Cleaning Shower Doors

Glass shower doors are often the part of the bathroom that makes the biggest statement. But as hard as you may try, they are probably the hardest thing to keep clean in a bathroom. Here are a couple tips to help get those darn stains off and help your shower doors sparkle again.

First thing to think about is what type of shower door you have. Is it straight glass, or does it have a curvature to it or is there a pattern to it. Look at your shower door and figure this out, because it makes a difference on the types of tools you'll want to use. You'll also need to figure out what exactly it is that's staining your glass. Is it soap scum, hard water stains, or streaks? Each of these situations requires a different type of cleaner. To be safe you should have a soft cloth for wiping, a toothbrush for getting into the cracks, a squeegee for drying off, and a variety of cleaners.

Most stains on your shower are hard water stains. These can be cleaned off relatively easy with a product called CLR. It can be found at almost any grocery store or hardware store. It's a pretty powerful cleaning agent, so it will get your stains off pretty easily, and you won't have to scrub too hard. On a side note, CLR can be used on many other household cleaning chores.

If you don't want to use such a harsh chemical in your bathroom, there are a number of other solutions. Oven cleaner is a miracle worker. Spray it on, let it sit while you go do something else for a half hour, then come back and wipe the grime away. You might need to scrub if there's a lot of buildup. Then use your squeegee to wipe it off right away. On a side note, oven cleaner works great with mildew on tiles as well.

If neither of those work for you, here are a few other random tips I've heard work. My grandma swears by dryer sheets. She says if you use it to rub, the stain melts right off. Lemon oil, pine sol and rock salt are just a few others that apparently work.

With just a little elbow grease and a good cleaner, anything will get it off eventually. So have at that shower door, and admire your sparkly handiwork next time you take a shower.