The Easiest and Fastest Way to Clean a Glass Shower Door Track

This article will cover how to clean a shower door track using the simplest method I’ve found.

We recently moved to Connecticut and the home that we’re renting had some neglected glass shower doors and tracks. A few weekends ago I spent some time restoring them back to their glory by removing the build up, mildew, mold and scum that appears to have not been cleaned for years. Oh the joys of renting…

If your shower door tracks are anywhere near as bad as mine, I would highly suggest getting a handheld steam cleaner. They are not expensive at all and for build up like this you won’t find a better method. Not to mention, you’ll be able to clean with steam and avoid all of those harsh chemicals.

Yes, you could use the vinegar method but that’s going to take significantly longer and trust me, you won’t get it nearly as clean.

The Best Way to Clean Shower Door Tracks

Before we get into the step by step process, you’ll want to evaluate which tools you’ll need to clean your shower door tracks. It’ll be easier to clean them if you remove the shower doors since that will allow you to access the full shower frame and track.

To remove the doors you may need a screwdriver.

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Tools

Handheld Steam Cleaner

Screwdriver

Materials

Towels

Directions – How to Clean Shower Door Tracks

Step 1 – Remove the Shower Doors (if Possible)

Before you get started, remove the shower doors if possible. If they are sliding doors then you’ll likely have to remove some clips on the bottom of the doors and then lift them up and off of the top track.

For doors that are installed with hinges (swinging doors), evaluate if removing the door would give you better access for cleaning. If so, just unscrew the door from the hinge.

I placed my shower doors against the wall in the tub so that I could steam clean them too.

Note that in the picture below I had already started steam cleaning the tracks a bit before I realized it would be much easier to just remove the doors.

The bottom of the shower doors are kept in place with little plastic brackets as you can see below. Most of them snapped out of place easily but this one was installed with a screw since it was missing part of the plastic.

You can see how disgusting some of the brackets were in the photo below.

After the shower doors were lifted out of place, the little plastic brackets were easily removed from the bottom of the track. I just had to rotate them forward and lift them out of place.

Step 2 – Clean the Track and Frame with Steam

I can’t say it enough, a steam cleaner is the absolute BEST method for cleaning built up scum and grime on shower door tracks. It’s faster and more effective than using a chemical cleaner or vinegar and you won’t have to wear your arm out scrubbing the gunk away.

Most steamers come with a variety of attachments. I like to use the straight nozzle first to loosen any build up and then if necessary I’ll attach one of the nylon brush heads to get anything that is super stubborn.

This is what the straight nozzle attachment looks like on my steam cleaner. This picture is from before I realized that removing the doors would be the smart thing to do.

The bottom track was by far the most disgusting which is to be expected since water accumulates there. The corners were pretty bad too.

The aftermath!

Here is a picture after I had steam cleaned the bottom of the track. It’s equally gross and satisfying to see all of that grime in the tub. Well at least I think so. You may disagree. ;)

There was a decent amount of buildup on the bottom of the shower doors too. Taking them out will allow you to get to these hard to reach areas and steam clean the grime away.

Step 3 – Rinse Away the Gunk

If you have a handheld sprayer in your shower it will be much easier to rinse away the loosened material. If not, just use a small container filled with water to wash it away.

Step 4 – Dry the Track

Use a towel to dry the frame and track.

Step 5 – Re-install the Doors

If there were clips to hold your shower doors in place you may need to clean those too. If you saw the photos above you know that mine were very gross. I put them in the sink and used the steam cleaner to get the grime off of them.

Once the clips are cleaned, reinstall the shower doors.

Shower Door Track After Photos

Are these shower doors and track looking brand new again? No, definitely not. That said, they are clean enough to the point that I’m not grossed out or embarrassed by them. Since we’re in a rental, I have to live with it but if it were my home you know I would be replacing this shower. At a minimum I would rip out the glass doors and track and use a shower curtain.

This gold sliding shower door may scream 90’s but hey, at least it’s clean now! If anyone else is having to deal with neglected and dated shower doors and tracks I hope this cleaning tutorial is helpful to you.

That’s all it takes to get your shower door track looking clean and presentable again. Using a steam cleaner is so much easier than trying to scrub with a brush and vinegar or harsh chemicals. If you want to keep your home clean they really are a must have for deep cleaning projects like this. I often use mine to remove hard water stains from around faucets too.

If you’re looking for a tutorial about how to clean glass shower doors, I covered that in depth a few years ago. Go check it out but don’t remind me of how nice my bathroom used to be before we sold our home and moved across the country. I really do miss that bathroom that we built. It was a dream.