3 Ways to Clean and Make Your Grout Look Awesome
- Mike Spence
- Aug 17, 2016
- 3 min read
Whether it's your kitchen and bathroom at home or the flooring at the property you manage, clean grout makes a big difference. After digging through all the home remedies, chemical cleaner reviews, and other tips and tricks, we have found the 3 Best ways to clean and make your grout look awesome.
1. CLEAN THE GROUT!
Here are three great methods for getting that grout clean!
A. Grout Cleaning Solutions
Products such as Zep Grout Cleaner and Whitener can be found at your local Home Depot or ordered online and for most it gets the job done. You simply pour some of the solution along the grout line, leave it for a couple of minutes, and gently scrub away the dirt and grime. Based on reviews and before & after pictures, this is a great option!
B. Homemade Solutions
Another way you could go is using a few unexpected household cleaners! These have good reviews and great results!
Clorox Toilet Cleaner: Leave on for 10-15 minutes, scrub with toothbrush, leave for five more minutes, and mop with water.
Resolve Carpet Cleaner: Leave on for 5-10 minutes, lightly scrub, and rinse.
1 part Dawn Dish soap & 2 parts Peroxide: Spray on grout, gently scrub, and rinse.
C. Natural Homemade Solutions
If you want to stay away from harsh chemicals and go the all natural route, try this lemon juice mixture!
The natural or homemade options include a bit more work and scrubbing, but this seemed to be a more cost-effective approach. These methods also worked for some and not for others so it may depend on your tile and grout.
2. PAINT OR RECOLOR YOUR GROUT
You can grab a bottle or two of Polyblend Grout Renew from Home Depot or Amazon and paint your existing grout!
Polyblend Grout Renew is a waterborne epoxy stain for renewing or changing the color of cement grout joints. Available in multiple colors it is sure to complement any tile or stone installation you may have.
Now, fair warning that repainting grout is a tedious work and, depending on how many tiles and grout flooring you want to do, could take quite a while. Also, you have to CLEAN your grout first, so following the tips in step one will still be necessary.
Recoloring your grout is a necessary next step if cleaning wasn't able to restore your tile floors to their original installation.
3. REPLACE YOUR GROUT
This option is a little more drastic, but if you're wanting to avoid scrubbing all of your grout or just want to change the grout color altogether try replacing your grout.
In a blog article from About.com, they explain that "Removing tile grout is remarkably easy, clean, and fast."
Although this is a task, which you may have been dreading for months or years, may take as little as an afternoon, depending on the size of the tile field.
While you can do this job manually, you make the job easier if you use or purchase an oscillating multi-tool.
If you are ready to take this chore on, you can read the step-by-step instructions we found here!
Once you have tile and grout floors that look brand new, we highly recommend you coat them! Coating clean grout makes it much easier to clean in the future and prevents having to do this all again.
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