Yesterday, Chasity asked me what she could use to clean her grout in the house – most of us in Arizona have tile. I know I love having tile – because it’s easy to clean. If I was up North, I would hate tile because getting up in the morning to a cold floor is not cozy on my feet whatsoever.
The easiest & cheapest way to clean your grout is with something that most of us already have at home = baking soda. You can buy a box or two for just $1 – the brand type plays no weight in success or failure so the least expensive will / should be sufficient.
Simply mix 3 parts of baking soda to 1 part of water, and make a thick paste; glob it on your tile, and let it sit. I would recommend doing a bit at a time, so you’re not skipping over tiles as you walk around your kitchen.
Then, take an old toothbrush, and scrub scrub scrub…. (I always keep my old toothbrushes for this reason – they get a second life) – then rinse with water. If you have very light tile/grout like I do, you can even add a bit of lemon or bleach – but keep in mind that lemon and bleach are acidic so if you have travertine I’d stay clear.
Does anyone else have any suggestions for cleaning tile?
Sheryl, you’re right about baking soda but my light-colored grout was pretty dirty from walk patterns and I had a LOT to clean. So I bought a Wagner 905 steamer to use with the baking soda. Used the steamer to make a hot paste and then it has a brush attachment that is much tougher than a toothbrush so I could really scrub with the steam & baking soda. The combination did a great job but wore through about 3 of the little round brush attachments in our kitchen/dinette. After that I resealed the grout and am trying to keep it cleaner.
I used the baking soda one year, but I got tired of all the rinsing to remove the baking soda residue. Since I used it on my tile & grout. A bigger scrub brush with a handle (like a giant nail brush) worked better for my larger area. I’ve been using a tile cleaner from Home Depot/Lowe’s, but not the enviro-friendly stuff.
I used Zep grout cleaner from Home Depot/Lowe’s but definitely not enviro-friendly. I’m pretty sure it burned all my nose hairs and maybe my brain… but it worked really really well! You could see it bubbling up and getting the nasty’s out of my grout! Not something to do when the kids are around, that’s for sure!
You should all try the baking soda and mix it 3 parts baking soda and one part Borax. I think you will be amazed!