How To Clean One Piece Tub/shower Enclosures

At that place's a joke about baths and towels, and information technology goes like this: if taking a bath or shower makes your body clean, then why is your towel always dingy? And while in that location's probably a scientific explanation, your bath-time habits are a blight on your bathtub and shower caddy.

Fortunately, cleaning the tub doesn't have to be difficult or dramatic. You simply need the right tools or cleaning products – and a lot of them are good for the environment. So earlier you sink your toes into a grimy tub, allow'southward look at some top tips for cleaning a fiberglass shower.

i. Ostend it's fiberglass

Bathtubs and showers are typically white and shiny, but they're non all made of the same material. It could be ceramic tile, rock slab, porcelain, acrylic, fiberglass, or enamel. The last iv look a lot akin, only yous can tell them apart with careful observation … and a fridge magnet.

Acrylic is stretched out plastic, sometimes reinforced with fiberglass, and then plain fiberglass looks 'glassy; while acrylic looks more 'plasticky'. Natural stone – even when polished – doesn't smoothen every bit much equally fiberglass, while porcelain is heavier and chunkier considering information technology has a cast iron base.

And although porcelain tubs and showers practice take metallic beneath, they're thoroughly coated, and then they don't respond to magnets. On the other hand, fridge magnets hands stick to your enamel walls, so that'due south a good 'tell'. Whichever material you shower is made of, avert harsh chemicals.

2. Identify the stain

Unlike the other common shower and tub materials, fiberglass has a glass base – hence its name. Fiberglass is melted sand, treated in extreme rut, then mixed with resin. Like all showers, it tin accrue mold, limescale, rust, and stains from acidic beauty products.

Soap scum is another bathroom hazard. Information technology forms in little puddles and spills and can exist quite stubborn when information technology accumulates because lather has a greasy-oil base. Typical lather is made by treating fats and oils with high-pressure steam, then purifying, distilling, and adding alkali to it.

Other items that can stain your fiberglass showers include brand-up, hair products, spilled medicine, bath bombs, laundry detergents, toilet spray, and kids. The latter are their own special category considering they could invade the bathroom with anything from crayons to cookie crumbs.

3. Wipe it while information technology's hot

Many shower stains are made from the grimy residue of sebum, cleaning products, and organic grit. That'south why it'south easier to clean when the bathroom is steamy. The oestrus and water vapor soften fatty dirt, so a lot of it wipes correct off. Merely not everyone scrubs their walls after a shower.

An alternative method is to run the shower at its hottest for two to five minutes. This steams the shower beautifully, meaning y'all need less elbow grease. You can also choose to oestrus your cleaning fluid in the microwave for a infinitesimal or two. But be careful if it'due south a frothy cleaner!

4. Avoid abrasive pads

When you see those disgusting stains and chocolate-brown marks, your instinct is to attack your shower walls with steel wool, crude brushes, and harsh scrubbers. One YouTuber fifty-fifty suggests scraping off your soap scum with a razor bract. Here's why we think that'south a bad idea – it'due south fiberglass.

Recollect about it. Fiberglass is commonly used in cars (and swimming pools, and impenetrable vests). Would you want a razor blade anywhere virtually your car? The thought itself is nightmare-inducing. So proceed sharp, rough, abrasive items and scouring pads far from the shower.

5. Stay away from bleach

You already know bleach can irritate your skin and lungs, especially in high concentration. At best, you'll feel itchy and your eyes will redden. At worst, you'll pass out. But bleach can likewise ruin the resin in fiberglass, and so you don't want to be scrubbing it onto tubs or your shower walls.

Ammonia is safety on fiberglass though, then it's a viable option. It's especially good at getting rid of watermarks. Be careful though – inhaling backlog ammonia can be but as bad as breathing in bleach, so dilute the ammonia in lots of h2o, and brand sure the room is well ventilated.

6. NEVER combine commercial products

Many home cleaning products are a mix of this and that. You combine things similar essential oils, fermented fruit rinds, and corn starch. But you should never mix store-bought cleaning fluids because their ingredients often react badly. Results can be toxic or fifty-fifty explosive!

