The One Spot In Your Shower That Gets Disgusting But You Neglect To Clean

You scrub the walls and the floor in your shower. You might even use some elbow grease to keep mold and mildew from building up on the grout and caulk. However, if you're like many, there's one spot that you're neglecting. And, chances are, it's pretty grimy and gross right now: the shower door track. Shower door tracks are easy to overlook. You might not even look down at them when you're getting into and out of the shower. And, even if you do get a chance to see how dirty they are, you might be at a loss for how to clean them. They're too narrow to reach your hands into, and the glass doors always seem to be in the way. So, it may be easier to just throw up your hands and give up.

However, you don't want to do that. Just as mold can grow in other areas of your shower, it can also form along the shower tracks. Beyond the health hazard that this can create, the more gunk that builds up along the track, the more challenging it can become to open and close the doors. There are a few different techniques that can help you clean shower doors, and they all share something in common — the use of a toothbrush, a small-bristle brush, or another mini scrubbing tool — to help you get into all those hard to reach places.

You'll need to use a little creativity to thoroughly clean this area. One trick that can help is to remove the small piece that sits in the middle of the track to keep the doors in place. You should be able to slide this out of place after loosening the screw with a screwdriver. With that piece out of the way, it will be easier — though still tight — to remove the caked-on gunk in the middle of the crack. Grab that handy toothbrush or small cleaning brush and your preferred cleaner. Commercially available shower cleaners — such as the Lysol Power Foaming Bathroom Cleaner — can help you loosen the grime and get rid of any lingering bacteria.

If you prefer not to use chemical cleaners in your shower, vinegar can also help you clean a grimy shower door track. Vinegar's higher acidity enables it to break through all that caked-on dirt to clear your track and ensure your doors are able to open and close smoothly. One additional option is to use a steam cleaner. They rely on hot steam, which works to loosen build up and can even kill lingering bacteria.

After you've finished cleaning the area between the track, turn your attention to that small piece you removed. You can use the same tools to clean it. Then, simply slide it back into place, make sure the doors are aligned properly, and screw it back in.