathroom.

She wrote: “Basically my toilet smelt and I couldn’t work out where it was coming from. I squirted a load of limescale remover under the rim and then got up there with my hands, a knife and a flannel, dragging the flannel along under the rim seemed to work well.”

The forum member continued: “Then I got a portable bidet bottle, filled that with hot water and squirted under the rim and the force of the water rinsed out a load of brown sheets of limescale. Attacked it from all angles and it’s now perfect!”

When cleaning limescale it’s important to wear protective gloves and avoid mixing cleaning products, even natural remedies like vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda, with chemical products.