Learning How to Remove Hard Water Stains from Glass Shower Doors is possible! A few simple steps, tools and a whole lot of elbow grease is all it takes to get your glass shower doors looking like new in no time!
It’s no secret that I live in an area flowing with hard water. A couple years ago I shared How to Remove Hard Water Stains from Toilets, but I was still stuck with hard water stains on my glass shower doors.
What is the difference between hard and soft water?
- Hard Water is water which contains an appreciable amount of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium.
- Soft Water, on the other hand, contains less dissolved minerals. Or, when treated, the only ion it may contain is sodium (causing this treated water to taste badly due to the leftover sodium ions). Naturally falling rainwater is soft water, for example.
How then does water become “hard water”?
Great question! I’m so glad you asked.
Water becomes hard as it makes its way through the ground and into our waterways. Along the way, this water picks up minerals like chalk, lime, calcium, and magnesium.
Pros and Cons of hard versus soft water
Wait. There’s a pro to hard water?
Oh yes! read on…
Given that hard water contains all these essential (and super important) minerals (remember the calcium and magnesium?) and tastes significantly better, one may wonder why we even think of softening our water. I mean, if hard water is better for you and it tastes better, why mess it up?
Well, aside from these obvious benefits, hard water is hard on appliances (dishwashers and washing machines) and is hard to clean. Clothing feels unclean even after washing and since soap reacts negatively with magnesium and calcium, even your hair may feel dirty and sticky after washing.
In short, hard water is less effective and uses more energy due to the mineral buildup that is left behind.
Ok, wonderful….so what about soft water?
Hard water, when treated, removes the magnesium and calcium that was picked up to, once again, create soft water. Unfortunately, while most of the ions are removed from soft water, the negatively charged sodium ion remains. And, well, we all know what sodium is, right? As a result, treated soft water not just tastes salty, but actually increases your sodium intake each day.
And this, my friends, brings me to my next point…
What is causing those ugly spots on my glass shower doors?
Hard Water. Period. The end.
Yes, each time you take a shower and allow the water to dry on the glass, those spots and stains are the minerals left behind.
Depending on how bad your hard water is, or how long your buildup has been building up, will likely determine how bad your shower doors look and how difficult they will be to clean.
Now, let’s fix this problem. Kay?
Methods that did not clean the hard water from my glass showers
- Lemon
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
- Lemon, vinegar, baking soda in combination
- Razor blade
- Tilex, Scrubbing Bubbles, etc.
None of these things worked.
So, for a long time I gave up and, as a result, the stains continued to get worse and worse until one day I just COULD NOT ANYMORE.
So, I started thinking along the same lines as my toilet solution which uses fine-grit drywall screens to clean the hard water buildup. Maybe, just maybe, there was something out there that I could use on glass?
Lucky for us, there is!
What you need to remove hard water from glass
- 0000 Super Fine Steel Wool
- White vinegar
- Spray bottle or bed sheet
- Gloves
- Medium-sized mixing bowl or measuring cup (I used a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup)
- Barkeepers Friend (not the spray. I used the stuff for pots and pans, but any of the powdered kind will work)
- Face-mask
How to Clean Glass Shower Doors
Guys, there is no way around it. In order to remove those ingrained mineral deposits stuck to your shower doors, you will have to use some serious elbow grease. This is not a gentle once over and done type fix. My advice is to work in sections and ask your husband or stronger significant other to help if you get tired. Please, do not be discouraged if you still have some hard water spots after the first round of scrubbing. For those really tough spots, you may need to go over it a couple times.
- Gather supplies.
- The vinegar soak. Depending on how bad your buildup is, you may or may not need to do this step. Mine was looking pretty miserable, so I decided to soak a sheet in white vinegar and drape it over my shower door. I then pressed as much of the sheet against the glass as possible so that the glass could “soak” in vinegar. If the sheet started to dry out, I would spray with additional vinegar. Please note- this step alone will do nothing to remove or eliminate the hard water stains on your glass shower doors.
- Rinse. After approximately 30 minutes (just enough time to clean the rest of the bathroom!), remove the sheet (or relocate to a different part of the shower), and rinse with water.
- Prepare the Barkeepers Friend paste. Put on the mask (if you have one) and gloves (if you don’t have some, buy some). To a bowl or cup add approximately 1/4 cup of powdered Barkeepers Friend. There is no need to measure an exact amount, this is just to give you an idea of where to start. Slowly add water until a paste forms, mixing well.
