How do I clean the bottom of my walk-in tub or shower stall floor?

The bottom of an Ella walk-in tub is cleaned the same way as the rest of its acrylic shell: wipe it about twice a month with a non-abrasive cleaner and a soft towel, then rinse the cleaner away with the hand shower. The floor of an Ella shower stall takes a different tool, Soft Scrub worked in with a brush, because a cloth alone does not lift what settles there. The whole-tub routine, including the jets and the door seal, is in How do I clean a walk-in tub, including the floor and jets?, and this page gathers the floor-specific steps for both products in one place.

Why the Floor Gets Dirtier Than the Walls

Everything that goes into the water ends up on the lowest surface once the tub drains. Soap film, skin oils, bath product residue and hair all settle on the floor and in the footwell, which is why the bottom of a walk-in tub collects the most residue of any surface in the bath. A shower stall has the same problem for a different reason: water runs down the walls and carries buildup to the floor, where it dries between showers. That is why a stall floor can look dull or dirty while the walls above it still look bright, and why the floor is the one surface the care instructions single out for a brush.

The fix in both cases is the same idea. Clean the whole floor, not one spot, with the right cleaner and the right tool for the material, rinse thoroughly, and keep the things that cause the buildup out of the water in the first place.

Cleaning the Bottom of a Walk-In Tub

The shell, the seat and the floor of an Ella walk-in tub are one acrylic surface, so the floor is cleaned with the same products as the walls. The routine is short:

1. About twice a month, wipe the floor and the footwell with a non-abrasive cleaner and a soft, non-abrasive towel. Dawn dish detergent is one of the approved cleaners.
2. Give the floor a little more attention than the walls, because it is where the residue settles.
3. Run the hand shower over the floor afterward to rinse the cleaner away, then let it drain.

Abrasive cleansers will damage the surface of the tub, so scouring powders and gritty pads stay out of the bathroom entirely. Two habits keep the floor cleaner between wipe-downs. Skip bath bombs on a jetted tub, since their ingredients can damage the pump system and the residue clings to the floor and the jets; on a soaking tub, bath salts and oils simply rinse away with the drain. Catch hair before it reaches the drains with a silicone pop-up drain protector from a hardware store.

On a jetted tub, some of what lands on the floor comes out of the jet lines, so the monthly vinegar flush is part of keeping the floor clean as well. Fill the tub with water to one inch above the highest jets, combine 2 cups of white vinegar with 2 cups of water, add the mixture, run the tub for 10 minutes and drain. The same flush is done once after installation and before the first bath. A soaking tub with no jets skips the flush, which is why it is the easiest Ella tub to keep clean.

Cleaning a Shower Stall Floor

The stall manufacturer specifies the cleaning method, and the Ella support team passes it along: Soft Scrub applied with a cloth on the walls, and Soft Scrub worked in with a brush on the floor. When the floor looks worse than the walls, start there. Work the cleaner across the entire floor rather than one patch, rinse thoroughly, and let the floor dry completely before judging it in good light. A clean patch next to a dull one looks worse than an evenly cleaned floor, so coverage matters as much as effort. The Shower Floor Looks Dull or Dirty Compared to the Walls: How to Clean It explains what the team does if the floor still looks wrong afterward.

Hard water spotting on the stall is treated with Goo Gone or rubbing alcohol, followed by another rinse. Other cleaners are acceptable as long as they contain no ammonia, bleach or Clorox, because those products make the gloss dull. Check the label before trying anything new on the stall. If what you are seeing is surface scratching rather than staining, that is a different problem from a dirty floor, and cleaning will not change it.

The Glass and the Door Track at Floor Level

Two other surfaces sit at floor level in a shower, and each has its own rule. The 4-fold glass screen beside a walk-in tub is cleaned with warm soapy water and a lint-free cloth after use. Never use alcohol, petroleum liquids or chemical cleaners on the screen, and never anything gritty. That means the rubbing alcohol that is fine for hard water on a stall floor is not for the glass, so keep the two products apart. The screen's inward-angled rubber gasket brushes the tub deck and is the seal, as What Is the 4-Fold Shower Screen on a Walk-In Tub? describes, so wipe along it rather than scrubbing at it.

On a framed sliding shower door, the bottom track is a raised channel that collects water and soap film and benefits from regular wiping. The Primo frameless door has no track, only a low flexible gasket along the bottom edge with no channel to clean out. Does the Ella Shower Door Have a Bottom Track or Is It Trackless? shows how to tell which door you have by looking at the bottom edge of the glass.

Cleaners and Tools by Surface

The pattern across the table is that the material decides the method. The acrylic tub floor wants the gentlest approach, a soft towel and a mild cleaner, because abrasion damages it. The stall floor is the one place a brush is called for, and it also has a short list of chemicals that dull its gloss. The glass has the strictest list of all, ruling out even the alcohol that is approved for the stall. If you use one bottle for everything, the tub acrylic and the glass are the surfaces most likely to suffer.

If the Floor Still Looks Dull After Cleaning

A single close-up of a bad patch is hard to judge, so before you contact the team, clean the whole floor as described, treat any hard water spotting, rinse, and let it dry. Then take three photos: the entire floor, a close-up of the worst area, and a close-up of a good area for comparison. Open a ticket at ellasbubbles.com/support with the photos, your model and serial number, and a list of the cleaners that have been used on the surface. The team compares the full-floor view against the good area, and for a shower stall it may consult the stall manufacturer with those photos to determine whether anything can be done. Sending the cleaner history with your first message saves a round trip.

Related Guides

• How Do I Clean the Jet Lines on My Walk-In Tub?
• Which cleaners are safe for my walk-in tub, and which chemicals should I avoid?
• Black Flakes, Brown Slime, or Debris Coming From the Jets: Cleaning Steps That Work

Common Questions