I did some research online looking for the best method (and easiest) to remove the build-up. I decided to start with the vinegar method. It seemed the simplest and I already had vinegar on hand so off I went.
Step 1 :
– Vinegar
The first step was to pour vinegar into the shower tracks. My tracks have little holes to allow the water to drain out so I plugged those with paper towels. That wasn’t the perfect solution as it still drained out once the paper towel was soaked but it did a good enough job. A rag or something thicker than a paper towel may work better.
After I let the vinegar sit for about 30 minutes, I removed the paper towels blocking the drain holes. Then I grabbed a clean paper towel and wiped out the tracks. Most of the grime and stains from within the shower door tracks were removed with that one swipe! I grabbed a toothbrush and scrubbed the hard to reach places that I couldn’t reach with the paper towel. (If you don’t have an old toothbrush, I found a multi-pack for a $1 at Walmart). There was still a little area under the door in the track that I couldn’t reach with the toothbrush. For under the doors, I used a paper towel soaked with vinegar and gently shoved it under the door in the track. Since I already had let the vinegar sit in the tracks, the grime was already loosened so it didn’t take much to clean it.
For the vertical tracks, I soaked some paper towels with vinegar and shoved them into the tracks and let them sit. As I removed the paper towels, I wiped down the tracks as I removed them and then used the toothbrush again for the tight corners.
Step 2 – Baking Soda
Now, I moved on to tackle the mineral build-up on the top and outside of the shower door tracks, as well as some vertical part of the tracks. I really didn’t know if they would be able to come clean but I was going to give it my best shot.
Shower Door Tracks Calcium Buildup #showerdoordirt #showertrackcalciumdeposit
I mixed some baking soda with water in a little bowl to make a paste. Using a rag, I applied the paste to the build-up on the top and outside of the track and in the vertical section of the track and let it sit there. I don’t remember how long I let it sit there as I was working on other things but I would say probably 30 minutes. I wiped off the paste with a wet rag and surprisingly, quite a bit came off in the first swipe. If your doors don’t have a lot of build-up like mine did (and I’m sure they probably don’t), you might be done with that initial cleaning.
Shower Door Track Buildup #howtoremovecalcium #howtocleanshowerdoortracks
After cleaning my shower door tracks #cleanwithbakingsoda #cleanwithvinegar
Unfortunately, due to my lack of cleaning, this task was going to take some elbow grease. I repeated the baking soda step over again. This time instead of wiping it off with a wet rag, I used a little metal scraper and scraped the mineral deposit build-up. Some areas required more than others, especially the top of the shower door track right section next to the wall. Since that one spot had so much build-up, I actually had to chip away at it with the metal scraper. I repeated with baking soda over and over until finally the build-up was gone!