- Scrub. Use your hand to rub the paste over a section of the glass shower door, and, using a 0000 Super Fine Steel Wool pad, start scrubbing. Small circular motion, large circular motion, up and down, just scrub. Once you feel you’ve been scrubbing for far too long and surely you must have shiny clean spotless doors, rinse. For some, this may be the case after one application. For others, you may need to scrub one more time.
- Rinse well. And remember to use a glass cleaner to clean the other side of the glass.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Barkeepers Friend Septic-safe? Yes. Oxalic acid cleansers are acidic instead of alkaline, which makes them more effective against rust, tarnish, oxidation, mineral scale, hard water, and lime deposits than most other cleaning products. Unlike other acidic cleaners, Bar Keepers Friend doesn’t use fillers or bleaches, making them biodegradable and safe for septic systems.
- Can I use any steel wool? Does it have to be 0000 Super Fine Steel Wool? No, I would not recommend using any other steel wool except super fine 0000. Of course, feel free to use any brand you prefer, but less fine steel wool may scratch the glass.
Yay! Sparkling Glass Shower Doors!
How to Clean Glass Shower Doors
Equipment
- Medium-sized mixing bowl or measuring cup (I used a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup)
Instructions
- Gather supplies.
- The vinegar soak. Depending on how bad your buildup is, you may or may not need to do this step. Mine was looking pretty miserable, so I decided to soak a sheet in white vinegar and drape it over my shower door. I then pressed as much of the sheet against the glass as possible so that the glass could “soak” in vinegar. If the sheet started to dry out, I would spray with additional vinegar.
- Rinse. After approximately 30 minutes (just enough time to clean the rest of the bathroom!), remove the sheet (or relocate to a different part of the shower), and rinse with water.
- Prepare the Bar Keepers Friend paste. Put on the mask (if you have one) and gloves (if you don’t have some, buy some). To a bowl or cup add approximately 1/4 cup of powdered Bar Keepers Friend. There is no need to measure an exact amount, this is just to give you an idea of where to start. Slowly add water until a paste forms, mixing well.
- Scrub. Use your hand to rub the paste over a section of the glass shower door, and, using a 0000 Super Fine Steel Wool pad, start scrubbing. Small circular motion, large circular motion, up and down, just scrub. Once you feel you’ve been scrubbing for far too long and surely you must have shiny clean spotless doors, rinse. For some, this may be the case after one application. For others, you may need to scrub one more time.
- Rinse well. And remember to use a glass cleaner to clean the other side of the glass shower door.
Great cleaning “recipe”! It helped me get my shower doors back to squeaky clean. After an injury, I slacked off on cleaning the bathroom as thoroughly and there was a buildup of water stains on my shower door. Some commenters that CLR works and it would work like a charm but the buildup was too much this time for it to penetrate so I had to change my routine. During my research, I knew steel wool would be somewhat helpful and that’s when I came across your “recipe” during a search. For those doubting or skipping the vinegar step, I hope you reconsider it because it was super helpful! I too wasn’t too sure about vinegar’s effectiveness but decided to give in. Instead of regular vinegar, I opted for cleaning vinegar I found alongside the Bar Keeper’s friend at the local hardware store. I didn’t use a sheet (didn’t have an extra one unfortunately) but just kept soaking the doors when they dried up up to 30 minutes. The vinegar made my job a bit easier by getting rid of some of the stains before I even put the Bar Keeper’s paste on. Like you mentioned, the Bar Keeper’s paste portion did require a bit of elbow grease but it was totally worth it after seeing the clean doors. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Thanks, Kalina! Yes, this is definitely an odd “recipe” on my recipe website 😉 , but at the same time it actually works great on glass hard water stains – especially the bad ones with a bit of elbow grease as you found out 😀
This worked great on my nasty glass shower, but wow my arms are sore now!
I tried the vinegar and Barkeeper’s Friend yesterday; I always have both at home, but never tried them in combination like that, with the vinegar ‘softening’ it up first, and then the elbow grease with the Barkeeper’s. I tried it on a spot on the sink where water collects and I could NEVER get that spot clean and shiny. Well, it is clean and shiny now. Shower door, watch out, you’re next. Thank you for that tip! This worked great.
That’s great to hear Gerlinde, thanks for the feedback 🙂
I had twenty year old expensive glass shower door and I tried everything mentioned except the oven cleaner. I had this last layer of lime scale drops that were visible but nothing would remove it. Probably had worked on them for over 50 hours already.
If that is the case for you, use the Amazon product called “Bring it on”. I will never be without this product again. I use it every time I clean and I am very chemical sensitive and its great. Not sure why it works, but it nothing short of amazing after rehabbing (3) bathrooms..
https://amzn.to/3nW7Eud
WD-40 is magic on glass doors! Spray on, wipe off, then use Windex, or any other regular glass cleaner to get the oily smears off. Less than 5 minutes of work, and done!
