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How To Clean A Shower Glass Door With Vinegar, The Easy Way! (Safe On Marble)

I LOVE this EASY way to clean a shower glass door using vinegar & backing soda! It’s even safe on marble & stone tile. But, STOP mixing it!

How to Clean Shower Glass Doors

Normally vinegar is my go to for cleaning hard water stains off glass and windows. But, vinegar is acidic and can etch, stain, and dull your beautiful marble or stone tile.

So you have to be careful when you clean a shower glass door near marble or stone tiles.

I installed marble mosaic and rectangular tiles in our shower 2 years ago. I was worried about using all marble in a shower.

Image of a glass shower door cleaned with vinegar and baking soda. Wit DIY how to steps. Shower has marble tile.
How To Clean Shower Glass Doors with Vinegar and Baking Soda.

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People always talk about how hard marble is to maintain. But, it’s really not.

You just can’t use most of the popular cleaning products on marble. But there are some really cheap and easy to find products that can clean marble tile.

And, knowing what you CAN use is the important part, right?! Now, vinegar is actually a CAN’T USE product on marble and stone. It is too acidic for marble and natural-stone.

So, I have an easy way to use that vinegar to clean shower glass doors, without letting it touch your beautiful marble or stone tiles!

Image of a shower glass door with hard water stains for a post with the best way to clean glass shower doors.
Don’t forget to Save or Share the steps for the best way to clean glass shower doors.

In this post, I have the written steps and even a step by step video showing exactly how I clean hard water stains off glass shower doors in less than 15 minutes, with vinegar & baking soda.

And, I have a few tips on cleaning marble tile in showers and the super easy way I keep the tiles clean and mildew free.

Instead of babbling on, let’s get to everything you need to know to Safely Clean Shower Glass Doors with Marble or Stone tile.

Weekly Cleaning on a Glass Shower Door

First, I recommend using warm water and Dawn Dish Soap to clean your shower glass door, weekly.

Just scrub it down with non-scratch pads, like the Scotch-Brite Dobie Sponge. I do this at the same time that I am cleaning my grout and tile.

The Dawn Dish Soap has a moderately basic pH. So it is safe for most cleaning projects. Other types of dish soap might not be pH neutral.

Here’s a look at the hard water stains on my glass shower door before using vinegar or baking soda. This is months of build up.

Some citrus scented dish soaps, including other types of Dawn, are more acidic just because they have citric acid added to the dish soap.

So, don’t just use any dish soap around marble and stone tile. Stick with Dawn or a similar version that has a safe pH for stone and marble.

Dish Soap is great at removing nasty oils, bacteria, and mold on dishes. It gets dishes so clean that you then go on to eat off of them.

You can quickly and safely clean a shower glass door with marble or stone tile using vinegar & backing soda. But, be careful doing it! Vinegar can etch, stain, and pit your marble and stone tile. Here's a step by step guide to how to clean your glass shower door without damaging your tile.
Everything you need to clean shower glass doors is probably already in your kitchen.

So, it makes sense that it is strong enough to clean shampoo, soap, dirt, and hair off that tile and grout too.

I know most of us used to think cleaners needed to have strong chemicals to really clean something. But you don’t need strong chemicals and abrasives for general cleaning.

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You can use safe, common household products like Dawn dish soap, vinegar, and baking soda to clean so many things in your home.

In fact, I love vinegar and baking soda to clean a shower glass door.

Here’s a look at the vinegar on my glass shower door. It’s wet enough to start breaking down all of that hard water. But, not so wet that it will run or drip on the marble tile.

What Removes Hard Water Stains from Shower Glass

Now, let’s get into how I clean a shower glass door in a marble tile or stone tile shower.

Follow these steps to clean hard water stains and soapy buildup as often as necessary. Some people have harder water in their homes and some people just have more people using their showers.

So, I can’t really recommend a set frequency. Just use these steps when you see water spots on your glass shower door.

How To Clean Glass Shower Doors

What I Use to Clean Glass Shower Doors

Here’s a look at the smaller amount of hard water stains left on the door after using the vinegar. Vinegar got rid of most of the hard water stains without scrubbing. Baking Soda will easily get rid of the rest. But, it will take a little elbow grease. 🙂

