When we bought our place it was 5 years old. The shower door glass, which is tempered safety glass, looked like it had never been cleaned- like it had 5 years of deposits from the water built up on it. We squeegee it after every shower, hoping that might help, but it doesn’t seem to. Our well-meaning cleaning lady has tried for the last 8 years to get the stuff off, using probably too much of any number of products (soap scum remover, soft scrub, windex, etc), all to no avail- and she complains every time she cleans it that it just won’t get clean.
Is it possible that the glass is just irreversibly damaged and nothing will help, or is there some kind of “miracle” cleaner we haven’t tried yet? I don’t know much about tempered glass…
Tough one. If it is hard water deposits, then white vinegar ought to get it off (pour on, leave to sit for ten minutes, wipe, repeat). If it is soap scum, then any bathroom cleaner should get it.
Do you think perhaps the glass is scratched or etched from some excessively harsh cleaning chemical?
I think your best bet might be a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. We have a glass shower enclosure, and are notoriously lazy about cleaning it after each shower. We also have very hard water, so the enclosure gets soap scum/deposits built up pretty quickly. I tried a bunch of stuff before trying a Magic Eraser. The Magic Eraser took the build-up off in a single swipe. It left a dull residue, but that was easily wiped off with glass cleaner and a paper towel.
If it is hard water deposits, I would recommend a product called The Works tub and tile cleaner. You can buy it at Dollar General and stores like Dollar General.it’s about halfway down on this page, scroll down ,just to show you what the bottle looks like. It dissolves mineral deposits like nobody’s business.
When I lived with my parents, cleaning the bathroom was my ‘job’. I used to curse the shower doors, as the soap scum would never come off, regardless of what I used or how hard I scrubbed.
About a week before I moved out, I was annoyed to discover that they’d finally purchased something super-effective. IIRC, it was called ‘Zep’, though apparently that’s the name of a company with a wide product line.
I had a very similar problem on my old shower door. I tried CLR, lime-away, vinegar, muriatic acid, even a polishing compound and orbital buffer. If yours is like mine, it’s just fricking ruined and there’s nothing oyu can do except what I did, which was to replace the shower door. It wass part of a whole bathroom remodel, so it was planned anyhow. Now we squeegee off the new door after every shower and it’s the “raindrop” patterned glass, so we haven’t seen the problem return.
Xanthous, those chemicals recommended above will probably do the job. If the stuff runs off before it has a chance to work, you can wet a paper towel with the cleaner and the wet paper will cling to the glass.
A razor blade scraper can speed up the job without scratching. If the previous owner scratched the glass with scouring powder or a harsh scrub pad, it will look bad even after you get all the soap scum off.
If it doesn’t come off with regular scouring and scrubbing, it’s not soap scum, it’s hard water mineral deposit. The only thing that gets that stuff off is some sort of acid cleaner. Some have been mentioned upthread, but I found a product at pool supply stores called “De-Scale It”. It’s designed to get the hard water line off of the inside of tiled hot tubs, but it also works well to get hard water scale off of glass and bathroom tile. It also is the only stuff I’ve ever found that whitens stained grout.
Shower doors are notorious for accumulating hard water deposit. We have two bathrooms, but Mr. brown will not shower in the one which has a glass shower door. He knows that when it gets hard water spots, it’s his job to clean it. So he showers in “my” bathroom, which has a shower curtain. It’s easier to toss a $4 grubby shower curtain every other year than to de-scale a glass shower door! I’m thinking of having the glass door removed and replaced with a plain old shower curtain.
Seconding the razor blade scraper (or even just a straight razor) suggested by AskNott. Those things work wonders – they get underneath the grime and lift it off the surface. You’re not trying to power through the grime so much as separate it from the glass. A razor is the way to go.
I tried using rubbing compound for cars and a buffer on my glass shower doors and it really does get rid of the hard water deposits. I tried everything out there like some of you others have and nothing seemed to work. the rubbing compound made my shower doors look brand new again!
A. S.O.S or Brillo pad (steel wool and soap pad) works great if it really is just scum and scale. Once you get them clean, finish with a good coat of Rain-x or car wax. They’ll repel water and stay cleaner longer.
Yep. I hate looking at our all glass shower. The owner put it in before we rented it and it drives me up the wall with the hard water stains. I have tried everything. Now I just worry about keeping the shower clean and ignore the hard water deposits.
