We get it, you’re worried about the threshold of your door. Besides, it doesn’t look pleasant either with white chalky substances built upon it.
As if that’s not enough, these white chalky substances can further damage your thresholds. Turns out, these substances are corrosion which can destroy the metal on your thresholds permanently.
How to clean aluminum door threshold?
Don’t fret. We’ve got your back. In this article, we’ll show you easy tricks on how you can clean the threshold on your aluminum doors. Not only are we going to show you the step-step process but also enlighten you on maintaining them.
Furthermore, there is also a FAQ session in the end where we’ve tried to clear some of the confusion that you might face. We’ve also compiled some bonus tips in the end so you don’t want to miss them out.
So, let’s start, shall we?
Why does Corrosion Build up in Aluminum Doors?
By now you should know that corrosion is your number one enemy as it can damage the thresholds of your doors. However, if you can identify ways of corrosion building on doors, you can tackle the situation.
You’ve always heard this saying that “Prevention is better than Cure”, haven’t you? Similar to this, knowing how corrosion builds upon doors help you deal with the situation.
Let’s look at the reasons:
- Due to excess friction of the doors.
- Exposing doors to damp weather.
- Weather causing repeated moisture on doors.
- Having water build-up on the thresholds.
- Germ build-up on doors.
7 Ways of Cleaning Aluminum Door Threshold
If you leave the corrosion as how it’s now, then it can cause problems in the future. And besides, it’s not like you’ll have to put in a lot of effort behind cleaning it. Follow some simple steps and that’ll do the trick.
Tools
The tools needed to clean thresholds are simple and easy to find. Moreover, they aren’t expensive and you won’t even have to purchase some of them. So, let’s look at the tools:
- Paint Brush
- Aluminum Cleaner
- Scrub Brush
- Towel
- Metal Polish
- Water
- Vacuum
After you’re done managing the tools for your job, it’s time to start cleaning. Let’s focus on the steps to do the job:
1. Use Paint Brush or Vacuum
At first, remove any dirt or germs in your threshold by using a paintbrush or a vacuum. As a result, you’ll remove any form of debris or dirt at the start. If there’s any paint and you want not to harm the painting, then clean up the dirt part only.
2. Spray the Aluminum Cleaner
Following step 1, you’ll have to spray in the aluminum cleaner in the area where the chalky substance has built up. At this time, wait for the product to set in the affected area. So, wait for 7-10 minutes.
3. Use Scrub Brush
After you wait for 7-10minutes, you’ll have to use a brush for the stubborn areas. Use the brush and start scrubbing those areas over the spots.
4. Wipe with a Paper Towel
Next, you need to wipe the aluminum cleaner product that you used before. Thus, use a paper towel to rinse the product. Following this, rinse the area with water.
Also, make sure you’ve removed every bit of product in your door.
5. Dry the Area using a Clean Towel
Use a clean towel, don’t go for the previous one that you’ve used. However, you can use paper cloths as an alternative too. Using the towel, dry the area gently.
6. Repeat the Process
If you’re not satisfied with how things have gone for your threshold, go for it again. However, make sure you don’t overdo things too much.
7. Finish with a Metal Polish
When you’re done following all the steps, it’s time to end the cleaning process with a metal polish.
Using a metal polish will make your aluminum door shine and look good as well. Moreover, it’ll also work as a protective layer for the future.
Bonus Tips
- Polish your thresholds in every 6 months to resist corrosion in the future.
- Even if corrosion didn’t attack your threshold, polish it to maintain a protective layer.
- Always clean your doors and don’t let germ or water build up in them.
- If your thresholds are too much damaged, then replace them for new ones as they don’t cost that much.
How to Maintain Aluminum Door Threshold?
Aluminum can resist corrosion naturally. However, if corrosion attacks your threshold once, it can cause damage really quickly. Besides, corrosion can damage your metals permanently as well.
Turns out, not only corrosion but even germs can also damage your threshold and create spots on them.
Now, you can either clean your affected doors or maintain them in advance. As a result, corrosion or germs can’t affect it either way.
How can you maintain your doors in advance?
Don’t worry, it’s easy. Many think that it’s a lot of work to maintain your aluminum door thresholds. But the truth is that it doesn’t take that much time.
In fact, maintaining your thresholds will make them last longer and make your house fresh. So, let’s look at how you can maintain them:
1. Choose a Day
You can consider cleaning your aluminum door threshold as another household chore. However, you don’t have to clean them regularly.
So, if you want, you can clean them every 2-3 weeks. And besides, the day won’t matter or how many times you’ve cleaned them won’t matter.
2. Use a Duster
You can use a duster to clean off every debris or dirt that builds upon the thresholds over time. Besides, it’s an easier step to remove dirt and it’ll also save your time.
3. Clean
You can use any spray from the local markets on this. Remember, you don’t need any fancy or expensive material behind cleaning your doors. So, you can use a normal cleaner and then wipe it off after you’ve used it on the threshold.
FAQs
Can I Use Vinegar to clean aluminum?
Yes, you can use White-vinegar and it’ll do the trick. However, you shouldn’t use any substance that is alkaline-based.
Will Vinegar damage aluminum?
Yes, if you leave the vinegar on aluminum and not clean it for a long time, it’ll damage it.
Can Coke clean aluminum?
Yes, coke has phosphoric acid which can clean aluminum.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article helped you understand how to clean aluminum door threshold.
To sum up, cleaning aluminum door thresholds is easy and you shouldn’t leave them as it is. This is because they’ll cause permanent damage later.
In this article, we’ve shown you exact ways on how you can clean thresholds and also maintain them. By doing this, you can prevent corrosion from happening in the future.
So, why don’t you give it a try?
Good Luck. Keep Cleaning.