Easy Steps

  1. Start by putting old towels down over the marble tile, under the shower glass. Also, move any bathroom rugs or cover those with towels too. The towels protect the tile from the vinegar.
  2. Wearing gloves, dip the Dobie scrubbing sponge in vinegar. Then squeeze out most of the vinegar. You want the sponge damp, not dripping.
  3. Then wipe down the glass shower door with the vinegar. You want the entire door slightly wet, but again, not dripping. 
  4. Once the glass has a light coating of vinegar, spend a minute slowly wiping the glass in circles to sort of loosen the hard water stains. You don’t need to scrub hard. 
  5. Let the vinegar sit on the door for 10 minutes. Again, keep it off the marble or stone tile by keeping the towels over the marble and preventing dripping vinegar. Keep a window open or fan running to get rid of those strong vinegar fumes.
  6. After 10 minutes, soak a clean rag or hand towel in water. Squeeze out. Then wipe all of the vinegar off the door.
  7. At this point, you’ll be left with just the thickest parts of the hard water stains. Time to use that baking soda.
  8. Sprinkle baking soda on a Dobie Sponge that has been rinsed with water. Then scrub those glass shower doors in small circles to remove the rest of the hard water stains.
  9. Keep adding water and baking soda to the sponge until you’ve scrubbed the entire door. The paste of water mixed with baking soda and the non-scratch texture of the Dobie Sponge work together to scrub off the hard water stains on glass shower doors.
  10. Wipe down the shower glass door again with water on a rag or hand towel. Remove all of the baking soda paste. If you see any more hard water stains, go back to step nine and scrub those spots a little harder with the baking soda.
  11. Once all of the hard water stains are gone. Use cups of water or turn on the shower to completely rinse clean a shower glass door. Make sure all of the baking soda is rinsed off the glass and tile.
  12. Finish off by drying the glass shower door with a clean dry towel or microfiber towel.
Sprinkle Baking Soda on a wet, non-scratch scrubbing sponge or pad that is safe on glass. It’s an easy way to clean glass shower doors.

Quick Tip

You can keep your shower glass door spot-free longer by drying the glass after each use. But, I know that’s pretty hard when multiple people use a shower.

So, just do it when you can and don’t stress about it otherwise.

Spending 10 minutes cleaning glass shower doors once a month is way better than spending all day keeping track of whether or not everyone in the house is drying the glass, right? 🙂

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Step by Step Video

If any of the steps for How to Safely Clean a Shower Glass Door are confusing, I highly recommend watching this short video. Hopefully seeing it done can help clear up any confusion.

How to Clean Shower Glass Doors with Baking Soda & Vinegar - Works On Hard Water Stains!

Can I Mix Vinegar and Baking Soda When Cleaning

You can. But it won’t work as well. Some people think that the fizzing that happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar can some how scrub away dirt for you.

It’s actually just a chemical reaction that is turning that vinegar and baking soda into salty carbonated water. Salty water isn’t that great at cleaning anything.

So, use vinegar and baking soda separately to get the best results when cleaning

You can quickly and safely clean a shower glass door with marble or stone tile using vinegar & backing soda. But, be careful doing it! Vinegar can etch, stain, and pit your marble and stone tile. Here's a step by step guide to how to clean your glass shower door without damaging your tile.
Here’s my Clean Glass Shower Door looking as great as it did the day it was installed. You can find my tips for framing in a shower niche, installing mosaic tile, and how to whiten tile grout in previous posts.

Safe Cleaning Products on Marble or Stone Tile

Here’s a quick look at how I clean marble shower tile. Check out the full post for all the tips and tricks for keeping marble and stone tile clean.

Weekly Cleaning

Dawn Dish Soap is a great and cheap cleaner on marble. I use Dawn Dish Soap and warm water with a marble safe scrubbing cloth to clean off the soap scum and shampoo on the grout and tile, weekly.

Be sure to use non-abrasive scrubbing pads or scrubbing cloths on marble, to avoid scratching your marble or stone tile.

I like this Scotch-Brite Non-Scratch Scrubbing Dots Sponge and the Non-Scratch Scrubbing Dots Dish Cloth for cleaning soap and shampoo off my tile and grout.

And, I love these Scotch-Brite Dobie Sponges too. They are a non-scratch sponge wrapped in a thin plastic mesh that provides enough texture to scrub things away without scratching. I use this Dobie sponge to clean a shower glass door without scratching.

You can quickly and safely clean a shower glass door with marble or stone tile using vinegar & backing soda. But, be careful doing it! Vinegar can etch, stain, and pit your marble and stone tile. Here's a step by step guide to how to clean your glass shower door without damaging your tile.
I love how easy it was to get all of those hard water stains off of this door!

Mold and Mildew Treat and Prevent

Then every 2 to 3 weeks I spray down the clean tile and grout with a mold and mildew killer that is safe on marble and stone surfaces. That stuff stops that nasty pink slime mildew from forming in the grout.

After letting that sit for 5 minutes, I rinse it away. Easy peasy! Just be sure to wear gloves and to ventilate the room when using this stuff. It has strong fumes.

See more tips in How To Clean Marble Shower Grout.

Don’t Forget to Seal Marble Tile

The last step for keeping marble tile clean and as beautiful as the day you installed it is to use a marble sealer. This only needs to be done twice a year. It’s an easy wipe on product too, guys.

Keeping marble tile clean and pretty is easy, right?! I think so. And, it looks a-mazing! You can see more details about how to clean marble shower tile in a previous post.

You can quickly and safely clean a shower glass door with marble or stone tile using vinegar & backing soda. But, be careful doing it! Vinegar can etch, stain, and pit your marble and stone tile. Here's a step by step guide to how to clean your glass shower door without damaging your tile.
Don’t forget to Save or Share this DIY.

Looking for more of my Home Cleaning Videos? Check out this DIY Home Cleaning playlist on YouTube.


