Can anyone PLEASE tell me how to remove hard water stains/soap scum from my shower doors? I have tried scrubbing.
Thank you,
Sherri from Petaluma, CA
I am a Housekeeper in SC. I have tried everything! I pride my business on getting peoples showers back to new condition but, I have one stubborn one and i have tried it all! Use oven cleaner usually and then windex but this one has been there since forever!
By Teri
I make a mixture of 1 gal vinegar, 1 quart lemon ammonia, 1 cup of dawn dish liquid. This is loaded into spray bottles. It is great to clean anything! Spray it on lavishly, let it soak. To get tough stuff off use a painters razor blade. (05/27/2006)
By MAID IN ABOITE {Fort Wayne IN}
For hard water stains, use vinegar! Soak it, rub or scrub it, and wash. It may take some time for tough stains. You can also slightly dampen old dryer sheets and rub on light stains. (06/23/2006)
By Rachel
Limeaway or CLR will work to clean off any buildup, and then use a shower spray regularly to keep it clean. Spray down after you shower and then use a squeegee to clean the glass. No need to rinse. You can buy the shower spray at the one dollar stores or make your own using equal parts of distilled water and rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle. It will be helpful if you can get all the family members to spray down after their showers, also. (06/24/2006)
By Harlean
I had terrible hard water build up on my shower doors and I used Pledge Orange Scent. It worked like a champ. I sprayed the Pledge on a dry surface and used a sponge with a rough side to scrub. I then wiped it clean with a paper towel. It looks amazing and the Pledge smells great! Try this is really works! (06/28/2006)
By Lisa
Can you get a product called Mean Green in your area? It will get pretty much anything off of anything...use sparingly as its very slippery, and a bit hard to rinse (06/30/2006)
By MJJJOY
Oddest thing, but try this wet a fabric softener dryer sheet and scrub. It removes the hard water and smells great! (08/10/2006)
By Mandy
I tried the Orange Pledge treatment and was just amazed!! Be careful when replacing the shower doors if you remove them to clean............they are a bit slick due to the Pledge. Thanks so much Lisa!!! (08/16/2006)
By Darlene
This is what I tried and found out: I used fresh lemons which removed the soap scum, but not the hard water marks. Dryer sheets did the same. I did not have Pledge, but did try Orange Glo, another furniture polish made with orange oils. Sprayed it on liberally, let sit for a few minutes, scrubbed with a light abrasive pad and IT WORKED! I then used dish soap and rubbed it all over the door then rinsed it off. Who would've guessed! (08/28/2006)
By Jasmine
DO NOT use a painter's razor if you have CLEAR glass. You'll get long scratches. However, I assume if you have FROSTED glass, you won't notice the scratches. (10/21/2006)
By hardywater
Kaboom removes hard water stains on glassware and glass shower doors. It has no strong fumes and safe to use. (11/04/2006)
By Robin
I own a cleaning company in Mchenry IL and also pride myself on making everything look spotless. The trick is to clean bathrooms at least once a week. Clean glass doors... ready? The eraser sponge. found at all retail centers and even dollar stores.
By Delta Cleaning
Vinegar is the key here folks. Its cheap, natural and it works. I too have a cleaning business and I use it full strength in a spray bottle. Spray it on, leave it for a bit, then come back and scrub it with one of those scrub/sponge. It works great. Be sure to venilate the room though. Vinegar is great for coffee pots, Tea pots, vaporizors basically anything you put water in it will desolve the lime (hard water) spots. Check out Vinegar uses online. I can't say enought about this stuff. All of the other stuff mentioned here is expensive and harmful to you. Try the WHITE vinegar and let me know what you think! (12/11/2006)
By Pam - Texas
=The following is for removing hard water stains or lime scale (calcium buildup). It is not for removing soap scum I'll call it Shower Glass restoration. I have a 5 year old house. We have a water softener, and we squeegeed our shower doors after every shower. It took 5 years, but I finally noticed a white haze on our shower door and glass enclosure. I tried all of the stuff mentioned by others including the acid based ones like vinegar, CLR, and LemiShine. Either they don't work or they work so sloooooowly that I couldn't notice a change. (b)There just isn't any magic - spray on - wipe off remedy (in my experience). If you think there is, try them all and if they work, great - if not do this. Notice I didn't say TRY this. This works, BUT IT IS WORK. I'll call it Shower Glass restoration. The good news is that you only have to do it once. Then maintain it by using a squeegee after every shower, and doing a quick clean and an application of Rain X (automobile window protectant) once per month.
