How do I repair my shower base?

[gracerusso]

Hi, 

My shower base is stained and I cannot get the stains off no matter how much scrubbing! 

If I replace the base, i will damage the tiles, so I'm looking for a solution to freshen up the shower base without damaging anything else.

I called a few bathroom repair places, but they don't do shower bases, so it looks like i'm going to have to do this myself. 

How can I do this with minimal cost and skill. 

[EricL]

Hello @gracerusso

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's fabulous to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about your shower tray.

Before we begin, we'll need to know if you have an acrylic or ceramic metal shower tray. I suggest getting a magnet and testing it on your tray to see if it sticks. If the magnet sticks, it is a metal tray and I suggest using White Knight 500ml White Tub And Basin Paint to revamp the entire tray. However, before you get started, I suggest trying Gumption Paste 750g Multipurpose Cleaner, CLR 750ml Bathroom And Kitchen Cleaner and Selleys 750ml Rapid Mould Killer Remover one at a time in combination with Scotch-Brite 155 x 100mm Heavy Duty Scourer Pad - 6 Pack to see if you can clean the tray. I suggest having a quick look at this discussion - Painting a shower base by @Max1

If you have an acrylic tray, I still suggest testing those cleaners I recommended. But if the stains remain and your not making any progress, I'm afraid I can only recommend replacing the shower tray. Due to the acrylic tray's nature of flexing when temperatures change the Tub and Basin Paint won't work on the tray.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[MikeTNZ]

Hi @gracerusso,

Welcome to Bunnings Workshop and thanks for asking here for advice!.

There are two ways you could do a job like this, the first being, get some chlorine powder from a Dairy chemicals provider, you may need to ring around or do a Google search in you area (this stuff is called XY-12), it is not dangerous as long as you follow the instructions.

Wet the shower floor and sprinkle the powder all over the floor, you will need a mask, gloves and safety glasses to do this.

After an hour or so, wash off the chemicals with cold water and see the result.

Secondly, you could try using a pressure washer with a 15-25° nozzle to remove the staining.

Let us know how you get on with this, I've worked in Dairy sheds where they have this same issue and the XY-12 treatment has always taken this water scum off.

Cheers,

Mike T.