If you live in Scottsdale, you probably don’t need anyone to tell you that we have hard water. You can see the evidence on faucets, shower glass, fixtures and especially on tile and grout.
Unfortunately, your shower gets hit with it every single day. Water evaporates, minerals remain behind, soap and body products join the party, and before long a shower that once looked clean and bright can become cloudy, chalky and downright grimy.
Understanding what is actually accumulating on your shower surfaces is important, because Scottsdale hard water shower buildup isn’t always ordinary dirt, and ordinary household cleaning may not be enough to remove it.
What Does Hard Water Leave Behind?
Hard water contains dissolved minerals, primarily calcium and magnesium. While the water itself disappears down the drain or evaporates, some of those minerals can remain on the surfaces it touches.
In a shower, this happens over and over again. Eventually, those tiny deposits can become visible as a white or cloudy film on tile, grout, shower glass, faucets and fixtures.
If you have ever removed a showerhead or looked closely around a faucet and found a hard, crusty white deposit, you have seen what hard water can leave behind.
Then Soap Scum Gets Involved
Hard water is only part of the problem. Your shower is also exposed to soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, skin oils and other products every day.
Soap can react with minerals in hard water and contribute to the stubborn film commonly called soap scum. Instead of simply rinsing down the drain, that residue clings to shower surfaces and gradually becomes more noticeable.
This is why repeatedly wiping or scrubbing a shower doesn’t always produce the results you expect. You may be dealing with layers of mineral deposits, soap residue and body oils rather than loose surface dirt.
Grout Makes the Problem Even More Noticeable
Tile is usually relatively easy to wipe down because its surface is comparatively smooth. Grout is another story.
Traditional cement-based grout is porous and textured. That makes it much easier for contaminants to collect on and within the surface. In a constantly wet environment like a shower, grout can gradually become discolored even when the surrounding tile still looks reasonably clean.
Once buildup becomes established, normal shower cleaners and a quick scrub may do very little to improve its appearance.
Why Does My Shower Still Look Dirty After I Clean It?
This is one of the most frustrating parts of dealing with a shower affected by hard water. You can spend an hour scrubbing and still have cloudy tile, stained grout and spots on the shower glass.
The reason may be that what you are seeing isn’t simply dirt.
Mineral deposits can bond to surfaces. Soap scum can form stubborn layers. Grout can absorb contaminants below the immediate surface. In some cases, the tile itself may also have been damaged or etched by years of exposure to inappropriate cleaning products.
At that point, more scrubbing isn’t necessarily the answer.
Be Careful With Strong Acidic Cleaners
When homeowners encounter stubborn calcium deposits, the natural reaction is often to reach for increasingly aggressive cleaners.
That can be risky, particularly if your shower contains natural stone.
Acidic products can damage marble, travertine, limestone and other calcium-based natural stones. Instead of removing the cloudy appearance, the cleaner can etch the surface and leave it permanently dull.
Strong cleaners can also affect grout, sealers, metal fixtures and other materials in the shower. Before attacking stubborn buildup with a powerful chemical, it is important to know exactly what surfaces you have and what is causing the discoloration.
Professional Shower Cleaning Goes Beyond Scrubbing
A professional tile and grout cleaning isn’t simply somebody showing up with a bigger scrub brush.
The first step is identifying the tile or stone and determining what kind of buildup is present. The appropriate cleaning products and processes can then be selected for those particular surfaces.
Professional cleaning can address years of accumulated soap scum, grime and mineral-related buildup that ordinary household cleaning may leave behind. Grout can also be professionally cleaned and, when appropriate, sealed or color sealed to improve its appearance and make future maintenance easier.
Regular Maintenance Makes a Big Difference in Scottsdale
Because our hard water isn’t going anywhere, shower maintenance in Scottsdale is an ongoing battle.
The easiest buildup to deal with is the buildup that never gets a chance to become severe. Regular cleaning, removing excess water from shower surfaces and periodically having tile, grout and natural stone professionally cleaned can help prevent years of deposits from accumulating.
If you already have significant Scottsdale hard water shower buildup, however, there comes a point where spending another Saturday scrubbing the shower doesn’t make much sense.
Let Grout Nurse Take a Look at Your Shower
At Grout Nurse, we clean and restore showers throughout Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills and surrounding Arizona communities. We work with tile, grout and natural stone and can determine what is causing that cloudy, stained or dirty appearance.
Depending on the condition of your shower, we can professionally clean the tile and grout and recommend sealing, grout color sealing or other restoration services when appropriate.
If Scottsdale’s hard water has been winning the battle with your shower, give Grout Nurse a call. We’ll help get the buildup under control and make your shower much easier to live with.
