Don’t eat while you read this.
Seriously, don’t.
This is the story of removing the sliding shower doors in our bathroom. It was one of those can’t-do-this-soon-enough tasks that was at the top of our list.
Not only did they enclose the tub in a way that a soft white fabric curtain wouldn’t, they had seen better days. So there were lines of rust around them…
… and pretty impressive amounts of caulk that seemed to be holding them together.
Plus their height was oddly low, so John hit his head (not once but twice) while climbing in. Fool him once, shame on the shower doors – fool him twice, shame on John. Here’s a good ol’ fashioned fully-clothed reenactment for you.
Apparently he likes those (exhibit A, exhibit B, exhibit C)
Anyway, the first scene to Get Those Dastardly Doors Down (the movie) involved swinging them out at the bottom so they could be lifted away from the track that held them in place at the top.
The top frame actually lifted right off after we did that, and then it came down to removing a few screws on each of the side frames to free them from the wall.
At least that’s what we thought. And then we remembered all that caulk. So we needed to score (and score and score) those wads of silicone to get those frames free.
When they came off it kind of looked like they were coated with icing. Except substantially less appetizing.
Here’s the gross part. WARNING. Stop eating. Or stop reading this entirely if you’re especially squeamish.
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*******
Second warning. Seriously, stop it with the pop tart. Put it down.
*****
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Last warning. There’s no button to un-see this.
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*
We then discovered this thick layer of scum that was living under the frame on the bottom of the tub, which wasn’t screwed in. So it just lifted off to reveal this tasty sight of 3D mildew and general nastiness. I used a flat razor to scrape the scum (check out my veiny hands – I think they bulge when I’m trying not to gag).
Then the tub looked like this, which is nice and open from afar.
Even the spots where the frame was screwed in were pretty small (so a dab of silicone caulk in each one sealed them off, and once we hung the shower curtain we knew they’d be obscured even more).
But if you got a little closer, the issue was the caulk around the tub.
Many areas were missing caulk completely, and some had pink-ish mildew or even old rotted brown spots (don’t even know what caused those) but one thing was clear: we needed to strip off the old caulk and re-caulk the entire perimeter of the tub and even down the sides and along the base at the floor. So we used a combination of a box cutter and this little plastic tool that we grabbed at Home Depot for a few bucks (it has a razor in the middle of the V to help slice while it pulls the caulk away from the wall).
That tool didn’t work along the bottom of the tub (couldn’t really grab the caulk there along the floor) so out came the box cutter again.
About an hour later (took a while, but it was pretty satisfying work) we had this caulk collection going on.
Then it was time to get some fresh stuff down. Be sure to use something silicone that’s meant for a tub/shower (we like the white colored stuff over clear caulk since it blends with the tub). Oh and we taped off the top edge so all we had to do was smooth it with our finger and then peel off the tape while it was still wet for a nice clean line against that dark tile.
Much better, eh?
Then after it all dried we hung our extra long shower curtain with a tension rod from Home Depot and it finally felt clean and airy. The to-the-ceiling-height always adds some nice “head-room” so it feels a lot less cramped to us (and it’s never dark in there since light passes through white fabric really easily).
Our 95″ waffle weave curtain originally came from amazon (but we hear target.com occasionally sells them too). We got it years ago at our first house and it has held up nicely since it’s 100% cotton and can be tossed in the wash (we have an extra long white fabric liner from Bed Bath & Beyond that hangs on the inside of the tub to block spray). As for why it came with us, shower curtains don’t stay like regular curtains when a house sells down here – probably because they can be pretty decor-specific and are universal in size – so they work in your next house in a way that certain height curtains or certain width blinds wouldn’t.
One thing’s for sure: a little caulk and a new curtain can definitely made a big difference.
As for the fate of this bathroom, there’s some tile damage around the toilet and sink as well as at the top corners of the shower and of course that wallpaper’s days are numbered, but we plan to live with the tile for a while and then eventually expand the bathroom’s footprint into the sink nook area so we have one big space instead of two smaller choppy ones (having one sink in the bathroom and one right outside of it instead of one big bathroom with a double sink just isn’t our preference). This post with a floor plan might help you visualize things.
