Well water, soap, and age had left a permanent fog on the shower doors. There was also a cruddy hard substance at the bottoms of each door. Nothing would remove this cement-like crud. Nothing would remove the fog. As a last ditch effort before purchasing new doors I tried something I've not found anyone mention.
First I removed the doors to the yard and leaned them up against a wall. I sprayed them with WD40 and let em sit. An hour later I rinsed. There was a gooey fatty substance on the glass now. But the cement crud was releasing it's hold. With help of a razor blade I got it off.
Now I needed to deal with the goo on the glass. You must have gloves for this step. I laid down the door on the tailgate of my truck. I took liquid Cascade dishwasher detergent and a 000 piece of steel wool (non-soap kind). I added generous amounts of Cascade to the glass and scrubbed. The soap will turn yucky the more you scrub. I added a little water as needed. I let it sit for about 3 minutes then I rinsed and turned over the doors repeating the process. As they dried I could now see what I had missed so I repeated the process and armed with the razor blade was able to get the remaining stuck on crud on the edges off.
They look beautiful. I saved myself the cost of new doors. It probably cost me five dollars all together in product and took a couple hours of work. It was well worth the effort.
By Jeannie from New Mexico
This page contains the following solutions.
Soap scum just flakes off into a powder by removing it with a single edge razor. Very simple. After years of spending money on chemicals for my shower doors, they are now clean!
Put peroxide in a spray bottle and spray on your shower doors and wipe with a dry cloth. The soap scum wipes right off. You can also do the same for shower walls. It works wonders.
I use Avon's skin-so-soft in a spray bottle on my glass shower doors. Spray on doors and wipe off with a paper towel, your doors will be clean and the bathroom will have that fresh scent of skin-so-soft, repeat about once a week.
I found the best way to clean water spots from shower doors. I tried vinegar soaked on paper towels and left it on there for forty minutes. It didn't work and I now smell like vinegar. I tried Comet with a scrub pad, it didn't work.
I hung a patterned shower curtain which I bought at the Dollar store, just inside the shower doors. It has a pretty design and adds privacy. Best of all, it saves me from having to remove lime build up on the doors.
Spraying Rain-X on your shower doors will make the water bounce right off and will also reduce the build up of soap scum.
This tip is for cleaning the glass on your shower screen and keeping it clean. To keep it looking good, use a really good car polish on it and it keeps it clean.
Some people have good results removing soap scum from shower doors with baby oil. Applying a light coat after cleaning will help prevent future buildup for a time. This is a page about using baby oil for cleaning shower doors.
Sometimes a household cleaner can leave a streaky, cloudy residue or appearance on the area cleaned. You may need to go back and clean it again using a different method or product.
Glass shower doors can get soap scum build up pretty easily and be difficult to clean. This is a page about cleaning between glass shower doors.
The texture of dryer sheets is helpful in cleaning shower doors; used ones work as well as new. This is a page about use dryer sheets to clean shower doors.
This is a page about cleaning water spots on shower doors. Hard water can leave spots on your glass shower doors that are difficult and time consuming to remove.
This is a page about cleaning stubborn shower doors. Soap scum and hard water marks can make your shower doors a chore to clean.
