Shower tray
Where everything that ran down the walls collects, in a material that is usually acrylic, from which abrasive cleansers are excluded.
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What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
Made from
What tends to go wrong
A hard, chalky calcium carbonate deposit left by hard water. Dissolved by acids, essentially untouched by detergents.
Why it is difficult: Water hardness, Crystallisation, Adhesion and cohesion
A living growth, not a stain. Killing it and removing the staining are two separate jobs, and neither addresses the moisture that caused it.
Why it is difficult: Porous and non-porous surfaces, Moisture control and recurrence, Cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting, Organic load, Surface roughness
- Soap scum· no established method
Not scale and not dirt: a metal soap formed when hard water meets true soap. It is the reason a shower screen films over in one house and not another.
Why it is difficult: Insoluble metal soaps, Water hardness, Evaporative deposition, Adhesion and cohesion, Why different surfaces get different dirt
Part of Shower.
In detail
A shower tray receives the soap, the skin oils, the shampoo and the hard-water minerals that ran off everything above it, and it holds them in a textured, non-slip surface designed to be hard to wipe. The material is normally acrylic or an enamelled metal, and one sanitaryware maker excludes abrasive cleansers from acrylic and steel wool and abrasive pads from enamelled cast iron. The deposit is part soap scum and part mineral film. The textured floor needs a soft brush rather than a cloth, because a flat wipe rides over the pattern. Two structural points matter more than the cleaning. The waste trap collects hair and is the usual cause of slow drainage and smell, and the sealant joint at the tray edge is where mould establishes and where water gets underneath if it fails.
Related
- Shower tray is made from Acrylic
- Shower tray is commonly affected by Soap scum
- Shower tray is commonly affected by Limescale
- Shower tray is commonly affected by Mould
Hacks and claims involving this
- One spray for the whole bathroom Does not work
Sources for this page
Sources
Care & Cleaning: Toilets or Lavatories Made of Vitreous China
STERLING (Kohler Co.) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That soft abrasive cleaners may be used on vitreous china while strong abrasive cleaners scratch and dull it. (states this directly)