My glass doors are fine, but there is a thin plastic/acrylic lining wrapped around the edge of the glass where it fits inside the metal frame where the glass is attached to the metal frame that is hard water stained. Do you think this method would work for that?Cindy Faria
This method is just for the glass, as the steel wool will not scratch the glass, but the steel wool will definitely scratch the plastic/acrylic lining as steel is much harder than plastic/acrylic.
This may solve the problem, but when this doesn’t happen pour white talcum
powder or cornstarch about the involved area to completely cover
the stain. These Mineral deposits can be removed by making a paste using apple
cider vinegar and baking soda. Thankfully you will find simple stain removal tricks for clothes that will address your concerns immediately.
Worked like a charm!! I had to scrub pretty hard but the hard water deposits came off. I’ve tried several other concoctions and this is the only one that produced results.
Same acid in a spray: “ the must for rust”. You can buy it at the paint store, or Home Depot.
If you read the fine print on the back of the bottle, on the bottom it says “ works on porcelain , and tile”, which it does.
This is how I discovered it is the best for removing hard water from glass. I have used both steel wool, and magic eraser.
Either will work depending on the severity of the build up.
I absolutely love barkeepers friend, also. It’s the only scrubbing powder I ever use.
HellooooooOo!!! Hoping that all of you lovelies are doing well!! I too have honestly tried EVERYTHING except. . . Oven cleaner!
Before you guys try this let me report my outcome. The glass inside of the oven door is very thick tempered glass. My windows are not so lucky! This particular window has suffered years of hard water and the sprinkler system hits it every other day. It’s perfect outside right now. Cloudy and not blazing hot at the moment. Wish us all some good luck!❤️
The oven cleaner worked great! Still had to use a razor blade to scrape. I found it to be the easiest and fastest out of everything listed. Caution! You must be very careful! Be sure not to breathe in the fumes! Wear gloves and face / eye protection. Don’t allow the oven cleaner to make contact with painted areas.
It’s a lot easier to just get CLR or other hard water mineral remover sprays. Every grocery store carries them. Spray on, wipe or rub off. No crazy scrubbing, or soaking for hours. I clean my shower in like 3 minutes from opaque to clear.
Hi Mandy,
I have tried CLR numerous times using different methods(including the way you recommended) on the same hard water stained glass you see in the photos… it did absolutely nothing 🙂
I do not recommend CLR.
CLR did nothing to my shower door. I even let it soaked the second time around for 30 minutes and nothing. Will be trying this method today…. fingers crossed
After you get your shower glass all cleaned up, buy a squeege, keep it in the shower and have every
person who uses the shower “squeege “ the glass when they get out. I do this in my home as well as my RV.
Yes, Karen, using a squeegee does help prevent hard water build-up on glass showers; however, the pictures you see in this post are of my own shower that was squeegeed after each use… not all hard water is created equal 😀
Agree, the squeegee is the best preventive. Takes about 30 seconds. Replace the squeegee when it stops making clean swipes.
This didn’t work for my doors, but I found something that did. A pumice stone (the one I used was called a “scrubbing stick” but it was an ordinary rectangle piece of pumice). Inexpensive and just use with water….didn’t need a lot of muscle, very effective. I was certain the glass was etched and beyond help … But the lowly pumice stone saved me from having to replace the doors! Hope this helps someone….🙂
Buy a box of Mr Clean Magic Eraser,, wet one and pour some white vinegar on to the sponge and it will remove the hard water spots. I follow up by spraying some water to eliminate the smell of vinegar.
Do you know if this will work on hard water on tile?
Not all tiles are created equally, so if you try it on tile, test it on a small discrete section. I am thinking most tiles will scratch though, as steel is probably harder than most tiles.
I, like you, have tried just about everything. I tried your suggestion. Had my husband go and get the products and we were both shocked that it worked!!!! After trying just about everything, you start to loose confidence that anything will work. So, THANK YOU!!!!!!!! Very much!!!
Thank you for the confident feedback Katen 🙂
Katen, what did you use? The barkeepers friend and steel wool ? Or something else
I dont have glass shower doors. I don’t know the proper name, but i just call it plastic doors. Will this work on them also?
I wouldn’t use this method on plastic doors, as the plastic will probably scratch or cloud up as most plastic is not as hard as glass or steel wool.
Sodium ions are not negatively charged. Sodium is a group I metal which means it likes to give away it’s electron making it a positive ion.
Cool!😃