How to clean grout

When grime, germs, dirt and mildew move into the grout between your tiles in the bathroom and kitchen, its the time to learn how to get rid of it properly before it causes real problems. This guide will help you when cleaning tiles and grout, and this method is highly effective when coupled with a commercial grout cleaner.

Cleaning the shower and tile grout is the first port of call. All work starts here. Most showers take up about 30% of the entire bathroom area so cleaning this part gets you a great deal of work already out of the way. When you begin, wet everything down by using a hose, bucket, cup or bottle. Use a paste made from baking soda, vinegar or store brought grout cleaner and a clean sponge to wipe down all the tiles until they are smooth to touch. Make sure the tiles are clean before you begin cleaning the grout.

The next step is to remove the dirt from the grout. Use your grout cleaner or home-made paste and apply it to the grout. Use a stiff bristled brush to make small circular cleaning motions as opposed to up and down as it is more effective. For small cracks and areas that are hard to reach, an old toothbrush is highly effective at maneuvering between the cracks.

To complete the procedure, finish off the entire bathroom and areas by making a solution of vinegar and water (one to one ratio). To begin with, clean all the fixtures that are metal in the bath, shower and basin. Next apply the solution to the glass surfaces or you can use a commercial glass cleaner which is just as, if not more effective. The next step is to wipe down the sink, floors and toilet all with a clean cloth, then use vinegar solution to disinfect everything. Once you've completed all of this wash the bathroom down with a bucket of water or a hose and then finally, pour a half cup of bleach or vinegar down the sink to break up any junk that may cause blockages in your drain and piping.

When faced with stains and dirt that just aren’t' coming off, it is best to use a harsh cleaning product like bleach or hydrogen peroxide to remove the stains and clean the grout. Commercial grout cleaners will often have these as ingredients but creating a more concentrated solution as per the guidelines on the back of the label will work more effectively.

The best way to clean grout is to find yourself a grout cleaner that works on your specific tiles and grout. Try and cycle through different brands and use different methods of cleaning until you find what works for you and your tiles. Not all methods are going to work for certain types of grout as the chemical composition is often different.

Good luck and I hope this information cuts down on your cleaning time. This method works great for me and the bathroom takes only 10 minutes to clean thoroughly.