Cleaning Floor Grout?

Marie Brack

July 8, 20120 found this helpful

I feel your pain. My late husband was such a spiller of coffee that I considered mopping the whole floor with coffee to make it at least consistent.

Kelvin Magee

April 1, 20130 found this helpful

I do professional floor cleaning for a living and the biggest mistake I find is people using homemade recipes. Yea I know it works, so people say but being in the business as long as I have I can see the damage to the tile & grout from using household products. Usually bleach, vinegar, pine -sol etc. Pro -long use can cause damage to the tile and grout. Even with the powerful equipment I have in some cases I have had to tell the client they will have to buy new flooring from using these products. Don't let this happen to you.

Answer to your question. If you cannot afford a professional. There are products at you local hardware chains that sell cleaners designed for cleaning tile and grout. Follow the directions and always test an area. If you get the results you need maintain your tile and grout with a neutral cleaner or just plain water. Good luck.

What does bleach and vinegar do to tile and grout?

Bleach is an acidic product that should not be used to clean ceramic tile floors. Bleach will break down the grout and also cause the colored cements in the grout to wear away. Bleach will literally bleach away the color in the grout. Eventually the grout will start to loose its deep rich colors and also cause your grout to look splotchy.

Vinegar is an acidic product that was never meant to be used to clean ceramic tile and grout. Prolonged use of vinegar will eat away at the grout and cause the grout to break down. Additionally vinegar is difficult to totally rinse away after using it to clean ceramic tile floors. A vinegar residue will start to accumulate inside of the grout that is extremely difficult to remove.