Best Practices for Protecting and Maintaining your Glass Shower Enclosures
For many people, cleaning their glass showers can be a mundane task, but if you protect your glass enclosure before its initial use and use the right products and practices for daily maintenance, you can extend the lifespan of your shower enclosures and reduce the amount of time you spend cleaning your shower. Here are a few of our tips and tricks for protecting and cleaning your glass shower enclosure.
Protecting your shower from day one- Water Spot Protective Coatings
The best way to reduce the amount of time it takes to clean your glass shower enclosure would be to protect the original glass with a water spot protective coating.
There are many different products on the market and most of them work the same way. Most shower manufacturers and glass suppliers offer their own version of this water spot protective coating. Enduro Shield, CW Shield, Diamond Fusion, C10 coating, are a few of the different products on the market. Many of them are applied differently and come with different warranties, but basically, they all work in the same way. Glass has pores like our skin, and the coatings fill the pores of the glass with a hydrophobic coating which repels the water. These coatings, help keep hard water and mineral deposits on the surface of the glass 
where they can be wiped away and prevent them from being deposited below the surface of the glass where they cannot be cleaned. These coatings are NOT a miracle cure and having a coating does NOT mean that you do not have to clean your glass. However, the coatings will help protect your investment in your glass shower enclosure and greatly reduce the amount of time that you will have to clean them.
Daily Maintenance
We still recommend that you squeegee, and/or wipe down the glass with a clean microfiber cloth after each use. If you use a squeegee, you should regularly check the neoprene/rubber portion of your squeegee for tears. You don’t want to be careful to not scratch the glass with the metal portion of the squeegee, as this could cause permanent damage to the coating and/or the glass.
If you use a glass cleaner on the glass, it is important that you use a cleaner that is ammonia free. We sell a product called Sprayaway that is a great ammonia free daily glass cleaner. You want to avoid cleaners with harsh chemicals. Certain chemicals can degrade the coating on the glass and void the warranty. Each water spot protective coating will have a slightly different recommended cleaning instructions, so it is best to ask for the specific instructions on whichever coating you end up purchasing.
Cleaning your existing shower glass
If your existing glass enclosure has water spots and you are looking to clean the glass back to its original state, we sell a cleaning product called Bio-Clean. This product is a non-toxic, eco-friendly, biodegradable industrial strength cleaner that removes water and mineral stains, lime scale, calcium, soap scum, oxidation, phosphorus, bluing, rust, mold, mildew, tarnish and much more. The product can be used effectively on glass, granite, stone, aluminum, tile, grout, chrome, Corian, porcelain, and many other surfaces. The Bio-Clean product also boasts a built-in protective sealant that lasts up to 3 months. Our Rancho Cordova location carries small samples if you want to try the product before you buy an entire bottle.
Once you have cleaned your glass, you can then protect your glass with an at home Surface Protector. This product comes in a spray bottle and you spray it on and buff it into the glass. This product will have to be reapplied regularly.