When you're making a domicile cleaning remedy, it'southward probably a mild acid and a mild brine. Their chemic response to each other forms a fizzy foam that is slightly abrasive but safe. These mixtures should exist used immediately afterward mixing before the fizzing fades abroad.

7. Apply plainly vinegar

Balmy acids are great for soaking up the oil-based dirt found in near showers. White vinegar is a popular selection. Mix some with warm water in a spray bottle, then sprinkle it over your steamy shower walls. Permit it sit for 10 minutes to half an hour, depending on how dingy your shower is.

You can then run the shower once again, to moisten the mess, then wipe off all the gunk. Vinegar works especially well for a rain shower caput or even a regular shower head. Fill a plastic bag with vinegar, then tie it to the showerhead with a shoelace or prophylactic band. Leave information technology overnight.

viii. Mix your vinegar (or baking soda) with dishwashing liquid

When plain vinegar doesn't exercise the trick, add a few drops of whatsoever balmy dishwashing liquid, such equally Dawn or Morning Fresh. You can supersede white vinegar with whatsoever mild household acrid, such every bit apple cider vinegar or hydrogen peroxide. The dishwashing soap adds to the foam in your lather.

Cream is good because its bubbling loosen stains and lift grimy dirt particles to the surface, where you lot tin hands wipe them off. If yous've unexpectedly run out of household acid, try spraying warm h2o mixed with a few drops of dishwashing liquid. The longer it sits, the better information technology cleans.

An alternative combination – when you don't have vinegar handy – is to mix your dishwashing liquid with a teaspoon or two of blistering soda. It makes the mixture a piddling more abrasive, so you can rub off grimy stains without scratching your fiberglass surfaces. Rub using circular motions.

nine. Mix your vinegar with baking soda

You don't want to scrub your fiberglass walls or scrape the shower door, because it tin leave scratches. And then instead, try making an annoying paste past mixing vinegar and baking soda. The thicker your paste is, the more than effective information technology volition be. But it's not practical to mix large batches.

For this reason, make about a quarter cup or half a cup of paste, use information technology directly on the stain, and permit information technology sit every bit long as needed. This could be anything from thirty minutes to overnight. Rub it in if you need to. Once information technology's set, rinse information technology with make clean water, or wipe it off with a damp material.

1o. Use a truck degreaser

As we pointed out, fiberglass showers are made from the same material as many mod cars, and bathroom stains have an oily undertone. Then it makes sense a product that gets grease off trucks would exist effective on a fiberglass bath. This led a YouTuber to try Mighty Boss.

It seems to piece of work instantly, soaking up grimy scum and letting it wipe off with very little effort. Your bathroom walls will be spotless in minutes, though you can let it sit longer if the stains are particularly stubborn. For all-time results, employ a spray canteen directly on steamed upwardly shower walls.

11. Warm and common cold rinse

Once your chosen cleaning textile has achieved the desired effect, run the shower once more, to build upward clean steam. You tin so douse the walls using a handheld showerhead, a garden hose, or a spray bottle filled with clean water. A warm rinse will loosen whatsoever oily residue.

Follow with a cold rinse to launder off all the soap. Then, to prevent watermarks, wipe the walls with a make clean, soft, lint-free rag. Microfiber works best. Finally, run your bath fan, or open the window, so that any moist air is expelled, preventing the accumulation of damp and mold.

Spotless fiberglass showers

Fiberglass is a popular material for showers and tubs because it's cheaper. It's as shiny every bit porcelain and marble, more than long-lasting than acrylic or enamel, extremely lightweight, and comes in stylish versatile molds. Here are some cleaning tips:

Avoid harsh chemicals, peculiarly bleach.
Abrasive pads and scourers should be avoided too.
Apply mild, household acids like vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.
For abrasive effects, mix your balmy acid with blistering soda and dishwashing soap.
Leave your cleaning paste overnight, and then wipe information technology off and rinse with cold h2o.

How sparkly is your fiberglass shower? Show united states some photos in the comments!