So it should be fun to reconfigure this room down the line and retile/add a double sink/etc. But we like living with a space for a nice long time before doing dramatic reno (who knows, we might completely change our mind and go a different direction after thinking it through). In the meantime, I sort of love the blue hex tile, so we’re going steady for now. I’d insert some joke about how it sees me naked all the time, but my mom might text me about it (yes, she texts now, which is hilarious and awesome).
Shandy W says
It’s amazing how that small edit can make such a big difference. Looks great!
And I actually love that hex tile. Once that wallpaper is gone (I’d probably replace it with wainscoting of some sort) that bathroom will be really pretty!
jen says
This is perfect timing and what I’m going to call a sign. The hubs and I were just talking about moving our bathroom renovation to the top of the list. Our bathroom is truly horrendous, I mean we’re talking about 4 different types of tile all with different shades of powder blue, paneling on the top half of the wall, blue bathtub, toilet, and sink and what I guess can be called a wet room where you have to walk through the shower to get through to the tub.. We’ve been putting it off because it’s just too much to process. And we are still newbies when it comes to DIY.So thank you for the inspiration to finally tackle this big project.
Do you by chance have any advice on tile selection?
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck Jen! You show that bathroom who’s boss. As for tile selection, I’d go to a few places (big box store, specialty store like The Tile Shop, and even look online). That should help you see a lot of stuff before settling (you never want to pick one out of ten options, you want to pick from 50+ options whenever you can, just to lessen the likelihood of we-rushed-it regret down the line).
xo
s
Lesley says
I was totally prepared for the “scudge” (looks like scum, is the pasty,crispy around the edges consistency of fudge – sorry if anyone is reading this over lunch) under those doors; our doors were this weird plastic bi-fold action, that had yellowed over time, with no upper track so they always sagged. They were so bad that the previous owner hung a shower curtain on the outside to cover them. It was a glorious day when we took them off and replaced the shower curtain… I could actually feel completely clean when I came out of the shower from then on.
jenna says
I think I exhaled a sigh of relief over the pictures that showed all that caulk being removed! So satisfying. I heartily applaud this post as I despise shower doors. I’m also glad to see that their removal, while a bit harrowing, is possible. If I ever buy a house with the dreaded doors, I’ll be back to reference this post :)
Kristen @ LoveK Blog says
Gosh that grime was GROSS! I bet it was so satisfying once it was all cleaned up. Nice job!
Sarah says
Well, here is the embarrassing part….I put up that same wallpaper in a house we sold and moved from in 1988! Yipes! That is definitely a case of, “What was I thinking”?
Good work in the bathroom!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey it’s still alive and well here, so maybe it’s living in your old house too!
xo
s
Lisa says
This is an awesome post! Such a little thing that makes a HUGE difference! We had the same kind of frame/doors on our top in our rental, which is only a bath and a half. So, bathtime for out toddler was a nightmare, leaning over the metal tracking. We took ours down too but made sure the tracking stayed intact in case our landlord prefers we put them back up upon moving out (can’t imagine that they would!). It was also a gross job but so worth it. Can’t wait to see the ongoing transformation. I come running to your blog every day to see what you guys have been up to. Can’t wait until we buy our first home and can put more of what you’ve learned into practice.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Lisa!
xo
s
Kathryn C. says
Were you worried the razor was going to scratch the tub? I removed the shower doors but still have a lot of the silicon globs that I can’t remove. I was scared to use something too sharp.
YoungHouseLove says
I was worried, but I tried to just use it to cut the scum (working it the same way you would on a window, so you’re not digging into it, you’re sort of grazing over the surface). I think if your tub was reglazed it would completely ruin it (scrape off the glaze) but since ours was original and not painted, it seemed to work well.
xo
s
Kate says
Lookin’ good….
but OH BOY, this post really seals the deal that this house has a lot to keep y’all busy! Is that wall paper? Yikes!!! So much happening in that bathroom!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, we should be busy with wallpaper and blue trim for the next year or so…
xo
s
Erica says
Oh wow – so much better! I have been wanting to do that in our master bath since we moved in three years ago.
