Removing sliding glass shower doors

One of my first projects at the new Tull house was to remove the glass shower doors in our hall bathroom. I have never liked how sliding glass shower doors look and they are impractical for many reasons. I do like the newer style frameless glass doors but those are not what I had here. My biggest concern is that they made things difficult for the kids. Our 9 year old struggled to open and close them. Our 3 year old hurt her feet getting into and out of the tub. And our 1 year old splashed water into the bottom track which made me cringe at the thought of how disgusting it was under there. So they had to go. I wish I had pictures of this process for you but didn't decide to write a blog until after I was mostly done with the project. Oops! Have I mentioned that my planning often leaves something to be desired?

The first step was to take down the sliders. It's best to stand inside the tub while doing this. On my doors, the inner door was attached at the bottom by two small screws and once these were off it was easy to lift the door off the upper lip and then tilt it out. The outer door was only hanging on that upper lip so it just lifted and tilted out. Once the doors are removed is when the actual work begins.

Most shower doors will be attached with either small screws or some sort of adhesive. In my case, the installer used a boatload of silicone which made things difficult. First you will need to remove the top of the door frame. For me, this meant using a sharp utility knife to slice through the silicone that attached this top bar. You will want to be careful not to scratch the finish on your tub and tub surround. Once you've sliced through the sealant, just shove the top rail up and off. I used the top of my hammer to push it up part way and then had to twist and turn it a little to get the silicone to let go.

The next step if to remove the two side rails. I needed to remove three screws from each side, slice through the silicone carefully, and then pull and twist. The bottom rail should be attached with just the sealant.

The next step is to remove all the sealant left on your tub and surround with a scraper or razor blade. My biggest problem with this project has been the fact that silicone is a tool of the devil and does NOT want to come off anything. Whoever installed my shower door used way too much and spread it really thin to disguise the excess, making it super hard to remove. I have scraped until my hands bled and googled solutions for hours. I tried using magic erasers which helped a little but after I had gone through two, I wasn't making any significant progress. My next step is to try using acetone and then WD40. If neither of those work then I might try a silicone removal product from the home improvement store. I'm hoping I don't have to go that far because it sounds like the products made to remove silicone will ruin my fiberglass tub. My tub is discolored and scratched up from the shower door and, I assume, the installer so this isn't the biggest concern I've ever had but I'd like to keep the damage to a minimum if possible.

Have you had any luck removing silicone? Anybody out there updating a bathroom? I'd love to hear any solutions you have for me.