How to Clean Acrylic Tubs

Acrylic is a plastic made specifically to emulate glass, and is often mistaken as such, especially when it comes to bathroom fixtures. While acrylic is less apt to shatter than glass, it can be easily damaged by harsh cleaners (particularly stuff with ammonia, like Windex) and scratched with rough treatment. Acrylic bathroom fixtures are not as hard as the steel or porcelain variety, but they are appealing because they eliminate the need for tile.

This isn't so much a "how to" as it is a "with what" article. In my wild, untamed youth, unbeknownst to me, I owned an acrylic, standalone shower. Like most bachelors, I let the cleaning go for as long as I could before I had to clean it. That is to say, the mildew, soap scum, and bacteria were waging total war with the fungus, insects, and small vermin I had living in there. I was young and brash, so I whipped out the abrasive, generic, all-purpose cleaner and sprayed the entire thing down. The cries of the dying still ring in my ears.

After letting it sit for an afternoon, I wiped the entire thing down . . . only to realize that the abrasive cleaner I had used had left the acrylic pitted and looking rather like the surface of the moon. Sure, it did kill the vast colonies of mutated fungus and intelligent bacteria, but my shower was irreparably damaged. I had to pay to replace it. I have since learned my lesson, and what comes next is from my own personal research and experience since the shower debacle.

Cleaning Acrylic Tubs

A question of frequency. As I mentioned in the anecdote above, the temptation is to leave your bathroom fixtures to seed as long as possible before you absolutely must clean them. When cleaning acrylic tubs and showers, this is not a good idea. The longer you wait, the harder you'll have to scrub your acrylic fixture, and the more likely you are to damage it. It's a good idea to keep these cleaning products on hand, which you probably already do once you see them. Cleaning your acrylic tub or shower once every few days will prevent nasty build up that can cause the unfortunate side effect of nastiness.

Gather your acrylic cleaning materials. The materials are so simple that you'll wish you'd thought of it yourself. I'll give you a hint: It's used to clean something else, it's gentle and non-abrasive, and it generally lives in the kitchen next to the sink. Give up? All you'll need is warm water, a soft cotton or microfiber washcloth, and gentle dish soap. That's right, our old friend dish soap. There are quite a few earth-friendly dish soaps out there, and almost all of them are gentle enough for this purpose. The sidebar at the right lists a few of your options.

Cleaning the acrylic. Rinse the acrylic in question with warm water to wash away any loose dirt, grit, and other by-products of being dirty. Apply a small amount of dish soap to a wet cloth and work it into the fabric. Begin to wipe the tub and/or shower surfaces. Continue in small, concentric circles until every inch of your bathroom fixture has been covered. In this case, slathering it on won't do you any good, it will just make rinsing harder.

Rinse the clean acrylic. Rinse off the dish soap with warm water. If you have a spray bottle, or a removable shower head, with which to spray, that would be best. Otherwise, rinse the cloth and use that to wipe the acrylic surfaces. Start at the top and move from side-to-side until you have rinsed away all the dish soap. Be as thorough as possible without being obsessive.

Proceed to dry the acrylic. This step is really only important if you have issues with hard water. Take a towel and rub down the entire wet area until it is completely dry. If you want a little extra shine, you can spray on an acetone-free glass cleaner. Remember to immediately wipe it off. I would recommend something natural, as it would be less likely to damage the acrylic. Seventh Generation makes an earth-friendly glass cleaner that would clean your acrylic tub and make it all shiny.

Lather, rinse, repeat. If you have particularly stubborn filth, repeat the process as many times as it takes to get that acrylic tub clean. For particularly stubborn areas, use a little dishwasher gel (1 part gel to 8 parts water) and scrub the area with your soft cloth until clean. Rinse well and dry the area. That said, Seventh Generation's Automatic Dishwasher Gel deserves a look. It's gentle enough to clean your acrylic tub, environmentally friendly, and a nice color scheme of white and green, with subtle hints of warmer hues.

Any Time is the Right Time for Cleaning Acrylic

As I mentioned above, acrylic fixtures need to be cleaned more often than their porcelain counterparts. That does not mean it has to be a big hassle. The more often you clean acrylic tubs and showers, the less likely it will need to be cleaned. So, give your tub or shower a quick cleaning after your morning or evening shower twice a week. It's already wet with, one assumes, warm water, all you have to do is wipe it down with dish soap, rinse, and dry. I did this very process this morning and it only took me five extra minutes than it normally does to get into and out of the shower. You telling me you can't spend five minutes, twice a week to take care of your acrylic and prevent a costly repair?