DIY tip: Keeping tile and grout clean

The Homely Team
3 min read

Your tile floors were designed to last for years, but time takes its toll on your grout. Grout is porous, so stains and dirt can be trapped within it. This makes your whole floor look dirty. In tubs and showers, soap scum, mildew and mould can cause stains and may even pose health issues.

Regular methods of cleaning, like vacuuming and mopping, aren’t sufficient to keep tiles and grout clean. Cleaning your grout regularly is a tedious chore, but if you do it correctly, it will show longer-lasting results.

The Easy Way to Clean Tile and Grout

Before you seal tile and grout, the floor must be thoroughly cleaned. You can use eco-friendly choices like baking soda or white vinegar. Mix distilled water and vinegar or make your own paste with baking soda and water. It’s best to use distilled water, since it doesn’t contain chemicals or minerals that could further stain your grout. Soaps should not be used to clean floors. They leave sticky residues that attract dirt and dull your tiles.

Work your baking soda paste or vinegar solution into your grout using circular motions. Scrub the grout in a back and forth pattern. Rinse it with a clean mop and distilled water. If you have difficult stains, you can use distilled water with a little chlorine bleach in it. Be sure that you don’t use bleach on coloured grout, since it can fade the colour.

If you use bleach, be sure that you wear rubber gloves and protect your eyes. Bleach can stain clothes, too, so wear old clothes when you’re cleaning. Test your bleach mixture on a small tile and grout area before you use it on the whole room. You can use hydrogen peroxide rather than bleach, but don’t mix the two, or mix either one with other chemicals, to avoid toxic fumes.

Sealing Your Grout

After you clean your grout and tile, let it dry and then apply a tile and grout sealer. There are two main types of sealers, membrane and penetrating. Membrane sealers create a barrier that will protect your grout and tile. They will need to be reapplied every one to two years. Penetrating sealers are designed so that your grout will absorb them, and they need to be reapplied every one to three years.

 Ensuring your floors are clean before adding grout can be the best way to ensure your floors stay cleaner for longer.  Ensuring your floors are clean before adding grout can be the best way to ensure your floors stay cleaner for longer.

Steam Cleaning Your Grout

If you have ceramic tiles that have grout between them, you may want to consider steam cleaning for your grout. Your hands and exposed skin will not meet any oxidizing agents or chemicals if you steam clean.

Steam cleaning uses only high pressure and water. This can disinfect and restore surfaces that are dulled with biological stains. Many pathogens and allergens can also be eliminated, since steam cleaning creates high temperatures. You may rent a steam cleaner if you don’t use one often enough to make purchasing one an economical choice.

Read the instructions before you use any steam cleaner. They will indicate the safest and most effective ways to use the machine. This is true as well when using any product to clean your grout.

We have started a discussion on tricks and tips to keep tiles clean! Have a read and add your opinion here.

For more cleaning tips check out these seven cleaning hacks for the home and how to keep the post move clean to a minimum.

Happy house hunting!

From the Homely Team

The Homely Team
The Homely Team bring you the latest in Aus property ranging from tips on buying, selling, renting, investing, building, moving house, suburb information and agent advice, all from industry experts.

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10 comments

EJ

Amazing tips! I think most of the people did not know about grout cleaners.
Thanks for telling us about the importance of solvency. Keep sharing this post more and more.

The DIY is very well made, extremely informative and the directions are easy to follow.

SC

# Make an all-purpose Cleaning Spray
Our Professional end of lease cleaners recipe that will make nearly every surface gleam (especially kitchen counters, appliances, and inside the refrigerator).

What you need: baking soda, reusable spray bottle, sponge.
Combine 4 tablespoons baking soda and 1 quart warm water, and use it with a sponge to wipe messes away.

LR

Thank you! I started the process of cleaning all of our grout on our tile floors. I’m using the baking soda and peroxide combo and it’s working great! It’s a long process, but it’s rewarding to see the difference!

SW

Nice tips!!!!Knowledge is power.It is very nice an useful information for others. Big data has a lot of capacity to profit organizations in any kind of industry.Knowledge is power.Thank you so much for sharing this good information.

LW

Take a bucket
Add 3/4th portion of a cup of baking soda in the bucket
Then, add 1/4th portion of a cup of bleach in to that bucket
Mix it using a stick until its consistency becomes a paste-like
Apply this paste to your grout and let it be there for around 5-10 minutes based on the harshness of the dirt
Then, scrub brush the applied area of the grout
Lastly, rinse off the grout.
Source: http://tomstilegroutcleaning.com.au/4-methods-for-cleaning-your-tile-and-grout/

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