Choosing the Best Grout Cleaner
When it comes to choosing the right grout cleaner for a particular room or situation there is one rule that is more important than any other is. You should always use the gentlest cleaner that will get the job done. If you can clean your tile grout with steam, why would you want to introduce harsh chemicals like bleach? Some people would say that the fewer chemicals we introduce into our home environment the better. The best grout cleaner is the mildest one that works.
With this rule in mind, you should always start a grout cleaning project by wiping down your grout with a wet cloth. The cloth and water will wash away the easiest contaminates like dust or other surface dirt. The next step would be to try steam cleaning. You can rent steam cleaners for grout that use a high pressure steam to penetrate deep into the grout and wash dirt to the surface. Then a high powered vacuum sucks all the water and dirt into a waste container. The process is easy and there are no chemicals to worry about. If steam does not do the trick, then you have to start using grout cleaning agents.
One of my favorite household items is vinegar. You can use vinegar to clean almost anything and a one to one mixture of vinegar and water makes an excellent grout cleaner. Do not be concerned about the vinegar smell. The smell dissipates very quickly and after you are finished, you cannot even tell you used it. Another common household item that can be used in grout cleaning is baking soda. A baking soda paste made with just a little bit of water left on the grout will do a lot of the cleaning for you. After you let the paste sit on the grout for twenty minutes or so, you can remove any stains and dirt with minimal scrubbing.
Over the counter cleaners like Mr. Clean, Lysol, or Comet would be the next step followed by professional strength grout cleaners. Make sure you follow the instructions on all products bought in a store or over the internet. Most of them require some amount of dilution. When you are buying grout cleaning supplies, look for cleaners that are pH balanced. If your grout cleaning agents are highly acidic or highly basic, they could have an adverse effect on your grout.
If nothing else works, then your last resort is chlorine or oxygen bleach. The bleach is tough on stains, but it can damage your grout or bleach the color out of it. It is important to test your grout cleaning solutions on a small spot before using it on a large area. If I had to choose between the two types of bleach, I would choose the oxygen based bleach because it is less toxic and does not require as much ventilation.
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