In the kitchen you may notice the affects of hard water on your glasses. A build up of white scale may be visible on your glasses after several washings in hard water. To get rid of the build-up, try soaking your glasses in water and vinegar. Water and vinegar will clean any glass surfaces in your home.

In the bathroom, if you have a build-up on your shower walls, and sinks, you may want to try a cleaner specifically made for hard water stains, such as Lime Away and CLR. When using these types of cleaners make sure the room is well ventilated because the fumes can be dangerous if inhaled for too long. Be sure to test the product on a small area of the surface before using because it may cause damage to some materials. You may also want to try a homemade cleaning product to remove hard water build-up. One part vinegar and one part water will help remove mineral deposits. For stainless steel sinks and chrome fixtures, try using a paste made with baking soda and water.

Hard water can affect your appliances greatly, it can shorten their life span by as much as 30%. Hard water will affect your water heater by depositing minerals that settle on heating coils, which will make your water heater work harder to heat water. If your dishwasher has heating coils, you can see this build-up for yourself. All the water pipes leading in and out of clothes washers, dishwashers, and water heaters are prone to build-up. To help remove the hard water deposits in your clothes washer and dishwasher, try running an empty cycle with vinegar. To help your coffee maker work better, try running vinegar through it. Use a filter to catch any debris. Then run water through it to clear out the vinegar. You should do this every three to six months, depending on how often you use your coffee maker.

Installing a water softener can solve your hard water problems. The cost of a water softener is between $300.00 and $1,200.00 and can be installed by the homeowner or by a professional. After installing the unit, it must be properly set to match your household's water usage. Some water softening units can be set to regenerate only on demand, while some units follow a regular cycle. Salt is required and necessary to regenerate the water softener's resin beads, which is how the hardness is taken out of your water. A water softener is useless without salt, so make sure your water softener is always full of the proper salt. There are several different water softening salt produced for various types of water softeners and water quality problems. To get the best results from your water softening unit, be sure to choose the proper softening salt.

A hard water test strip is the fastest and easiest way to test for hard water.