I grew up with shower doors/and tracks and those things are not only a pain to clean and clean around. You never really can get it all.
My husband grew up in a home that always had shower curtains and wants to keep them in spite of the fact that he bumps his head on the track frame nearly every time he gets in or out of the shower.
I kept thinking the novelty of the doors would be lost after so many bumps to the head – pride goeth before the fall I guess! LOL
This just inspires me to go ahead and do it once and for all and enjoy the change!
Tina says
I love love love that tile in that bathroom!!!
Thank you for this post! Our bath tub is in similar shape. Now I have tips on what to do! :)
Jennifer says
Those shower doors are always one of the fist things to go when we buy a house! Makes such a big difference. I kind of love the honeycomb shaped tile on the floor. If only it wasn’t “cornflower blue.” Maybe there is another color that can go with it in make it modern though? Excited to see what you do with it!
Gi says
I realize I couldn’t have picked a more awkward time to say this, but…thank you guys so much for your constant inspiration and professionalism. I am so happy for you and your new home. Excited to see what tricks you have up your sleeve this go round, woot!!
(I blame female hormones for this unsolicited bout of nostalgia/gratitude.)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Gi! You’re sweet.
xo
s
Lindsay says
We went through this exact scenario in our master bathroom. So gross. Scraping old caulk is satisfying though isn’t it?? DIYers have issues haha.
Nancy Pants says
Sliding doors are so so gross! Mine are HORRIBLE. They collect nasty mold like a petri dish and don’t even stay on the track! You have no idea how badly I want to do this to the apartment I’m currently in. The sliding doors are horrendous. If I weren’t moving (to my first home….yay!) next month, I’d be doing just what you did.
Out of curiosity, are you going to up-cycle them, give them away for free or just trash them?
YoungHouseLove says
We want to donate them to the Habitat For Humanity ReStore (assuming they take them) – just feels better than putting them in a landfill, and who knows, someone might be looking for this type of door and bleach it all down and make it clean again.
xo
s
Claire says
Can’t believe it never occurred to me to remove the dreadful shower doors in my kids’ bathroom…
Following up on the donation/up-cycle question: would one donate the frame/tracks as well? I love to keep things out of the landfill if possible, but can’t figure out if that part would be valuable to someone else (or too damaged from the removal process or too gross from the Grossness That Shall Not Be Named).
(And no bears/British Columbia ads to be seen lately either–yea hooray!)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes donate the whole thing and someone will hopefully bleach them all if they have a use for them.
xo,
s
Barbara says
I have always thought shower/bath doors were yucky. How anyone could prefer that look over a nice curtain is beyond me. And I was expecting something really gross – that picture was so tame. You have weak stomachs!
Elizabeth says
First off- how did you know I was eating a PopTart? *nervously looks over shoulder…* Second, the painters tape before caulking is such a “duh” step that has never crossed my mind before. Thanks for pointing out the simple solutions! Lastly, that wallpaper is special. Truly, it is. When you take it down, you should save a square of it and possibly frame it (I’m not kidding) to pay homage to the past; it does actually have some fun colors in there!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, there were quite a few pop tarts this morning. Proud of you guys.
xo
s
Laura says
This was one of the first jobs in our house too! I just HATE shower doors, I don’t even like the idea of accidentally brushing against it while showering. Ours looked just like that when we took the doors/frame off. Much scraping/scrubbing/re-caulking later, it was good as new! (Well, for a 40+ year old house!)
Emily says
I love the transformation! It really helps the bathroom. We did a bathroom makeover recently and really are enjoying the results. We are thinking of maybe redoing our other bathroom in the future but it would be a bigger undertaking!
http://lovepastatoolbelt.com/?p=399
Julia @ Cuckoo4Design says
I was able to eat through it LOL! So much better now and I kind of like the blue floor tile!
