Is your shower door dirty and making your entire bathroom look unclean? Beautiful as glass shower doors are, they can get foggy and cloudy from soap scum and hard water, which require regular cleaning in order to keep them looking their best and lasting as long as they should. When you clean glass shower doors, it’s not so simple as dealing with shower curtains though. You can’t toss them in the wash and call it a day. However, it’s essential to keep to a regular cleaning schedule, unless you want to end up with a bigger job in a few months. Luckily, it’s pretty simple to clean glass shower doors. Read on to learn how!
How Often Should You Clean Your Shower Doors?
A little maintenance every day or every week will ensure you have clean glass shower doors that aren’t covered in streaks or buildup which can affect the glass. Unfortunately, if you don’t clean glass shower doors regularly, that will result in more maintenance down the line. Wiping your shower door down after every use, cleaning it weekly, and doing a deep clean every month will keep them clean and sparkling, so you can get the most out of your beautiful shower doors and elevate the overall look of your bathroom.
How To Clean Glass Shower Doors
Sometimes, attempts at cleaning shower doors can leave them as streaky as you found them. Abrasive cleaners and other such products can scratch the glass. Here are some of the methods you can use to clean glass shower doors to ensure they’re better off than when you started, maintain their beauty, and help them live up to their promised lifespan.
Making Your Own Cleaning Mixtures
There’s no shortage of chemical cleaning products on the market you can use to remove mold, mildew, hard-water stains, soap scum, rust, and the like, which are great for dirtier shower doors. You can also make your own mixtures to clean glass shower doors. Distilled white vinegar, lemon juice, and ammonia can all be used to create sprays to use on the surfaces and remove streaks and buildup.
When making your own cleaning mixtures, you’ll want to be mindful of their strengths and weaknesses and how to safely use them.
- If you use distilled white vinegar, you’ll want to wear rubber gloves, avoid prolonged contact with the glass, and rinse it thoroughly, otherwise it can cause etching or reduce shine.
- If you use lemon juice, it will be more effective on lesser cases of buildup. It can be wiped off with a sponge after you wait five minutes or so for it to work its magic, then dry it off with a cloth.
- If you use ammonia, it can ensure streak-free clean glass shower doors, but you must be careful, as you’ll need to keep the bathroom properly ventilated and avoid mixing it with chlorine bleach, as that can make toxic gases.
Dealing With Problem Areas
Sometimes, simply spraying your shower door down and wiping it off won’t cut it. If you have some spots that just don’t want to go away, you can use dryer sheets, multi-purpose cleaning pads, and lubricants to remove them. These products can cut through stains and scum, but if you use a dryer sheet, make sure you rinse off your shower door after wiping it down.
Cleaning Shower Tracks
If you have a frameless shower door, you won’t need to worry about this step. But if you don’t, you’ll need to include the shower tracks in your cleaning routine. It’s very easy for soap scum and dirt to build up on and in the tracks. You can use distilled white vinegar in the tracks, let it sit overnight, then clean it up. After the vinegar is gone, you can use a toothbrush to scrub away stains that the vinegar makes easier to clean. Wiping the tracks down will finish the job. To prevent your shower tracks from getting dirty as quickly, dry them off after each shower.
How To Keep Your Shower Door Clean Longer
So, now you know how often you should clean glass shower doors and how to do so, but how can you keep them clean for longer? There are a few ways you can do this.
- Install A Water Softener
Hard water has minerals which buildup and leave streaks. Installing a water softener will prevent that and help you maintain clean glass shower doors.
- Treat Daily
Wiping your shower doors down after every use will keep them clean longer. Consider keeping a little squeegee in your shower to remind yourself to do this and make it more convenient to do so.
- Switch Your Soap
Some soaps are more likely to leave scum than others. If soap scum is preventing you from having clean glass shower doors, consider switching it out for another kind.
- Waterproof It
You can waterproof shower doors to repel shower water and slow down staining and buildup.
- Air It Out
After each shower, leave the doors open so your shower can air out, which will also slow build up and help with maintaining clean glass shower doors.
- Dry It Off
After each use, drying the shower doors off will also slow stains.
Want To Learn More About How To Clean Glass Shower Doors?
Moyes Glass knows how beautiful clean glass shower doors are and how they can give your bathroom a facelift. We also know cleaning them isn’t as simple as we’d like. If you want to learn more about maintaining your shower doors, don’t hesitate to contact us today!