There’s one part of our bathroom that always gives me chills when I look at it. It’s the shower door and rails, and the scale and mineral deposits that build up on them. Here’s the brutal, non-judgmental truth, but I’ve never cleaned the shower frame or the door rails. How do you clean shower door rails? I wasn’t really sure.
Years of Neglect
So I’m pretty sure that when we moved into our house years ago, there was already some buildup on the shower door frame and rails. That, coupled with the fact that I didn’t know how to clean it, or if it could be cleaned at all, and honestly, out of a bit of laziness, I just tried to ignore it. Eventually, though, I realized that I had to try to address it. Below is my process and results.
Accurate
I tried to take some before, during and after photos. I don’t think they fully capture the essence of the task, but I’ll show you a picture so you can get an idea of what to expect.
I searched the internet for the best (and easiest) way to remove the deposits. I decided to start with the vinegar method. It seemed like the easiest solution and I already had some vinegar on hand, so I went for it.
Step 1:
– Vinegar
The first step was to pour vinegar on the shower rails. My rails have small holes to allow water to drain, so I plugged them with paper towels. It wasn’t a perfect solution because the soaked paper towels still dripped, but it did a good job. A cloth or something thicker than paper towels might work better.
Dirty shower door rails #dirtyshower #cleanit
After letting the vinegar sit for about 30 minutes, I removed the paper towels that were blocking the drains. Then I took a clean paper towel and wiped away the residue. I had removed most of the grime and stains from the shower door tracks in one go! I grabbed a toothbrush and scrubbed the hard-to-reach areas that I couldn’t reach with the paper towel. (If you don’t have an old toothbrush, I found a multipack at Walmart for $1.) There was still a small area under the door in the track that I couldn’t reach with the toothbrush. I used a paper towel soaked in vinegar for the bottom of the doors and gently pushed it under the door in the track. Since I had already let the vinegar sit on the tracks, the grime had already loosened up, so I didn’t have to work too hard.
For the vertical rails, I soaked paper towels in vinegar, pressed them into the rails, and let them sit. After removing the paper towels, I cleaned the rails as I removed them, then used a toothbrush to clean the tight corners again.
