A crucial skill to add to your cleaning arsenal, whether you’re tackling bathroom tiles, floor tiles or kitchen wall tiles, is knowing how to clean tile grout. Dirty grout is not only unhygienic and potentially bad for your health, but it can also ruin the appearance of a room, so it is important to make cleaning tiles part of your daily cleaning schedule.
Before you move on to washing tiles, clean the tile grout. The dirt from the grouting is likely to get to the tiles, so later you can scrub it all clean. Find out in this guide what you need to know about how to clean tile grout.
Understanding the Need to Clean Tile and Grout
Do you know those tiny black spots on your tile grout that keep appearing? This is mildew-and spores from it are released into the rest of the room very quickly. You don’t want to breathe them in, particularly if you already suffer from conditions such as asthma. And take it from us. So, learning how to clean tile grout is not just about caring about the looks of your bathroom or kitchen, it’s also about your wellbeing.
Cleaning With Bleach
If you use a heavier chemical cleaner to clean tile grout, such as bleach, always open the windows to reduce fumes and take care of the chemicals you use together. There are different methods of doing this. Then take an old toothbrush, dip it in and add it to the grout, and you can pour a little neat bleach into a cup. Or to make a paste equivalent to toothpaste consistency, you can mix bleach with some baking soda/bicarbonate of soda; add it to the grout, leave for 15 minutes, then take the brush to the grout and clean it away from the grime to work. Finally, rinse with a wet cloth or shower head and allow the grout to dry completely before deciding whether you need to do another run on it.
Grout Cleaner Prepared at Home
Are harsh chemicals not used instead? Simply combining baking soda and white vinegar in a bowl until thick paste forms is the best way to get tile grout looking as good as new using a homemade grout cleaner. Using an old toothbrush, work the paste between the tiles into the grouting. Leave the solution for 30 minutes to work its magic, then rinse off with clean water and wipe off any residue with a soft microfiber cloth. Repeat as needed if the grouting is not sparkling clean right away.
Cleaning Grout with the Help of Shower
It can be particularly difficult to clean grout in a shower, not least because it sees the greatest grime build-up. Until you begin to clean, run a hot shower with the door and windows closed for a few minutes. Then use one of the methods above but substitute the toothbrush for a thin, soft material like cotton wool or cotton buds to get the bleach or baking soda mixture into the grouting in the corners of the tub.
Grout Cleaning Through Grout Pen
If it always looks unsatisfactorily yellow or grey after you’ve washed your tile grout, take a grout pen to it the next best thing to hack the old grout and regrout. It’s not going to clean the tiles and it’s not going to last forever, but it’s going to brighten up the tile grout for a while. Typically, these pens have anti-fungal properties, so they will also prevent mould formation.
Hire a Professional Tile and Grout Cleaning
Daily skilled cleaning services are important for maintaining the health and look of your tiled surfaces. Not only does it work to preserve the appearance of your tiles, but it is important for you and your family to have a clean, sanitised and secure floor. Unfortunately the world does not have a domestic cleaning agent that can penetrate under the surface to treat grease, stains and decoloration. The best way to defend against the build-up of harmful bacteria and embedded debris such as mould is Professional Tile Cleaning. A sanitising process that combines high heat with high-pressure cleaning is the only way to prevent tile mould growth. The Truckmount system, which combines the latest technologies to sanitise and restore the health of your tiles, is proffered by Bestreviews Carpet and Tile Cleaning.