Christina says
Wow, this looks so familiar! My fiance and I did the exact same thing to our 60’s-era bathroom last month and our doors/caulk/scum was just as bad. It turns out removing 40+ years of caulking (they also just kept layering it over the years) takes FOREVER! It’s really amazing how big of a change a little new caulk can make!
Ann says
This may sound disturbed, but I was totally expecting a box cutter injury and blood everywhere. Or a scum-loving maggot infestation. I just grossed myself out far more than the picture did. :P
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Heather @ Barefoot Crafts says
I’m having flashbacks. The horrorrrr:
http://barefootcrafts.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/shield-your-eyes-the-befores/
http://barefootcrafts.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/bathroom-progress/
YoungHouseLove says
Nice! You got a ton done in there! Congrats Heather.
xo
s
Abby says
I just did this yesterday but was stumped on how to remove the gunk left on the tub. Just a flat razor is all? It didn’t scratch the tub? And caulk for the screw holes? We are new at this!
YoungHouseLove says
If your tub is reglazed (professionally painted, perhaps because it was pink in a past life) you won’t want to use a razor (it’ll kill it and make it peel) but if it’s solid (like a white ceramic tube) you can gently rub the razor over it, just sort of grazing it to get the gunk off. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Shannon says
My roommate and I JUST did this to our nasty old tub doors last week! It was just as disgusting, but it made it seem like we had a brand new bathtub. Buying a fresh new curtain and liner made the whole bathroom seem brand new too!
Rachel Snipes says
I just wanted to throw another vote of support in for the hex tile – I sort of love them. :-)
Also, last week I bought an extra-long linen shower curtain for our new bathroom inspired by you guys! Yay!
Sarah J. says
yeah! love that tile! I agree to just live with it and plan carefully. and in the mean time, I say, play up the funky tile and have fun with it! :)
Melody says
I was the one who told you Target.com have that shower curtain. Sadly though when I ordered it from them, it didn’t come as pictured on their site (the one you have). They just sent that InterDesign fake waffle nylony shiny one that Amazon sells as well. So I returned it. Most likely they just hadn’t updated their site but no longer sell it either :( Still looking..
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no that stinks!
xo
s
KathyG says
Yeah that nice one is hard to find! I got one, but subsequent ones have been that fake stuff. I’m guessing InterDesign changed their design?
Jennifer I says
We just redid our bathroom and installed a glass shower door. Never thought it would be a bad idea. No issues with it being clean, but I guess over time, that is what happens…and it was professionally installed, and is a good quality one, so maybe it will be fine.
We had missing caulk around our tub in the other bathroom, and in that spot, the wall board had rotted away because the water was able to get at it…fyi for when you get to tiling, you may need to strip it all the way down to the studs. We didn’t, figured it was just the bottom.
noelle says
I would love to see you guys redo this bathroom using the existing blue tiles, then see it totally changd and remodeled. Seeing your low cost updates is my favorite thing about your blog! I for one don’t have the vision on how to make stuff like blue tiles work but if anyone can do it, you guys can. And I’m happy reading all about it. :)
Jane B. says
First of all, thanks for the warning. I put my bagel down before I started to read the post.
Now – you REALLY were reading my mind. I was staring at my own shower glass door this past weekend and thinking ‘can I tackle this on my own’? It makes the space seems smaller and so much harder to clean!
So my thought ‘the Petersik might have some info on that’. I visited your website and ‘voilá’! Thank you! It’s going to be my next weekend project!
Jane B. says
And hopefully without any unpleasant surprise underneath…
Julianne says
It’s amazing what a difference just removing the doors and freshening up the caulking can do! Fantastic update for an hour’s work & bet it feels 10x nicer just freshening up in there in the morning! :O)
Sheila says
We have the same horrible doors on our shower, too! I’ve wanted to remove them ever since we moved in 3 years ago, but alas we’re renters so we just have to live with it. It’s sooo hard to bathe our 3 kids with those doors in the way! Nice job removing yours – I’m dreaming of a nice, soft, push-it-out-of-the-way curtain in our next home…
Melissa @ ReThreads Charlottesville says
Funny thing is, I was eating (a PBJ sandwich) when I started to read this post, and I put it down as per your instruction. That moldy/caulky stuff was nasty! Good for you for tackling it and getting it looking all clean again!