Like cutting diamonds with diamonds, use a calcium carbonate abrasive to remove calcium carbonate buildup. I used BON AMI powdered cleanser and mechanical action (scrubbing). I used the 10 inch car wax buffer that my kids gave me years ago for father's day, to make the mechanical action much easier. You could probably use an orbital sander with a terry cloth strip in place of the sandpaper. IMPORTANT: use only enough water to make the BON AMI stick to the terry cloth. Too much water will act as a lubricant - defeating the purpose of the abrasive. I can't emphasize enough - The drier the better: I sprinkled the BON AMI on the buffer pad and then misted it with a spray bottle. Press the buffer against the glass before activating the buffer or you'll make a mess!
It took about 2 hours to clean roughly 42 square feet of shower glass (6'-7') Now it's crystal clear. Many may think this method is too much work, but it's the only thing that worked fro me... (01/06/2007)
By Phil
I haven't tried this on shower doors yet, but the next thing I will try is glass cooktop cleaner. I made the mistake of washing my parent's van with a little bit of Dawn dishsoap and water on a HOT day a few summers ago--every window on the van had spots that could not be removed. My mom finally tried glass cooktop cleaner and it came right off. I'd assume that since it didn't hurt the car windows, it shouldn't hurt shower doors.... worth a shot? Just test it on a small area at bottom of door first. (01/21/2007)
By Jen
I'm seeing a lot of recommendations for scrubbies and acid (vinegar) based cleaners... this will work for a one time fix, but over the course of time the acid will etch the glass and you'll be back in the same position. There was a suggestion for using Rain-Ex this works great! Once you have got the glass clean Rain-Ex it and keep your squeegee working... (01/28/2007)
By Dee: Anchor Cleaning Services
Here's the real deal. Not my idea. I got it off the HGTV channel where they redo houses. Anyway.
Using a glass dish, mix 10 parts water (tablespoons are big enough) with one part muriatic (pool) acid. Be sure to wear rubber gloves. Apply with a fine steel wool and let sit for a minute or two, then apply the elbow grease with the steel wool.
It took two applications on a glass that had a two-year build-up. It did not work on a shower that had been abused for 15 years, but I think that glass was permanently etched. It was clean, but not clear.
On an on-going basis, many cleaners will keep the glass clean. I'm using CLR, but still apply the steel wool, which I think is the key to success. Good luck. (01/29/2007)
By John
Guaranteed to work. To explain, I work out of town, am single, and get home maybe once a month. I have not cleaned the water spots off of my shower in more than 5 years and nothing here helped, so I tried my own idea. Use Simonize chrome cleaner and elbow grease. Works like a charm on glass. Not a spot left. Us guys can do something once in a while. (02/10/2007)
By Roger
The glass cook top cleaner works the best of all of the other posted remedies. Try it, you don't really have to scrub, just apply with a little pressure, let dry a bit and wipe off with a clean dry towel. It really does work! (02/16/2007)
By
I found the easiest way to remove the stains. I like you, was totally frustrated and had tried EVERYTHING! Buy Kaboom, Ultra Scrub. Start with a completely dry shower. Take a paper towel, squirt some Kaboom on it and rub in a circular motion. Allow it to sit for one hour and then take a sponge with a scrubby on one side, wet it completely, and gently scrub in a circular motion, wetting the sponge often. It is amazing how well it works. (03/09/2007)
By Tracy
I am from Phoenix and was researching this subject because our water is IMPOSSIBLE. What I have concluded from everything that I have read and researched is citrus acid is the key. So I just went out and picked a grapefruit from my tree, cut it in half and juiced up my newer, heavily stained, $1000 glass shower door. I let it sit for an hour, came back washed it down with a wet washcloth then dried it with a paper towel and I would say 60% of the stains came off. I may try an orange tomorrow or a lemon from my neighbors tree. It worked! Cant believe it. Now I know why everyone claims their product as Orange Glow or Lemon Fresh, because citrus is the key. Citrus acid. Try it before you use chemicals. I did hear Magic Eraser was good for people with not so hard h2o. Didn't work for me, but I am turning my h2o softener back on. I am sure that will help. OH, citrus I know is bad for granite so I made sure that I didn't touch my hardware or tile when applying.
