Don’t eat while you read this.
Seriously, don’t.
This is the story of removing the sliding shower doors from our bathroom — a small, overdue project that sat at the top of our to-do list for far too long.
The doors boxed the tub in and made the space feel heavy. They’d also seen better days, with rust lines along the frame that were impossible to ignore.
There were also generous globs of old caulk stubbornly sealing everything together.
The door height was oddly low too — John managed to bonk his head while climbing in, not once but twice. If anyone needs a reenactment, we have photographic evidence.
First step: swing the doors outward at the bottom so they could lift away from the top track. Once we did that the top frame came off easily, and then we expected to remove a few screws from each side frame to free them from the wall.
Then we remembered the caulk. Those thick beads had to be scored repeatedly before the frames would budge.
When the frames finally came off, they looked like they’d been iced over — but much less appetizing.
Warning: this next bit is gross. If you’re eating, you might want to pause.
We discovered a thick layer of scum sitting under the bottom frame of the tub. The frame wasn’t screwed in along that edge, so it lifted off to reveal three-dimensional mildew and general ick. I scraped it away with a flat razor — not glamorous, but necessary.
With the doors and frame removed, the tub instantly felt more open.
The screw holes where the frame had been attached were small, so one dab of silicone caulk in each hole sealed them up. Once we hung the shower curtain, those spots were even less noticeable.
Closer inspection revealed the bigger issue: degraded, missing and moldy caulk around the tub perimeter.
Many sections had no caulk at all, while others showed pink mildew or old rotted spots. We decided to remove all the old caulk and re-caulk the entire tub perimeter, down the sides and along the floor line. For removal we used a box cutter plus a plastic caulk removal tool we picked up at the hardware store — it has a razor in the V that slices and pulls the old sealant away.
The tool couldn’t reach everything along the bottom edge, so the box cutter came back into play. It was a slow process but oddly satisfying as the strip of old caulk accumulated.
Next we applied fresh silicone caulk formulated for tubs and showers. We prefer white over clear because it blends with the tub. To get a crisp line against the dark tile, we taped the top edge, applied the caulk, smoothed it with a finger, then removed the tape while the caulk was still wet.
Instant improvement.
After the caulk cured, we installed an extra-long shower curtain on a tension rod. The taller, fabric curtain immediately made the space feel lighter and more spacious — the ceiling-height curtain adds visual headroom and lets light through while still providing privacy.
Our 95″ waffle-weave curtain is 100% cotton and has held up well over the years; it’s machine-washable and pairs with a fabric liner to keep water contained inside the tub. Because shower curtains are standard sizes, they travel easily from house to house, unlike some custom curtains or blinds.
One small refresh — scraping away the grime, removing the old frame, re-caulking and hanging a new curtain — made a huge difference in how the bathroom looks and feels.
Looking ahead, the bathroom will eventually get more work: there’s tile damage around the toilet and sink and wear at the shower corners, and the wallpaper will likely go. Our longer-term plan is to expand the space into the adjacent sink nook to create a larger, single bathroom with a double sink instead of the current split layout. For now we’ll live with the tile — I actually like the blue hex tile — and take our time planning any major reno. Small improvements like this can buy clarity and time to decide on bigger changes.