Check out my Steps to Clean Marble Shower Tile here.

Here's the easy to follow DIY steps for How to Clean Marble Shower Tile, safely kill that gross mildew, and seal your marble. With How-To Video and DIY Marble Tile Cleaning Steps.

Here’s how to Clean Car Seats at Home, the easy way. I also love this tutorial for how to clean area rugs at home.

Written steps and a how to video showing how to Clean Car Seats at Home, the Easy Way with a portable Bissell SpotClean Pro. This even worked on my gross chocolate milk covered seats!

You might also like this DIY for How to Whiten Tile Grout. It’s a Game Changer!

How to Whiten Grout with a quick and easy DIY Grout Renew.

And, if it is time to Stain your Front Door, check out these steps for how I restain a front door without stripping it or removing it. 🙂

Or this video tutorial for how to make a Lazy Susan Turntable.

Lazy Susan Hardware can look confusing, so I made this quick and easy to follow DIY video for how to make a Lazy Susan Turntable to explain what to do. DIY Lazy Susan Turntable. DIY Lazy Susan Organizer

Feeling inspired? Now that you’ve read these tips for How to Safely Clean a Shower Glass Door with marble or stone tile, you can do it too. Let me know if you have questions.

Clean a Shower Glass Door

You can quickly and safely clean a shower glass door with marble or stone tile using vinegar & backing soda. But, be careful doing it!

Materials

  • Distilled White Vinegar, 5% Acidity
  • Baking Soda
  • Dobie Cleaning Sponge, or similar

Instructions

Steps to Clean Shower Glass

  1. Start by putting old towels down over the marble tile, under the shower glass. Also, move any bathroom rugs or cover those with towels too. The towels protect the tile from the vinegar.
  2. Wearing gloves, dip the Dobie scrubbing sponge in vinegar. Then squeeze out most of the vinegar. You want the sponge damp, not dripping.
  3. Then wipe down the glass shower door with the vinegar. You want the entire door slightly wet, but again, not dripping. 
  4. Once the glass has a light coating of vinegar, spend a minute slowly wiping the glass in circles to sort of loosen the hard water stains. You don't need to scrub hard. 
  5. Let the vinegar sit on the door for 10 minutes. Again, keep it off the marble or stone tile by keeping the towels over the marble and preventing dripping vinegar. Keep a window open or fan running to get rid of those strong vinegar fumes.
  6. After 10 minutes, soak a clean rag or hand towel in water. Squeeze out. Then wipe all of the vinegar off the door.
  7. At this point, you'll be left with just the thickest parts of the hard water stains. Time to use that baking soda.
  8. Sprinkle baking soda on a Dobie Sponge that has been rinsed with water. Then scrub those glass shower doors in small circles to remove the rest of the hard water stains.
  9. Keep adding water and baking soda to the sponge until you've scrubbed the entire door. The paste of water mixed with baking soda and the non-scratch texture of the Dobie Sponge work together to scrub off the hard water stains on glass shower doors.
  10. Wipe down the shower glass door again with water on a rag or hand towel. Remove all of the baking soda paste. If you see any more hard water stains, go back to step nine and scrub those spots a little harder with the baking soda.
  11. Once all of the hard water stains are gone. Use cups of water or turn on the shower to completely rinse clean a shower glass door. Make sure all of the baking soda is rinsed off the glass and tile.
  12. Finish off by drying the glass shower door with a clean dry towel or microfiber towel.

Quick Tip: You can keep your shower glass door spot-free longer by drying the glass after each use. But, I know that's pretty hard when multiple people use a shower. So, just do it when you can and don't stress about it otherwise.

Those steps to get rid of hard water stains on glass weren't that hard. Spending 10 minutes cleaning the glass once a month is way better than spending all day keeping track of whether or not everyone in the house is drying the glass, right? 🙂

Notes

Can I Mix Vinegar and Baking Soda When Cleaning

You can. But it won't work as well. Some people think that the fizzing that happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar can some how scrub away dirt for you.

It's actually just a chemical reaction that is turning that vinegar and baking soda into salty carbonated water. Salty water isn't that great at cleaning anything. So, use vinegar and baking soda separately to get the best results when cleaning

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Teodora

Tuesday 9th of February 2021

Thank you for this, I never tried as I always use shop-bought cleaning products but I would like to try next time I am cleaning the shower glass. Thank you :).

Stephanie

Wednesday 10th of February 2021

I love not having to try another $10 bottle of cleaner that stinks anyway and who knows what's in it. I think I'll mostly clean with just baking soda and water as maintenance. Then if I get lazy and the stains get bad again, I'll start with vinegar again, then follow with baking soda. :)

Kim | Shiplap and Shells

Thursday 4th of February 2021

I used baking soda and vinegar the last time I cleaned the shower and it really did work great. Thank you for sharing at Charming Homes and Gardens.

Stephanie

Thursday 4th of February 2021

Thanks, Kim. I love how much you can clean with just simple, cheap baking soda and vinegar.

Comments are closed.
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