How to clean a shower screen and remove limescale without scratching the glass

What you need

• 500 ml spray bottle
• Kitchen paper
• Non-abrasive sponge (soft side) and an old toothbrush
• 25 cm rubber squeegee
• Microfibre cloths
• Rubber gloves
• Ceramic hob scraper with a new blade, for crust only
• 8 or 10 % cleaning vinegar (1 € a litre at Mercadona or any supermarket)
• Citric acid powder (Mercadona, Leroy Merlin, pharmacy, 3 to 5 €)
• Optional commercial descaler: Viakal, Cillit Bang Limescale and Shine or KH-7 Antical
• Bicarbonate of soda
• Optional hydrophobic protector spray for shower screens (8 to 15 € at Leroy Merlin or Bricodepot)

Step by step

1. 1

   Ventilate and rinse with hot water

   Open the bathroom window or door and put on the gloves. Rinse the whole screen with the shower on hot for a minute to soften the soap film. Do not dry.

2. 2

   Apply warm vinegar and cover it with paper

   Warm half a litre of cleaning vinegar for 30 seconds in the microwave and pour it into the spray bottle. Soak the inside of the glass and stick sheets of kitchen paper over the limescale areas; spray again on top until the paper is thoroughly wet. Wait 15 to 20 minutes.

3. 3

   Rub with the sponge and toothbrush

   Remove the paper and rub the glass with the soft side of the sponge in circles. Go round the corners, the edge of the seals and the tracks with the toothbrush. Rinse with hot water.

4. 4

   Repeat with citric acid where limescale remains

   If marks remain, dissolve two tablespoons of citric acid in half a litre of hot water, apply with the same paper method, wait 20 to 30 minutes and rub. Rinse the aluminium frame within 10 minutes so the anodising does not stain.

5. 5

   Treat the ingrained bands

   For the thick band at shower head height, bicarbonate paste with a sponge in circles without pressing, two or three minutes, then rinse. If it is still there, with the glass well wetted with soapy water, a ceramic hob scraper at 30 degrees in short strokes in one direction, on the smooth glass only, never on the frame or the seals.

6. 6

   Clean the frame, tracks and seals

   Vinegar diluted half and half on the frame and tracks, toothbrush, 10 minutes at most and rinse. The seals with the same mix and a sponge; if they are black inside, it is time to replace them.

7. 7

   Dry and protect

   Run the squeegee from top to bottom over the whole glass and finish with dry microfibre, including the frame and the bottom track. If you use a hydrophobic protector, apply it now to the dry glass following the label. From today, squeegee after every shower.

Why the screen turns white: limescale and soap on the coast

The water in most of Alicante province and Valencia is hard or very hard: it carries a lot of dissolved calcium and magnesium. When a drop dries on the glass, the water evaporates and the calcium carbonate stays behind. On top of that, soap and shower gel residue stick and form a greasy film that traps more limescale. The result is a shower screen so dirty it is no longer transparent: white drop-shaped marks, vertical streaks and an opaque band at shower head height.

Limescale is alkaline and dissolves in acid. That is why vinegar (acetic acid), citric acid and supermarket descalers (Viakal, Cillit Bang Limescale and Shine, KH-7 Antical) work, and washing-up liquid, glass cleaner and bleach do not: they do not touch limescale. Soap grease, on the other hand, comes off with detergent; so a proper clean has two steps: descaler first, soap second, or a product that combines both.

There is a limit. If the limescale has been left for years, the carbonate reacts with the glass itself and marks it below the surface. You can tell because, after cleaning and drying, the glass is still hazy but smooth to the touch. That is no longer dirt, it is glass corrosion, and it has only two ways out: professional polishing with cerium oxide, which is expensive and does not always work, or replacing the glass.

Methods for cleaning a shower screen and removing limescale, gentlest to strongest

Warm cleaning vinegar. Cleaning vinegar (8 to 10 % acidity, 1 € a litre at any supermarket) is the baseline method. Warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds it works twice as fast. Sprayed on and covered with kitchen paper so it does not run off, 15 to 20 minutes and a sponge. Good for the monthly clean and for light limescale.

Citric acid. As a powder, from Mercadona, Leroy Merlin or a pharmacy. Two tablespoons in half a litre of hot water, same method as the vinegar. Stronger, odourless and does not attack the anodised aluminium of the frame if you rinse it off within 10 minutes. It is the best option for a very dirty shower screen.

Commercial descaler. Viakal, Cillit Bang Limescale and Shine or KH-7 Antical. They contain formic or citric acid plus surfactants that lift limescale and soap at the same time. Convenient and quick; ventilate and do not leave them on the frame longer than the label says.

