November 29, 2007 | Bathroom, Cleaning tips

This one goes out to Sarah, 7 weeks pregnant! Thanks for the question Sarah, and congratulations on your pregnancy.

So, how to clean the mineral deposits and soap scum left behind by hard water? Thankfully I don’t have hard water, but I don’t envy you who do! The best thing I’ve found to cut the mineral and soap scum deposits from hard water is a combination of lemon juice, vinegar and salt (make sure you don’t have any cuts on your hand - ouch!). I mix the vinegar and lemon juice about half and half - with no water dilution. Then I sprinkle some salt on the scouring side of the sponge and attack the shower door. It’s going to take some scrubbing. I wish I could point you to something you could spray on and then just wipe off later, but even bleach won’t do that with hard water buildup. Simple Green may help - in fact, you could probably spray the Simple Green and leave it, and then come back an hour later and do the vinegar/lemon juice/ salt treatment.

I’ve seen Rain-X recommended to keep the scum from forming on the shower door, and I loved the idea until I read more about Rain-X. It’s an acute and chronic toxin, with known links to organ damage. The manufacturer’s Material Safety Data Sheet says so - straightforward. So I don’t recommend that. I’ve also seen people recommend putting Old English on the door to keep the deposits from building up. Anyone who suggests that has never tried to clean the gunk off. It helps for about a week, but then it somehow attracts the mineral deposits and makes it nearly impossible to clean.

So, your best bet is a window squeegee that you use on the shower door after ever shower. That’ll help slow down the formation of deposits on the shower door, and that means less cleaning for you. The best bet? Try to clean it frequently (I know, I know…) so that the buildup isn’t so overwhelming. If you can’t do it frequently, then pick one week out of a month and break it up bit by bit all that week.

Now, Sarah was wondering if filling up an empty container from her Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner with vinegar and lemon juice would help inhibit the deposits (she’s smart enough to stop using the chemicals they sell for it!). I think that’s an awesome idea, and I hope you’ll share the results with us after you try it, Sarah! Kudos for ingenuity!

RSS feed for comments on this post.

The URI to TrackBack this entry is:
http://broomhuggers.com/2007/11/29/hard-water-deposits-on-the-shower-door/trackback/

1. Sarah says:

   
   

   Thanks for your help, Kathy! I’ll be sure to let you know how it works out with the automatic shower cleaner, too!

   November 30th, 2007 at 2:27 pm

2. Broomhuggers » Those pesky shower doors! says:

   
   

   […] to clean! In fact, we’ve posted countless times on how to clean them. Like this post about hard water deposits, this one about the wonders of squeegees, and this one about soap scum.  The long and short of it […]

   January 6th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

3. Anna Hackman says:

   
   

   Hi. I have the same problem and have used a green type cleaner for the water spots. It did not work. My problem is the shower doors. I am afraid that the salt would scratch the glass. Any other suggestions?

   I even used a steamer and that did not work. Anna www.green-talk.com

   January 17th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

4. mudlark says:

   
   

   Anna, I recently posted another solution for the problem. You’ll find it here. .

   January 17th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website