Grout on a tile floor never seems to stay clean for long. It gradually changes from its initial white color to a greyish hue. This is because it’s porous, so it absorbs moisture and becomes discolored as a result.
Because it tends to look grubby, it’s necessary to clean it semi-regularly.
Here is How to Clean Tile Floor & Grout Effectively
What Will You Need to Clean the Grout?
Get your supplies rounded up. Look to see if you’ll need to pick up something you don’t have at home.
You’ll need this list of supplies:
Hydrogen peroxide
Soap
Baking soda
Something to scrub with
A towel
A spoon
Access to hot water
The tool(s) to scrub with could be a scrubbing brush or even a toothbrush. We’d say that a scrubbing brush is effective to access most of the grout, even if you need to turn the brush partly on its edge to do so. An old, no longer used toothbrush might be useful for tight corners and tricky spots
Prepare Your Supplies
Heat some water in the kettle. Mix it with some colder water, so it’s not scolding but still hot enough.
Prepare a mixture of hot water, baking soda, and some hydrogen peroxide. If you have one available, use a spray bottle. If not, a jug of the mixture can be poured onto the grout and is fine too.
Getting Started
Clean the floor initially to remove any dirt or grime on the surface. Using soapy water and a mop is perfect for this task. Getting this out the way first makes it quicker to access the grout.
A towel or a sponge can be used to dry the floor ahead of applying the cleaning agent to the grout. Let the floor dry for a while.
Now apply the baking soda mixture to the grout. It will require a hard scrubbing action to sufficient agitate the grout without physically breaking it apart. You want to avoid damaging the solvents in and around the grout.
If the grout is particularly bad, then adding the baking soda with less water in it and leaving it for a while before scrubbing allows it to soak in more. This can be more effective.
Air out the room after the floor tiles have been cleaned. This will allow any mold spores to float away.
Additional Preventative Measures
To reduce the need to clean the grout, it’s possible to later add a secondary treatment to them.
The grout can be subsequently sprayed with a disinfecting mixture to help avoid mold from reappearing later.
The mixture is created with either tea tree oil or white vinegar combined with some water. Add this to a spray bottle and use it liberally on the tiles and in the grout area.
While using white vinegar is a great disinfectant, it won’t protect the tiles forever. So, you’ll still need to clean them to bring their whiteness back. It’ll just be less frequently required.
