Cleaning Dirty Ceramic Tile Grout From Your Bathroom Floor
Dear Eric Spurt: Our tile floor in our bathroom is a disaster to say the least. I must admit we probably don’t clean it as much as we should but who likes mopping anyway? It probably doesn’t help that we have two kids under the age of ten either who have a tendency of spilling things, if you know what I mean. The tile itself is relatively ok (just a little dull) but the grout stains is making our bathroom look old and dingy. What are some good products out there to combat this problem? Are there any permanent solutions to this dilemma? Please get back to me on this, the wife is driving me crazy with the complaining, all she seems to care about is what our friends will think….help! Perplexed Pete, Edmonton Ab.
Hey Pete, no worries my dear friend. Just take a deep breath and calm down, everything will be ok. Now lots of people have the same issue with their bathroom tiles as you do. The interesting thing about tile is that even with regular moping your tile can look unnecessarily dirty because of the grout lines. You see the problem is that while most bathroom tile is very durable and can last for a long time, the grout between the tiles is dreadfully porous and unfortunately will readily absorb spills and accumulative dirt over time. You know the rest of the story because you are living it; these grout stains quickly become permanent and can totally ruin the ambiance of your whole bathroom décor. So the solution is two fold, first you have to restore the grout to its original clean and then you have to protect it from any further staining.
There are a couple of different products on the market that you can use to clean your ceramic tile floors, a good one is oxygen bleach which is designed to clean and remove mold, mildew and dirt stains. This Old Grout & Stone and Tile & Grout Restorer by Maintenance Solutions are also products that you can use. Each of these solutions function as a tile floor cleaner that removes the unsightly signs of age and neglect, leaving you with a newer-looking bathroom floor. I would suggest using oxygen bleach just because it is more environmentally friendly than the others. For best results when using oxygen bleach is to let the liquid completely permeate the grout by letting it stand for about fifteen minutes to a half an hour, lightly scrub the surface to remove dislodged grime particles, rinse then reapply the oxygen bleach cleaning solution by fully flooding the tile floor surface and repeat the wait and scrub procedure until the grout has been restored to it former lustre.
Oxygen bleach normally comes in solid form and must be mixed with water to actively release oxygen for cleaning and bleaching out stains and dirt. Powdered bleaches are made by treating natural soda ash or natural borax with hydrogen peroxide. The greatest benefit of oxygen bleach is that you can get rid of stubborn dirt and organic stains without having to use toxic and hazardous materials like chlorine bleach. Oxygen bleaches are also color-safe and won’t bleach out your colored grout if you have any. And unlike many of the products out on the market that are sold as environmentally friendly cleaners that are not very effective at cleaning, oxygen bleaches really do work better for most organic stains than traditional bleaches or cleaners. Yes it may be true that Oxygen bleaching products can cost more to purchase than standard cleaning products but the results speak for themselves. Ask The Builder Stain Solver is a great product for your tile cleaning needs.
The downside to using oxygen bleach is that you first have to dissolve it with water and the second is that is sometimes takes longer than harsher chemicals to remove the stain. The good part is that it does a bang up job at removing mold and mildew stains and is pet and child safe, which brings us to part two of how to keep your ceramic tile floors looking just like new so you never have to get down on your hands and knees ever again.
And now for the finale Pete, so pay close attention because this will solve all future problems with discoloured grout in your bathroom. To keep your ceramic tile looking fresh, simply pour in some oxygen bleach in your mop water every time you clean your bathroom floor, this will solve your grout problem, not to mention your sanity from a nagging spouse. And don’t worry we know that you still love her. Have a great day.
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This is a really cool blog! I wish I had found it sooner. Keep up the good work.
September 1, 2009 at 2:51 am