Bicarbonate paste. For the thick band of limescale that liquids will not shift: bicarbonate of soda with a few drops of water to make a paste, applied with a sponge in circles without pressing. It is a very fine abrasive that will not scratch toughened glass as long as the sponge is free of grit.

Ceramic hob scraper. The last resort for years-old crust. A new flat blade, the glass well wetted with soapy water, a 30-degree angle and short strokes in one direction only. On smooth toughened glass it works without scratching if the blade is intact and the glass is wet; never on printed, frosted or anti-limescale treated glass, and never on the frame.

What never to use to clean the screen

Green scourers, wire wool and melamine magic sponges. They scratch the glass with micro-scratches that show against the light and that limescale grips twice as hard afterwards. Melamine is a fine abrasive; on toughened glass it leaves a haze that will not come out.

Salfumán (hydrochloric acid) and toilet cleaners with strong acid. Very popular on the coast and very destructive: they dissolve limescale, yes, but they pit the anodised aluminium of the frame, the chrome on the rollers and the silicone, and their fumes corrode the taps. A bathroom cleaned with salfumán has black shower screen frames within a year.

Bleach. It does not remove limescale. It dries out the seals and the silicone, and mixed with vinegar or descaler it gives off chlorine, which is toxic in a closed bathroom. If you want to disinfect mould on the silicone, use a specific anti-mould product and never at the same time as the descaler.

Oven cleaners and caustic soda. They are strong alkalis and attack aluminium and treated glass. And vinegar left unrinsed on the frame for hours: the acid stains the anodising. Ten minutes and rinse.

Common mistakes when cleaning the screen

The first is spraying the descaler and rubbing straight away. The acid needs time to dissolve the carbonate: 15 to 20 minutes of contact does more than ten minutes of scrubbing. That is why soaked kitchen paper stuck to the glass is the trick that changes everything: it keeps the product wet and in contact.

The second is cleaning the screen dry and cold. A prior rinse with hot water softens the soap film and opens the way for the acid. The third is forgetting the tracks and the frame: limescale in the rails is what later jams the doors, and it comes off the same way, with vinegar and a toothbrush, as we explain in how to fix a sliding shower screen.

And the fourth, not drying when you finish. If you rinse and let the tap water dry on its own, you have just put a fresh layer of limescale on the glass you have just cleaned. Squeegee and microfibre, always.

• Ventilate the bathroom with any acid product.
• Gloves: citric acid and vinegar dry the skin, commercial descalers more so.
• The seals are cleaned separately, with diluted vinegar; if they are black inside, replace them: how to replace shower screen seals.

When to call a professional

We do not clean shower screens, but we do repair what limescale breaks. Call us if after cleaning the glass is still hazy and smooth (glass corrosion, worth considering a new glass panel or screen), if limescale has left the doors jammed or the rollers no longer turn, if the silicone is black and cracked or if the seals have hardened and water gets out.

Through our shower screen service, replacing the rollers with a track clean costs 45 to 80 €, resealing with anti-mould silicone 40 to 70 €, and fitting a new front sliding screen 90 to 140 €, with removal of the old one for 50 to 65 €. New screens with anti-limescale treated glass cost 30 to 60 € more and on the coast pay for themselves in the first year of cleaning. We arrive in 20 to 45 minutes in Valencia, Alicante, Torrevieja and Benidorm. Fixed price on WhatsApp from a photo, 6-month written guarantee and an invoice with IVA (VAT). Full rates in how much a shower screen costs to fit.

Stopping limescale coming back: a routine for the coast

Thirty seconds a day are worth more than an hour a month. After showering, run the squeegee (the 25 cm rubber blade, 3 € at Leroy Merlin or any bazaar) down the glass from top to bottom and dry the bottom track with the towel. No drops, no limescale. Once a week, spray vinegar diluted half and half, wait five minutes and rinse. Once a month, the full clean in this guide.

Hydrophobic glass treatments (shower screen protector sprays from Leroy Merlin or Bricodepot, 8 to 15 €) create a layer that makes water slide off; they last two or three months and halve the limescale, but only on properly clean glass. If you are replacing the screen, ask for factory anti-limescale treated glass. And if limescale is a problem throughout the home (taps, cistern, water heater), a whole-house water softener or an anti-scale filter on the incoming supply is the real fix; many flats in Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa and the Marina Alta have one. For the other limescale faults in the bathroom, see how to fix a dripping tap and toilet cistern not filling.