Knowing the best way to clean glass shower doors eludes most homemakers, so we’ve created a simple yet practical guide for people who need it. Cleaning shower glass is imperative if you want your bathroom to look its best. Like other parts of the bathroom, even your plastic shower doors need to be cleaned regularly.
What Is the Best Cleaner to Use to Clean Glass Shower Doors? How to clean shower doors?
Glass shower doors are perhaps the easiest to clean because they can withstand various bathroom cleaners. A general, all-purpose cleaner is suitable for most glass shower doors.
If you are allergic to the fumes, you may want to look for one that is marked “natural” as these use organic components that work just as well but do not diffuse the same chemical scents are regular all-purpose cleaners. You may need to apply and soak in a different cleaner to get rid of hard water and soft water stains.
Hard water stains do not always come off with general-purpose cleaners. Sometimes, deeply embedded soap scum is also hard to remove from the surface of shower doors, so from sprays, you may also need to head over to more concentrated bathroom cleaners to get things done. Highly concentrated cleaners have extra abrasive powers that can remove old soap scum easily.
How Do You Remove Hard Water Spots from Glass Shower Doors? How do you clean cloudy shower doors?
Cloudy shower doors can arise from several possible reasons: humidity, soap scum, hard water stains, general water stains, grime, dust build-up, etc. If your glass shower doors are old, it’s possible that you won’t be able to remove all of the stains because they’ve etched themselves onto the glass.
This is considered permanent damage on the glass surface, but luckily, these don’t affect the integrity or durability of the glass. The haziness is a sign of glass aging as well.
The first step is using a squeegee or a thick microfiber cloth to wipe down your shower doors from top to bottom. Use plain water for the first wipe-down to see how harmful the grime build-up has been.
This will be the general cleaning plan for now on. To keep the haziness away, you need to wipe down the glass doors with a squeegee. The squeegee has to be cleaned weekly as well. Don’t use a dirty squeegee on glass, because you will only be spreading the grime throughout the surface.
Can you use something else to clean glass surfaces if you don’t want to use all-purpose or bathroom cleaners? The answer is yes, you can. Combine one tsp. of hydrogen peroxide, 1 cup of water, one tsp. of dish soap, and ½ cup of 70% alcohol. Mix the ingredients well until everything is well-incorporated in the new solution. Pour the solution into a spray bottle that can contain everything. Use this spray as a quick way to remove the haziness of your shower glass doors and disinfect it along the way, too. Two of the ingredients are fantastic for disinfection. You can use this solution for plastic shower doors, too.
How to Remove Soap Scum from Glass Shower Door?
Soap scum is probably the biggest challenge you are going to face when cleaning the bathroom. Luckily, soap scum is not immortal, so don’t worry, you will be able to remove it. Your best bet for removing soap scum and associated hard water stains is soaking the stains for a few minutes in the cleaner of your choice. We recommend cleaners that are specifically advertised as cleaning agents for both hard water and soap scum to hit two birds with one stone.
It would help if you soaked the stains first before scrubbing.
What should you use for scrubbing? Regular toilet brushes would work, but these can also damage the delicate surface of the glass. Softer materials can scratch glass if you apply enough pressure. The pressure is what gets the glass surface in the end. Eraser sponges might be helpful at this point.
Eraser sponges are special cleaning implements that are designed to remove stains from a variety of surfaces. And we mean almost all the surfaces you can think of, including wood. Manufacturers often state that you don’t need to use cleaners to get results, but we are highly skeptical of this since hard water stains can adhere to surfaces for a long time and not budge even if you spray them with hot water.
Out best bet here is to combine the abrasive quality of eraser sponges with a cleaner that is designed to take care of hard water stains on glass. You can also try a two-pronged approach.
First, clean the glass of all the mildew and soap scum before fixing the hard water stains. Of course, since you are already cleaning, you might also work on the hard water stains to make your shower doors shiny again.
If you cannot find any magic eraser sponges or do not want to buy them, you can use dryer sheets instead. However, we highly advise that you wear a pair of gloves when handling these as dryer sheets have plenty of chemicals that aren’t meant to be touched by people with bare hands.
As for preventing soap scum, you can’t prevent them because of water and how soap flows everywhere water does. You must continue working the glass surface until the scum disappears. With enough time and the right cleaning materials, this isn’t far off the horizon.
Summary
Cleaning the shower doors doesn’t have to be a pain in the neck, as long as you know the proper approach. Use general, all-purpose cleaners for general clean-ups and magic eraser sponges for heavy haziness.
