| Can anyone tell me what to use to clean grout. I have porcelain tile floors in my kitchen and dining room, and the grouting is dirty and stained. I've tried different cleaners such as Pine Sol, bleach, etc., but nothing seems to really make the grouting look like new again. The grout was "sealed" when installed two years ago, but it didn't seem to protect it against everyday spills and dirt! Debbie from NJ | |
| Answers: | |
| Clorox Clean-up | 06/29/2005 |
| Spray on Clorox Clean-up, or make a similar bleach solution yourself. You can also consider dying the grout. | |
| By Anna | |
| Advice | 06/29/2005 |
| Part of the problem may be that you need to use a very stiff scrub brush in addition to the cleaner. I found a nice grout brush at Target for about $3 that worked wonders on my bathroom tile. Good stiff plastic bristles and it says "grout brush" on the label. I went up and down the rows of brushes and scraped them on my hand, looking for the one with the stiffest bristles. My sister in law had brown grout put in on her kitchen tile because she knew that the grout would eventually brown up, but then wished she hadn't as it looked perpetually dirty after day 1. A friend had new grout laid over the old grout and sealed, just 'cause she didn't like the browning effect of the original grout and then wasn't pleased because the second layer of grout dried orange, even though the sample was more beige. Sometimes that happens. | |
| By Holly (Guest Post) | |
| Stiff Tooth Brush | 06/30/2005 |
| Clean the grout with soft scrub cleaner and a stiff tooth brush, then reseal. | |
| By Danielle (Guest Post) | |
| Awesome | 06/30/2005 |
| Hydrogen peroxide works really well and a product called Awesome found at Dollar tree works really well. You do have to scrub though and then rinse. You can do the wipe up with a big rag mop. Mine isn't sealed. I have heard you have to do it every year. | |
| By suzi homemaker (Guest Post) | |
| Hydrogen Peroxide | 06/30/2005 |
| I have a house full of floor and wall tile, I often use hydrogen peroxide to clean up the grout lines. It will break down the dirt and then you can rinse the tile with water on a damp mop or rag. | |
| By patty | |
| Bar Keeper's Friend | 07/21/2005 |
| Try Bar Keeper's Friend. Go to barkeeperfriend.com It's sold at Bed Bath & Beyond. I've seen it off and on at Wal-mart. Some grocery stores carry it also. | |
| By Jennifer, CA (Guest Post) | |
| Coca Cola | 07/21/2005 |
| Tile grout can be cleaned with coca cola. Just pour it full strength on the tile grout and leave it for about 30 minutes or so (you can test it) and then use a tooth brush or scouring pad. I've tried this and it works. Just mop the floor when you're through and you're done. Have fun grouting! | |
| By peggygv (Guest Post) | |
| Toothpaste for Stains | 08/03/2005 |
| If you have white grout, and a stain that just won't come out, I've used a whitening toothpaste and scrubbed the spot with a toothbrush. Peroxide didn't work on a spaghetti sauce stain, but the toothpaste did. Go figure. | |
| By Gail (Guest Post) | |
| Grout Brush | 01/13/2006 |
| I have that nice grout brush from Target that another poster mentioned. It's worth the money because it is made specifically for that purpose, has nice stiff bristles and a nice sort of padded gripper handle. I think it would also work well for shower door tracks, altho I haven't used it yet for that. I tried a Magic Eraser on my dirty grout and it got it clean as could be; however you'd have to use too many of them, as they wear out quickly. Might work though on just a badly stained area. Also Clorox Clean Up works but I imagine just some straight bleach would do the trick. | |
| By Debbie Dzurilla |
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