How to Deep Clean Stainless Steel

I used to work for a lawn care business in Fernandina Beach Florida. One of my properties was “Beach Wood.” This is an apartment complex with three high risers, and with four floors each. On each floor there is a stainless steel elevator door. These doors started looking terrible and rusty.

Here is the list of tools I used. “Metal brite,” “sheila shine,” and rags. This job required a lot of rags to complete. For each door you need a couple rags to apply the “Metal Brite,” and you need a couple to apply the “Sheila Shine.”

I want to mention that the use of “Metal Brite” requires you to be in open air. “Metal Brite” is toxic, and it gets worse when applied to metal. When working with this chemical keep yourself ventilated. I was outside working with this stuff, and had to step away from my project. I also want to mention the use of gloves. It is a wise idea to have gloves on when working with chemicals.

The way I applied the “Metal Brite” was squirting it on the door. I then took my rag and spread it over the entire surface. Pressing hard I cleaned the surface of the door with other rags. I went through about three to four rags. Each rag coming out completely black with dirt.

Next I use clean rags and wipe the doors dry. The idea is to get up as much of the “Metal Brite” as possible. It will not come completely clean, and will leave you with a “Metal Brite” colored coating.

Without waiting I start using the “Sheila Shine.” I apply the sheila shine to my rag and start cleaning the door. This gets up even more dirt and “Metal Brite.” The result is a clean and polished door. You do not want to wait before polishing, because the “Metal Brite” stripped your door of all its protection.

The problem with sheila shine is the oily coating it leaves. This oily coating however is protecting your door from the elements. I like to use “Sheila Shine” after using “Metal Brite,” because of the oily protection. I agree that “Stainless Steel Magic” is the best for cleaning stainless, but I only want “Sheila Shine” after using “Metal Brite.”

The rags used with the “Metal Brite” became trash after this project. The “Sheila Shine” rags are cleanable, but the “Metal Brite” rags are too dirty and messed up. I lost about five rags per door. That is expensive when you start adding up the cost. I had to clean 12 doors, so that is about 60 rags trashed.

This is a task that should not have to be done regularly. I had to do this because of neglect. When keeping up with the doors on a daily basis using “Stainless Steel Magic” they should not have to be stripped with “Metal Brite”