Shower doors look pristine when a shower is first installed, but it doesn’t take long before limescale and soap scum build-up. If you don’t keep on top of the cleaning, in a few days and weeks, your gleaming glass shower door will be grey and grimy. Read on to learn how to keep your glass shower door sparkling with minimal effort.
Prevention is Better than Cure
It’s a lot easier to prevent scum from building up in the first place than it is to clean it off. Keep a squeegee in the shower and use it to wipe down the glass each time you and anyone else has a shower. It takes mere seconds to do but will help prevent limescale and mildew from building up on the glass surface.
Ensure your bathroom is well ventilated at all times. Open a window or switch the extraction fan on when you use the shower. Again, this helps to prevent mould and mildew, which can grow on the seals and edges of your screen.
Cleaning the Screen
There are lots of commercial shower sprays available in the supermarket, but chances are you have all the ingredients you need at home already.
White vinegar and dish soap are the perfect ingredients for a clean shower screen. Mix a solution of hot water and soap to clean away grime and residual soap scum. Rinse the suds away and grab a bottle of white vinegar. Vinegar helps remove limescale from glass (and other surfaces). Spray it on the screen and wipe it away with a soft cloth.
Leave for a few minutes on stubborn areas of limescale.
Make your own handy cleaning solution in a bottle with a mix of white vinegar, dish soap, and boiled or distilled water. Spray on the glass door, leave for a few moments, and then wipe away.
Cleaning the Screen Tracks
Keep an old toothbrush in your cleaning kit. This can be used to reach the less accessible areas of your shower screen, such as the tracks if you have a shower cubicle rather than a walk-in shower. Spray some cleaning solution, leave to work for a few minutes, and then scrub with the toothbrush before rinsing away.
Deep Cleaning
Regular cleaning is the best way to stay on top of the everyday grime in a shower, but if you have inherited a dirty shower or something has interrupted your cleaning schedule for a few weeks, a bit of extra elbow grease will be needed.
While white vinegar and soap are surprisingly effective at cleaning glass screens, there may come a time when you need to up the ante with a commercial product. Commercial cleaners have extra ingredients to tackle hardcore dirt and limescale. If you use one, make sure the room is well ventilated, as they can be quite toxic. There will also come a time when your shower is ready for a replacement. If so, consider upgrading to a modern walk-in shower or wet room. Bathroom suppliers Bedfordshire can offer plenty of inspiration.
Don’t neglect your shower. After all, it’s unpleasant to jump in a dirty shower first thing in the morning. It’s also unhealthy if you have a black mould infestation growing in there!