The 3 Best Ways to Clean Your Tile Grout!
Background
Cleaning tile grout is a bit of a pain, honestly. It’s messy at best, and it is physically exhausting at worst! By its very nature, grout cleaning involves quite a lot of effort, for mediocre results sometimes! Thankfully, the internet provides us with an abundance of recommendations and even how-to-videos for keeping our environments clean.
The volume of info, however, can be overwhelming, and sometimes conflicting, When researching how to best clean an area or specialty surface, It can seem like you’re swimming through a deep sea of opinions.
So, If you’re looking to cut out the trial and error. And get straight to what actually works. I have three tried and true methods to share with you today and all three of them are actually super effective and pretty quick.
As a side note, I discovered in my research on grout cleaning, that most professionals recommend grout be cleaned monthly (along with your whole home monthly deep cleanings), and I need to laugh a bit here, because, how many people actually actually clean their whole homes weekly, as well as perform a whole home deep cleaning on a monthly basis? In my experience, the answer is that not many people do. As a cleaning specialist, and the owner of a professional residential cleaning business, we perform deep cleanings every three months for our regularly recurring clients, and we recommend grout be cleaned every six months.
What products were tested?
Three highly recommended and well-known methods for cleaning grout were tested:
The Pink Stuff, toilet cleaner (no bleach), and a homemade mixture of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda.
These top three recommendations were tested on a ceramic tile floor, with sealed (light colored) grout.
IMPORTANT: Before you jump in and start cleaning your own grout, please remember to read the labels of each product you’re considering, and correspond them with the surfaces that you’re using them on. Make sure that they are safe to use before applying them, to avoid damaging your surfaces.
The toilet cleaner I used did not contain bleach, and you should not use toilet cleaner with bleach on any grout—sealed, or not sealed. Especially avoid using it on any grout that will come in contact with food such as in the kitchen, on countertop grout, or around your stove or backsplash.
If you are looking for a chemical free way to clean grout, then, my suggestion is to use a handheld steamer, but, be cautious as it doesn’t work well on floors. The angle you need to clean floors makes it difficult to use there, and also it’s also a bit awkward and heavy.
Prep the surface to be cleaned
Prior to applying each solution to the grout lines, you must first remove any loose or stuck on debris. If cleaning floor tile grout, first sweep, then vacuum and mop the whole floor before cleaning the grout.
If cleaning tile that is on a countertop, in a shower, or on backsplash, first scrub the total area with a safe cleaner for your surfaces, and rinse then dry the areas thoroughly.
Grout Cleaning Tips!
You want to work in sections when grout cleaning. Apply your grout cleaning solution sparingly, and systematically, allowing it to dwell for 1-3, or the specific time recommended on the label of the product that you’re using.
Have everything nearby that your will need to complete the job. Including gloves, paper towels, microfiber cloths, a small scrub brush (you can even use a repurposed toothbrush), and a small glass of water to intermittently rinse the scrub brush off
Use the paper towles to wipe off the excess product as you clean the grout so that it doesn’t get re-deposited into the cleaned grout.
Don’t allow the product to dry before wiping or rinsing it.
Rinse, or damp wipe, the entire area when you’re finished.
The Verdict.
The Pink Stuff (Score 4/5)
The Pink Stuff is truly effective at cleaning grout as well as other cleaning tasks.
It is an easy to apply paste that is just the right consistency for cleaning grout on a vertical surface such as in a shower.
It’s thick enough so that it won’t drip downwards, and it will stay in place to do the work!
It effectively and completely removed the gunk off of the grout, and visibly started working upon application, and before I even started scrubbing.
I am giving it a 4/5 score only because it required the most amount of scrubbing among all three of the products I tested.
The Pink Stuff is not, however, safe to use on all surfaces, so you want to be sure to check if it’s safe to use on your surface, to avoid any damage!
Toilet Cleaner (Score 3/5)
Toilet cleaner is easy to apply to grout. However, it is also easy to over-apply the product, waisting money, and leaving you with a bigger mess to clean up after cleaning the grout, when compared with the other two products.
It’s thick enough to apply evenly—even on vertical surfaces—however, it does drip downward, leaving you with an accumulation of the product at the bottom of the area you’re cleaning.
The toilet cleaner was the fastest among the three tested, for removing the debris in the grout lines. In fact, it required only a gentle quick scrub to leave the grout sparkling clean!
I am giving it a 3/5 score because it is the harshest of the three products, chemically speaking; and, because you can’t safely use it on any surface that will come in contact with food.
Toilet cleaner is not, however, safe to use on all surfaces, so you want to be sure to check if it’s safe to use on your surface, to avoid any damage!
THE WINNER! Hydrogen Peroxide & Baking Soda (Score 5/5)
Peroxide and soda is mixed fresh, thus easily adjusted to a desired thickness. We suggest that youdo not pre- mix it if using it on a floor. Instead, buy peroxide that comes in a spray bottle, spray the grout line and then lightly sprinkle the baking soda over the wet peroxide.
The baking soda is easy to over apply. Use it sparingly so you’re not left with clumps of baking soda to clean up afterwards.
If you’re cleaning grout on a vertical surface, we suggest that you do mix the baking soda and peroxide—adding peroxide a little at a time, until you achieve a thick paste that is thin enough to spread easily.
You willl see this mixture do it’s magic almost immediately upon application! A very gently scrub and rinse is all you’ll need to achieve sparkling clean grout lines!
Peroxide & Soda received a perfect 5/5 score because it is the most effective, most adjustable (thickness-wise), least toxic, and the least expensive method for cleaning your tile grout! In addition, it was the easiest to apply and had the widest application possible of all three. Plus, you can safely use it on surfaces that will come in contact with food, just be sure to rinse after cleaning.
Peroxide is not, however, safe to use on all surfaces, so you want to be sure to check if it’s safe to use on your surface, to avoid any damage!
Happy Cleaning!