Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Flip

Original poster

Cleaning the clear strips on the shower door

22 replies

lavendersun · 05/09/2015 09:13

There was a thread recently that I can't find again.

It asked how to clean the strips on the shower door and where to source new ones.

Mine are terrible, black mould inside a 1" bit at the bottom I can't get to and limescale in the grooves on the inside.

I have soaked them in a bleach solution, no joy, soaked them in white vinegar - same.

All tips gratefully received.

OP posts:

Mrsmorton · 05/09/2015 12:58

Have you a tally removed the,? When I discovered they slid off, life became a lot easier...

Mrsmorton · 05/09/2015 12:58

Ffs. Actually removed them..?

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 05/09/2015 12:59

It's about £5 for a new one off eBay. I failed to get mine properly clean so had to buy a new one!

ijustwannadance · 05/09/2015 13:03

I bought of ebay too. Few quid for a nice new one.

Lucked · 05/09/2015 13:13

I got it off and soaked it in bleach but it didn't work. I got a new one in B&Q which I had to saw to size. Our door is curved and it was really difficult to get the new one on but DH managed it. Made the bathroom look so much better.

OutToGetYou · 05/09/2015 13:18

Steam cleaner.

Original poster

lavendersun · 05/09/2015 13:19

Yes MrsM, it is off (all four of them!), scrubbed with bleach, squirted it up the bit with the black mould in it.

Looks, new would be good too - I couldn't find any 2m long ones when I searched just now - not sure why I didn't think of eBay or even searching for shower door seals tbh.

I have just hacksawed off the bottom bit where I couldn't get the mould out - very satisfying. I think it must be magnetic looking at the bit I have cut off.

Hopefully slightly shorter ones won't look ridiculous, or as bad as black mould anyway.

OP posts:

Original poster

lavendersun · 05/09/2015 13:19

I have got a steam cleaner out, find it useless generally so I never even bother anymore.

OP posts:

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 05/09/2015 20:39

Me too lavender. Have been so disappointed with my steam cleaner

Original poster

lavendersun · 05/09/2015 21:18

Looks, I am such a fool though because I forget how useless they are every few years (having binned the useless one) and buy another one. Think I am on no 3 - tried big expensive things that travel on the floor like a vacuum, now have a hand held and it is rubbish!

OP posts:

LooksLikeImStuckHere · 05/09/2015 21:56

Maybe one day, one of them may actually meet your expectations!

I just want something that cleans the floors but doesn't leave them wet so I have to get down on my hands and knees to get rid of the excess water. Fat chance!

They are excellent at defrosting freezers but you aren't meant to use them for that!

OutToGetYou · 05/09/2015 22:19

I quite like mine, good for nooks and crannies. I find it useful for the bathroom floors, cleans them just fine. And windows.

You're probably right that it wouldn't get mould off a shower seal. Mine does get that orange stuff off though.

Original poster

lavendersun · 06/09/2015 07:59

My mother loves hers out, I just don't seem to be able to!

Looks, I have one of these - washes the floor and then sucks up the dirty water into a separate tank which leaves the floor almost dry. I love it (well as much as one can love any household appliance really. def not a clean freak I live in a cottage in the country with lots of mud and animals and it does a great job - not so good in my utility with tiles with big ridges between them though.

www.vax.co.uk/hard-floor-cleaners/floormate-hard-wood-floor-cleaner

OP posts:

middlings · 06/09/2015 08:17

New ones all the way OP. I change ours every couple of years as even if you take them off and clean them regularly, they still look manky after a while.

To those of you steam cleaning floors, if they're laminate or engineered wood, even if the steam cleaner says it's suitable, you're damaging it as the water can get in underneath them. I bought a vax one last year and then called the supplier of the floor before I used it to check I could and he unequivocally said no unless I wanted to be back getting a new floor in three years. I don't, so I brought it back. He said none of them should be used.

Original poster

lavendersun · 06/09/2015 08:20

Middlings - thanks.

Does anyone know where you can get long ones? My strips are 6'6"?

OP posts:

OutToGetYou · 06/09/2015 10:10

I only use it on the tiled floors, not the wooden floors. Seems obvious time that you wouldn't steam clean wooden floors.

middlings · 08/09/2015 10:24

The problem is OutToGetYou that the cleaner's instructions maintain you can use them on wooden floors and as mine are laquered (not oiled or waxed), I know people who go by the manufacturers instructions and do use it. It just didn't make sense to me, which is why I checked.

Original poster

lavendersun · 08/09/2015 11:30

We have knackered rustic ancient oak floorboards throughout downstairs here .... anything goes .

OP posts:

MuttonDressedAsGoose · 08/09/2015 11:33

If the plastic actually gets impregnated with mold, they won't come clean. Much easier to just replace, and bleach once in a while to keep them clean longer.

Savagebeauty · 08/09/2015 11:36

I have a curved shower door and I didn't realise you can get new bits!!! Mine is manky..ditto the curly shower hose.

Original poster

lavendersun · 08/09/2015 11:37

The mould was inside the closed o shaped bit that has a magnetic strip on one side - couldn't get it out, tried everything, even squirting vinegar and lastly bleach up it.

These things come in all sorts of different shapes - think the u connecting to the sealed o looks like the worst one to clean and of course I have that one .

Anyway, just used it and it was fine - no remnants of mould.

Still haven't found any long enough for my shower though!

OP posts:

Original poster

lavendersun · 08/09/2015 11:41

Savage - I replace the head and hose from time to time as it bothers me when it is too limescaley! Also found that too much limescale has tripped the shower before as not enough water can get out and we have had to replace the pressure release device or whatever it is called.

We actually replace the shower every 3 or 4 years when performance deteriorates - view it like a kettle with limescale that you can't clean.

OP posts:

Flip