You’ve installed your beautiful tile floor and then it happens, the moment you’ve been dreading from the first well-placed tile. Your grout is getting dirty. Don’t panic, The Tile Plus Team is here to help. We’ve put together a handy list of ways to scrub that grout fresh again.
First things first, know thy enemy. If it’s your bathroom grout that’s getting grimy, it’s usually on account of mold or mildew. If it’s the kitchen, then it’s a combination of food particles, mildew and the foot traffic going through there.
Second, always start with the simplest cleaning solution first and then work your way to harsher chemicals if you’re unsuccessful. An easy cleaner can be made out of vinegar or baking soda. Use vinegar that has been diluted with an equal amount of water. For example, if you’ve used half a cup of vinegar, dump half a cup of water in there and spray the cleaner on a small length of grout to test it. If you’re using baking powder, then make a paste by mixing in a bit of water and dab the cleaner onto a sample section of grout. Scrub with a stiff brush, scrubbing in small circles, rather than sweeping motions will clean the grout more effectively. Rinse well with water and mop up the remaining moisture with a sponge or paper towels. Mr. Clean, Lysol or powder-based generic household cleaners can also work. Use them as directed for the vinegar or baking soda cleaners above and rinse the grout well after cleaning.
If your grout stains are still being persistent, like a large blemish on the face of your tile floor, up the ante by trying commercial tile and grout cleaner. You can purchase these wherever home cleaning products are sold. Try to find a product that is pH balanced so that the chemicals in the cleaners don’t erode or ruin your grout with continued use. When using these cleaners, spray it on and let it sit for a few minutes before scrubbing, unless the directions on the label say otherwise. Additionally, if you own or can get to a steam cleaner, try using it on your grout work. The pressure of the steam cleaner can dissolve stains that cleaners can't.
After all of this, if your grout still looks like decayed teeth, make like a dentist and bleach it. This is only for heavy duty stains, use products such as chlorine bleach, oxygen bleach powder or hydrogen peroxide. All of these cleaners must be well diluted before use! You may also find strong cleaners at hardware stores or janitorial supply outlets. When using ANY of these products, read the labels very carefully and follow the directions on them exactly. It’s only fun until someone loses an eyeball right? And you don’t want that person to be you.
Once you’ve got your grout clean, keep it looking fresh all year long by applying a coat or two of grout sealer. There are various types of sealers, available for different uses so make sure you buy the appropriate type for the grout you’re applying it to. Reapply the sealer annually or more often if needed.
Now that you’ve got your list of ways to get your grout fresh like a baby’s bottom, here are some general tips when cleaning up your grout. Safety for you and your grout.
- Never use bleach on colored grout, as it will discolor it.
- Use a stiff brush for scrubbing. Old toothbrushes are too soft, and any brush with metal bristles is to be avoided, they will wear the grout away and may scratch your tile.
- When working with chemicals, make sure the room is well-ventilated and use gloves and wear protective eyewear.
- Test your grout cleaner in a small area first to make sure it won’t damage the grout. This is especially important if your grout is old or damaged. Your test area should be in an inconspicuous area!
- Lastly, and very importantly. Never mix cleaners together as the resulting combination can cause toxic fumes or burn upon skin contact.
Now that you’ve been properly orientated to Grout Cleaning 101, get started! Throw yourself a nice party to celebrate when it’s sparkling and invite us!
-The Tile Plus Team
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Alright, it's been a while since we've added any blogs so I felt it reasonable to make this one a bit lengthier than the rest. Feel inclined (okay, okay, maybe not inclined but something close to that) to post a comment and add a rating to this blog.
So, everybody seems to know of the downward spiral of the economy. Dangerous inflation and fear of losing property doesn't make one's life any easier.
You know what happens with businesses too, with less funds you can't support as many staff so you have to let a few (and maybe more) of them go. This appears to be the correct or only "solution" to "save" money but try to think of what will happen when this economy picks up again. Your company will have made a recession and shrunk to a fetal state thus production becomes very minimal.
By the way, the economy will pick up again, just look at the Great Depression of the early 20th Century. Things were horrible with people living in the streets but somehow we managed to pick ourselves up.
Here's what Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2009 had to say, "The Great Depression saw rapid declines in the production and sale of goods and a sudden, severe rise in unemployment. Businesses and banks closed their doors, people lost their jobs, homes, and savings, and many depended on charity to survive. In 1933, at the worst point in the depression, more than 15 million Americans—one-quarter of the nation’s workforce—were unemployed." "The stock market crash announced the beginning of the Great Depression, but the deep economic problems of the 1920s had already converged a few months earlier to start the downward spiral. The credit of a large portion of the nation’s consumers had been exhausted, and they were spending much of their current income to pay for past, rather than new, purchases."
Here's a funny point which I think applies to the current economic state, it is also from Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2009. "It is a common misconception that the stock market crash of October 1929 was the cause of the Great Depression. The two events were closely related, but both were the results of deep problems in the modern economy that were building up through the “prosperity decade” of the 1920s." Now, what I think is the deep problem we will have to save for another blog or two but I think you get the idea.
The solution is to actually promote. Don't ever reduce the money you spend on promotion. In fact, promote even more. Promote as if your life depends on it and I suppose one facet of it does. This is your way out of the "dangerous economy", promote and when all of the economic gibberish has blown away you will be tenfold stronger than the competition. An analogy is of a person's body when they are sick, when the body is ill, you don't want to reduce your intake of good proteins, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals to substitute that with junk food and candies. No, you want to eat as healthy as you can, sleep plenty and get something productive done. I don't know how many times I have felt sickly only to complete something that has been sitting around waiting to be done with the end result of myself feeling much, much better.
I wanted to share one last quote with you which I found paralleled my analogy on the body and a business. This is also from Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2009, "The crash affected the economy the way exposure to cold affects the human body, lowering the body’s resistance to infectious agents that are already present. The crash reduced the ability of the economy to fight off the underlying sicknesses of unevenly distributed wealth, agricultural depression, and banking problems." The encyclopedia doesn't go into how promoting is like carrying a portable heater around with you. :>
Signing off,
Tile Plus
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"Great Depression in the United States," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2009
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2009 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
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