Soap Scum...yuk!

[Peter Stahl]

One of those things you hate to do. We've used Kaboom and Soat scrub gel but neither work that well. Anyone have something that works really well and easily? It's a shower stall, a one piece fiberglass unit.

[Prashun Patel]

I think you have to use a limescale or alkaline cleaner to get at it.

Going fwd, consider switching to liquid soap. Most of those will not contribute to scum or scale buildup.

[Walt Nicholson]

This may sound weird but there are a lot of people that swear that WD-40 is the best thing around for cleaning shower stalls and doors (including the aluminum trim). Lots of posts about it if you google WD-40 uses. Should have some pretty good ventilation and get it completely off the floor or there would be some serious "slippin and slidin" going on. Never tried it myself but have a friend that lives in some hard water country and he won't use anything else.

[Don Jarvie]

The wife uses the Mr. Clean erasure. Works very well

[Bob Borzelleri]

Boy, this question brings back memories. 3 months ago, I spent an eternity in our shower attacking soap scum. The walls are porcelain tile with marble highlights and sanded grout. The floor is travertine with sanded grout. It's possible that there is not a worse combination of materials for holding on to soap scum.

I got a lot of it with a steam cleaner but the last layer had worked into the surface and wouldn't go away. None of the standard commercial soap scum cleaners worked. I won't even list them out of disgust for their misleading names and screwey looking graphics.

In the end, one thing worked and it worked pretty much immediately. It is called A-maz water stain remover. It is advertised as "Clean & Green". No acids, bleach, chlorides, non toxic and biodegradable is what it says on the label.

http://www.amaz.biz/

Amazon carries it.

BTW, Shawn has it right. We have gone with body wash gels in the shower and haven't seen a trace of soap scum since.

[Peter Stahl]

Lots of good info so far. What do you guys use with the liquid soap, just a wash rag? Will look into the A-maz too.

[Dave Lehnert]

Cascade dishwasher soap takes it right off. So I am told.

http://img.walgreens.com/dbimagecache/03700040154_220x220_a.jpg

[Eric Larsen]

Five Star Chemicals Powdered Brewery Wash takes soap scum off with zero effort -- so long as it's applied at the recommended 110-120f temperature.

In fact, PBW cleans damned near anything with zero effort. It's my go-to cleaning solution.

Best of all, you won't feel guilty about PBW going down the drain. Because once finished, it's pretty-much inert.

Cheap? No.

Easy, green and effective? Yes.

PBW breaks up beer-stone, which is just about the most miserable stuff on earth. Soap scum? No problems. It works better as a clean in place solution (i.e. fill a giant tank with PBW and go home). But it works just fine with a sponge, too.

Absolutely non-reactive with glass, stone and metal. I buy it in 5-gallon buckets and clean just about everything with it. Especially pots and pans.


EDIT - Rinse with 110-120f water, otherwise it leaves a chalky white residue.

[Paul Atkins]

We make our own soap - yeah, I know. It costs about a buck a bar to make, but I will never buy soap again. I could go on and on - I won't. Our water is a bit hard too, no soap scum. Soft water and commercial soaps equal residue. I guess I'm no help for Peter.