Underground Journal

How to Choose a Grout Cleaning Product

There are many different kinds of grout cleaning products out on the market today. Some are better than others are and some are just a waste of money. You need to be careful what you put on your tile grout. Sometimes, the extra strength industrial cleaners are just more than what you need. Not only will you be wasting your money of these expensive cleaners, you could be doing damage to different types of grout sealant or to the grout itself. Remember the most important rule about grout cleaning product decisions is that you should use the gentlest product that will get the job done.

When I first heard this rule, I got frustrated right away. In order to discover the least harsh product that worked you would have to start with the gentlest and keep cleaning your grout over and over again until you worked your way up to the cleaner that worked. That sounded like a lot more work then I wanted to put in. Why not just go for the gusto and use the most abrasive and harsh solution I could find. Then I would be sure the grout would get clean with only one cleaning session. However, I did a little research before I decided to go for it with the extra strength industrial grout cleaner. It turns out that those harsh chemicals can eat away at grout sealants and at grout. Even though you might have to do a couple of runs before you find the right cleaner, that extra work up front is well worth it when you consider the alternative is removing all the damaged grout and starting from scratch.

Some of the gentlest grout cleaning products are simple household items like vinegar and baking soda. After those, you can use regular bathroom and floor cleaner that you buy in the cleaning aisle at the grocery store. Next, you can move on to bleach products. If possible, use oxygen based bleach product rather than chlorine based bleach products. First, the chlorine products are more toxic and second they can damage grout. I find that oxygen bleach products are the right kind of cleaner for my use.

(0) Comments Permalink