(03/14/2007)
By Sal
UPDATE! I did a second application with half a grapefruit, left it on for 15 mins, wiped off then windexed and my door is SPOTLESS!! Try it and post your feedback. I would like to know what you think! (03/18/2007)
By Sally from the Valley
Out of frustation of getting the soap scum and hard water buildup off, I took a single edged razor blade and scraped it right off. Once the scum is off you can clean it easily with just about anything that cleans glass. No waiting and no fuss. (03/18/2007)
By David O
I have a granite shower with hard water stains that I could not get out. I tried Soft Scrub with Bleach, then vinegar. I then checked out this website and saw the post about using Pledge with Orange Oil. I never would have believed it, but it worked! And, it did not etch the granite like some said it would. My shower looks beautiful! I'm going to get the biggest bottle of that stuff I can find! (04/04/2007)
By Shawn
We are in the process of flipping a house that had water stains and build up on the glass shower doors like I have never seen before. After several failed attempts with traditional cleaners and elbow grease we found a solution that took some work but was 100% effective. We used the same claener that is used to clean your stove top. Use the same cleaner with the suggested scrubber and you will be impressed with the results. This was good for the glass since the rest of the shower cleaned up with other store brand supplies. (04/07/2007)
By Jesse
We tried everything on this list for a shower we have been trying to get clean for 6 years! The previous owners obviously had poor luck, too, with this VERY hard water. The orange oil only masked the problem (once it washed off that was clear, pardon the pun). What worked, you may wonder?
A POWER tool (B&D Firestorm sander thingy) - the car wash "buffer" did nothing, but the B&D sander, with a cleaning pad rather than sandpaper, along with some Barkeeper's friend (we could not find Bon Ami, as suggested above). Also tried a round sander and that worked better, Not quite as good, but not a power tool, was the scum buster in conjunction with the BKF.
Happy cleaning! (04/26/2007)
By Heather in Houston
I am shocked that no one has mentioned AMAZ. This product is applied with a scrub pad in a circular motion and is the ONLY thing that worked for water stains on outside windows with baked on water spots from direct Arizona sun. For years I was told that there was NOTHING I could do but replace all the glass-
I found AMAZ on the internet, bought some from a glass replacement company locally and it worked. (05/07/2007)
By Nancy
Don't waste your money - Bar Keepers Friend - this is all you need it works! 1st -- read the (short) directions on the can - this is the answer to those circular white deposits on the glass shower doors that are still there after you have tried all the sprays and have removed the soap scum. It can also be used before you have removed any soap scum, before you use anything! Don't waste your money on other products, this is all you need! And it's not expensive! (Under 2.00)
(05/19/2007)
By (Guest)
I've bought many products in the past year that claim to clean those ugly water spots of glass, as well as vinegar, citrus, etc,etc. None of them made any difference at all that I could see. I'd just about given up and was thinking of replacing the entire shower when I saw the last post here that mentioned Bar Keepers friend. I use that stuff all the time to clean pots and pans but never though it would work on glass. I just tried it and I'm happy to report that it really works! I get it at the local supermarket for about $2 a can. Just wet some powder slightly, apply with a damp sponge, and rub. You don't even have to rub too hard. Then wash it off. The glass is now sparkling and looks like new! (05/20/2007)
By Jim
Just take some Lime A-Way and put about 2 table spoons or so in some water. Shake it up, then spray on the glass and allow it to sit for maybe 30 or 45 seconds or so. Then wipe around with a paper towel. The water spots should be gone. Follow that with some Windex or something along those lines to clean the glass and dilute down the water/lime-a-way mixture (since Lime-a-way is a type of acid). Works great everytime! :-) Just be careful because the Lime A-Way is nasty stuff when concentrated. (05/23/2007)
By Ray
I was very frustrated and had tried ALL the commercial products that claim to remove those white spots from hard water, with no success. I read this site and tried the glass top stove cleaner. I will admit, I was very skeptical, but figured it was worth a try. I was AMAZED that it actually worked! Try it, you will be pleasantly surprised. (06/30/2007)
By Me
I have not cleaned my shower doors for a year in a new house and now it is hard to see through them. I tried all kinds of remedies and cleaning products. Nothing worked to get the hard water spots off the glass until I ran in this thread about glass stove top cleaners. I have a smooth top stove and have that cleaner on hand, so I gave it a try. The results, AMAZING! Glass looks brand new, no water marks. The brand I used is Cerama Bryte, but I image any glass stove top cleaner will work. Thanks to those who made this awesome suggestion. As a plus, glass shower doors were written on the bottle as an other use, it has zero odor. (07/01/2007)
By Stanton
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