Broken or Buildup?

Our master bath has these fixtures by Mirabel.   I remember when we were selecting things during the build phase of our house, we liked them and decided to go with them even though they were more than some of the other brands.   I also remember going back at a later point and selecting the towel rods and other pieces and being surprised at the very high cost for the matching Mirabel items.  

The sales person we worked with said something that stuck in my memory.   She said, "Mirabel feels very highly about their products."   We found much less expensive but still good quality alternatives.   At this point after over four years, I've been happy with all the options we selected...with the exception of one.  

The "waterfall" faucet for the master tub seemed to have an issue that the special, hard to match rust-like metal finish was coming off on a spot just at the end of the faucet.   This area was coincidentally where a small bit of water would sit.   The incline was such on the faucet that it wasn't angled enough for those last drops to drain off, so they would wait to evaporate away.

Now about that area, there was this white edging to it.   The white edging matched the small pool of water area and I was worried the special, expensive coloring of that Mirabel faucet was compromised from all the standing water droplets after each time the children or I used the tub.  

I messed with it with my fingernail.  I scrubbed it with a Magic Eraser.   I washed it with some detergent.   I put CLR on top of it and let it sit.    Nothing worked.   I got my loupe out and looked at it up close.   I didn't want to mess with it too aggressively because if the faucet were damaged already and I used something too corrosive or rough, I could damage it more.    But was it damage or just buildup?

I've been doing a test for several months now.   After the tub has been used each time, I wipe away the excess water.   If it's buildup, then the situation shouldn't get worse.   Over time, not only did the white area not get worse, it got smaller.  

So today, I got a little scraper thing out and gently scraped at the metal, hoping I wasn't about to bust through a protective metal layer, making my expensive Mirabel faucet look worse.    I scratched and the white came off.   It came off and it didn't damage the faucet.    It wasn't damaged all along, it was just stubborn build-up.      

Now I can go back to thinking highly about that Mirabel faucet, knowing it was minerals in the water and not the faucet's fault at all.

The Big Boy Update:  We went to the large creek across in the park today.   Keeping clothes on my children in the over seventy degree weather was a challenge, but I managed to keep them in their underwear at least.   The remainder of their clothing was muddy, sandy and drenched.   When it was time to go I told my son to bring his clothes back to the stroller so we could go home.   He told me, "I want to bring home Mister Rock, mom."   We now have a huge, apparently male, rock in our yard.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  On the way home from lunch today:  "can you open the window?  My butt hurts."  My husband after opening the window, "does your butt feel better now?"  My daughter, "yes."  And while standalone, that makes for quite the humorous story, there was a reason behind her request.   My son has a tendency to feel carsick.   When he does, I roll down the window and tell him to take some deep breaths.   My daughter did extrapolation on that principal today.  

Fitness Update:  We ran a 5K today and improved our time a bit.   It's strange only running three miles.    So strange to be done just when you've gotten started.