Teach me: Showers

The kind you wash yourself in.

My house is 12 years old and has the typical fiberglass one piece shower in the master bathroom. It is identical to the one in the kids bathroom upstairs. The kids one is fine, other than a chip. Ours, no matter how well it is cleaned, gets mildew faster than I can clean it (I have found that bodywash works VERY well). Not literally, of course, but 3-4 days after a good cleaning, red and black spots will start popping up everywhere the water hit. When I clean it, it's not the nice shiny surface like you'd expect, but a more rough and worn out kid of feel. I suspect this is the main issue. The rest of the house was built with cheap appliances/fixtures and I don't think this shower is any different.

Is there any real thing that can fix this, or is it only a 'tear out and replace' type of thing? Yes, I understand just how annoying the latter is.

Did the clearcoat get scrubbed off? Maybe a PO used Ajax or some other abrasive product on it. That would account for the rough surface.

It's probably been used (and cleaned) more often than the other shower, so the gelcoat is worn out. You may be able to clean it up (boating supply stores sell cleaners specifically for gelcoat on fiberglass boats) and give it a good coat of automotive wax. Another thought is the ventilation in this bathroom may not be as good as in the other bathroom, so the shower doesn't dry out fast enough.

My wife uses a combination of vinegar and dishwasher detergent and it gets our fiberglass shower clean and sparkly. But yes....the only real solution is a better one, which I am dreading to do.

The title confused me. I was gong to suggest keeping a gallon of GoJo and covering yourself before turning the water on.

The vent fan is identical and vents to the same location, but certainly it's used more often so both fans could be insufficient. It's a pretty tiny bathroom, though.

So re-gelcoating and wax, is that something that actually is done to showers?

N Sperlo wrote: The title confused me. I was gong to suggest keeping a gallon of GoJo and covering yourself before turning the water on.

No fair, you always imagine me that way. Weirdo.

Your shower is broken.

Replace it with this spaceship, I mean shower enclosure.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Steam-Shower-enclosure-with-Whirlpool-Tub-BLUETOOTH-AUDIO-6-Year-Warranty-/161372265094?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2592895a86

Whew....here I was thinking you were talking baby shower. I was gonna say "Damn, growing the tuna family again, huh?"

I'm not a shower expert, but it sounds like most of the repairs would be more of a temporary fix? From my experience with new homes (we're in the process of building our 4th), the basic builders grade stuff is only good for 10-15 years.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Your shower is broken. Replace it with this spaceship, I mean shower enclosure. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Steam-Shower-enclosure-with-Whirlpool-Tub-BLUETOOTH-AUDIO-6-Year-Warranty-/161372265094?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2592895a86

For that much money it had better wash my shiny happy person for me automated style

My brother freaked out when I said I had used Barkeeper's Friend on my shower, he suggested getting that KABOOM cleaner. Whatever. Really corny name.

So I bought a bottle at Wally World, guess what? It works pretty damn good. I bought both types, the liquid spray does the trick but the foamy stuff just sits there.

There are a lot of compaies that will recoat your shower for a lot less than replacing the whole unit. It's some sort of electrostatic process I don't even pretend to understand. Might be worth looking into.

It's really not that hard to put in a new fibreglass stall. The standard size ones in tract homes are pretty cheap to replace. I imagine that you could find the exact same shower stall you have now.

KyAllroad wrote: There are a lot of compaies that will recoat your shower for a lot less than replacing the whole unit. It's some sort of electrostatic process I don't even pretend to understand. Might be worth looking into.

Is that possible on plastic tubs, or just cast iron tubs?