Nicole says
You have such a great sense of humor. Love reading your posts!
jeannette says
i’ve always thought fixed shower doors and kitchen cabinets, both, were filth catchers.
sorry you had to do that but i can imagine the skeeved-out factor will go way down with the pretty, fresh, permeable and washable shower curtain.
thanks for (eeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrgh) sharing.
xxx
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
It’s amazing the difference little things can make. I just picked up the white waffle shower curtain at Target last week. We have a small nook shower, so I just folded the curtain in half to block spray better. I’m also super excited about being able to just throw it in the wash, and bleach, when needed.
Amelia says
That blue hexagon tile slays me. That is some seriousness that I would like a to get a hold of and slather all over the floors of my house. Seriously.
Aside from that, you showed that moldy caulk who’s boss! Thumbs way up!
Kathy Z says
We took our master bath shower doors down recently, too. They didn’t look rusty, but the underneath was just as gross. It’s nice to know that it’s not just ours. :)
Lindsay L says
Hey! I just saw you guys in HGTV magazine at my mom’s house! Funny! I think you guys are pretty cool with the career you have made for yourself! Pretty impressive and awesome! Way to become famous and be so inspiring to so many people! Love reading your blog, your book and randomly seeing you in magazines!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Lindsay! That big spread made us all clammy! We thought it was just going to be a little article…
xo
s
Valentina says
People should never install shower doors onto bathtub edges. Ever.
Jules says
This has been on my To-Do-List for my guest bath but hasn’t been high priority since I wasn’t ready for guests until last weekend. Now that sucker is top of the list and since ye old HD is 2 mins down the street, I’m gonna get this done this week! Thanks for the tips Petersik’s.
Kate says
Haha. Thanks for the warning. I literally got my sandwich out at my desk and pulled up YHL for my lunch time distraction only to find your warning. I thank you very much! Also, let me guess what the favorite color of the former owners of your house was…could it be BLUE? So much blue in that house!
YoungHouseLove says
I think you’re onto something. We have officially nicknamed the house Blue Crush. John can’t say it without rolling his eyes though. Men!
xo
s
Kim says
Haha my dad calls my house 50 shades of blue because it’s my favorite color and it’s pretty much everywhere (with a lot of neutrals mixed in!).
Marlena says
That wasn’t bad! I thought it was going to be maggots or something streaming out when you pulled back the frame. Ack!
Leah says
This seems to be one of those “little” projects that just makes a world of difference in both appearance and general comfort!
Emma says
This post reminded my of a caulking tip that I saw on This Old House, they said to fill the tub with water and then to caulk. Apparently, this helps weigh the tub down and prevent the caulk from cracking if the tub goes down a little under the weight of water. They said it was especially helpful with none cast iron tubs.
Love the progress your making!
YoungHouseLove says
Just heard that tip today in the comments. So smart!
xo
s
Laura says
Thanks for this post; we’ve got one of these bad boys in our house, and I’ve been itching to take care of it. It comes with a plastic tub insert that has holes and “eau de molde” also, so it’s going to be a big job…
Kristi @ Addicted 2 Decorating says
I just did this exact same thing last week — removed a really old and gross door from a shower in a tiny bathroom in my condo. And yes…35 years of gunk under that frame was almost more than I could handle. But it’s gone, it’s clean now, and it looks so much better!
Laura & the Shell says
I’m kind of loving that blue hex tile! And oh man, the glass doors will not be missed! We had the exact situation in our house when we moved it and removing those doors was the quickest, most satisfying upgrade! :)
Emily B. says
The previous owners must have really loved blue. The hex tile is kind of cool, but blue trim, tile, doors and more…holy cow. I would go nutty! I am really looking forward to seeing all the improvements you two make!