To keep rusty metal soap dishes and other bathroom accessories from staining your countertop:

  1. Use an emery board or fine sandpaper to remove any rust from the base.
  2. Apply several coats of clear nail polish to the bare metal to keep the rust from coming back.
  3. Stick four plastic cabinet bumpers on the bottom of the dish to lift it up off the countertop to prevent future rust stains.

Watch the video above to find out more.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Joe Truini: I found rust stains on my vanity top recently, and I couldn’t figure out where they came from until I turned over the soap dish. It’s a ceramic dish with a metal base. And I noticed that the chrome had blistered and the metal underneath began to rust and that stained the top.

So, I’ve since buffed the rust stains off the vanity top. Well, I was thinking, “Okay now, how do I prevent that from happening again?”

So, the first step was, I took an emery board, and I just buffed off the rust down to bare metal. And I coated it with clear nail polish, two coats of clear nail polish, just to prevent it from rusting again.

But there’s one more step you need to take before putting it back on the vanity. Go out and buy a package of rubber bumpers—these little peel and stick rubber bumpers. And put four on the bottom of the soap dish, just one near each corner, there you go.

And what that does is it raises the soap dish off the vanity top. So even if there’s water on here, it’ll keep the metal above the water, so rust will no longer will be a problem.


Further Information

Editorial Contributors
avatar for Joe Truini

Joe Truini

Radio Show Co-Host

Joe Truini is a contractor, author, and the host of “Simple Solutions” on Today’s Homeowner TV and the weekly Today’s Homeowner radio show. He has worked on both large commercial projects and residential remodeling, and has written for national publications such as This Old House and Popular Mechanics. He has also written eight books, including three best-selling shed-building books. Joe lives in Connecticut with his family and enjoys hiking, traveling, and baseball in his spare time.

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