When we remodeled the 2nd bathroom about 7 years ago, it included a shower enclosure that has 2 glass walls (including the one with the glass door in it). Since then, there have been long periods when the glass was not particularly clean, and the dried water droplets sat there for weeks.
Well, so being stuck with nothing to do I thought I would clean the glass as thoroughly as possible, and seal it so that future cleaning would be easier. However, no matter how hard I try, the ghostly memories of the old water spots are still visible, especially from the outside of the shower during daylight hours.
In addition to cleaners and various cloths and scrubbers and so on, I have used products guaranteed to get glass clean including mixing Dawn with vinegar (but didn’t budge these spots), I have scrubbed with a rotating electric brush, I have used clay (the kind they use to really clean auto finishes and glass) and steel wool (0000, always wet of course, either with cleaner or with plain water). None of these things has worked or noticeably reduced the quantity or visibility of the spots.
The only thing I can think of left to try is one of those motorized auto buffers, perhaps with glass polishing compound. Has anyone tried this on any glass other than auto glass? If you are so inclined and have nothing better to do, please share your experiences. Or share your other ideas for extreme cleaning of shower glass.
I clean our shower doors with CLR bathroom spray and a brush. It seems to do the job well. But it didn’t go years between cleanings. I can’t imagine what’s causing the spots that won’t clean, tho. We have fairly hard well water, and it’s not that hard to clean the glass.
You might try misting them with vinegar and keeping the glass as wet with vinegar as you can for a while (maybe an hour)? Any time I’ve had to clean water deposits off of things, it wasn’t so much the scrubbing as it was soaking in vinegar that did the work.
PS, if you don’t like the smell of vinegar, aerosolized vinegar is even worse.
I use sodium percarbonate for lots of cleaning purposes around my home. It is commonly used for cleaning and sterilizing home brewing equipment. It is easy to get in cheap laundry/nappy soaking solutions - most use it whether expensive or not. It does an amazing job sprinkled in stained glasses, cups and coffee pots. I don’t know how it would go turned into a past and slathered on the glass. I do chuck it on the floor of the shower to clean it so I will try it when I have my shower.
I’ve tried most everything (unsuccessfully) to get water spots off windshield glass. Ammonia, vinegar, car clay, rubbing compound, and even acetone. Nothing works.
Get yourself a couple of gallons of cheap white vinegar, a magic eraser, and a beach towel you don’t much like. Turn on the bathroom fan and open any nearby windows.
Wet the towel thoroughly with the vinegar and then hang it from the top of the door/wall so that it lays as flat against the glass as you can get it. Let it sit for about 35 minutes.
Wet the magic eraser with water and use it to scrub down the area.
Wipe dry with a towel and assess whether to repeat the procedure.
I would avoid extensive use of sodium percarbonate (oxy-clean) as it is a caustic and will etch glass. It takes extended exposure to etch, but it will given enough time. To be honest, it works very well with short exposure times, but with extended soaking, it is not advised. Same thing with ammonia. With short exposure times, both will clean glass, particularly if organic compounds are involved, but you have to limit exposure time.
If the deposits are lime scale, then CLR, vinegar solutions, citric acid solutions, all will do a good job. Just about anything acidic (except for hydrofluoric, which is just bad news all the way around) will dissolve the lime (calcium carbonate). Sometimes, particularly in the shower, lime scale deposits will get a layer of orgainc (soap scum) on top, which the acid will not penetrate. I like the magic eraser idea, and think it might work. I’d use two of them, however, one with dilute vinegar (CLR, citric acid, etc…) and with oxyclean solution. Wear gloves, but use the acid and eraser, then the oxyclean solution and eraser. Then the acid and the eraser. Rinse. Repeat. As long as you limit exposure to less than 30 minutes, you won’t hurt the glass, just be sure to rinse well after.
Thanks for some interesting suggestions. I have tried vinegar, and I have tried a magic eraser, both to no effect, but I haven’t used them together, so that’s probably worth a try. Also CLR for the bathroom sounds like it’s worth a try, if I can find any. For some reason bathroom cleaning products are currently in very short supply where I live.
I cleaned professionally for 20 years and my specialty was bathrooms. It’s what I did daily, from horrible rentals to million dollar custom homes. I’ve tried just about everything over that time because I HATE water spots on glass. The best performing product was The Works toilet bowl cleaner. The watery blue stuff, not the clingy thick stuff. It is hydrocholric acid so you have to be very careful what it gets on. It will ruin finishes, stain grout, etc., and it’s not super great on skin either. I have used it so many times though. I often put it in a spray bottle (get a chemical resistant sprayer, I also run water through the sprayer after use to prevent it from eating the spring in the sprayer), cut 50/50 with water, and sprayed the glass down. I would let it sit for a minute and then use a magic eraser (melamine foam) to scrub it. In order to protect things around it I would either coat the metal surround or brass fixtures like hinges or handles with a thick layer of dish soap. Then I would spray anything around it with dish soap and water to make sure it was wet, all to protect any tile or grout around it as well. I would then scrub the glass with water and dish soap and the melamine foam. Rinse thoroughly, and if spots remain you can go at it again but ultimately it’s diminishing returns. I’ve been able to work miracles with it. I’ve also come up against a couple that were simply losing battles, though still much better. Run the vent fan and make sure to air things out. That stuff is caustic and awful, use at your own risk, but I did it effectively with regularity. We cleaned houses with horribly hard water, neglected rentals, etc.
I tried tens of products and various methods for cleaning. That was my best performer. I have really impressive before and after shots that I took at times. Your results may vary.
If it’s limescale, soak a paper towel with industrial-strength vinegar (also called agricultural vinegar), lay it on the glass and let it sit before scrubbing. In case you don’t know, industrial-strength is not just a cute way of saying that it’s strong. It’s not meant for human consumption. I see online that it’s available in various strengths, up to 30%, which I guess means a 30% solution of acetic acid.
I don’t understand this at all. Why do you object to water spots on glass?
You pay extra to get shower glass panels in various patterned, non-clear formats. The inevitable water spots just add to that.
Unless you are outside staring with lust at your sexual partner in the shower, why does it matter? (And anyway, wouldn’t the hot water steam up the glass too much to see through?)
I’ve just noticed that the vinegar I use for cleaning is an 8% solution, so be careful if you use something stronger. Mine doesn’t produce nasty stinging vapors or anything, but that 30% stuff might.
When everything else fails, I pull out the trusty single edge razor blade. It takes a long time to scrape a big area, but it gets up anything that’s not permanently etched into the glass.