How do you clean grout?

[Tarheel Heather]

Is there anything special? I'm cleaning the house before we move in and it has tiled floors in the kitchen. The grout is light and you can really see the dirt. I would just dump bleach on the floor, but wanted to see if there were other options.

Thanks!

[3littlekeets]

With repeated use, bleach can destroy the grout. Ours were hideous. They looked like black grout lines, and cleaned they were light tan--- ewww.

I followed a local tile person's recommendation of Aquamix Grout Cleaner and then sealed with Aquamix Sealer. The cleaner was applied with a rough brush and scrubbing. The sealer with a small foam paintbrush. It's been 6 mos. now and our grout looks fabulous. We have a lot of tile, so it was a 2 day job, but now that it has been sealed, I shouldn't have to do it for a couple of years (even a year would be great!!).

We did Finazzle first, and it lightened some areas, but the tough stains didn't come up. Aquamix (from Lowes or HD, I can't remember) did the trick!

[Tarheel Heather]

I'm notorious for my bleach usage, I will definitely be headed to Lowes!

[Whisperlily]

I've heard that listerine whitening mouthwash works wonders on grout when left overnight. :D Once you get them clean, I second the use of a sealant.

[Lisa in Jax]

Is there anything special? I'm cleaning the house before we move in and it has tiled floors in the kitchen. The grout is light and you can really see the dirt. I would just dump bleach on the floor, but wanted to see if there were other options.

Thanks!

Straight vinegar does an amazing job. I use plain white vinegar on my light-taupe grout and it gets it back to its original color.

I've made the mistake of using bleach on this grout, and it turned the grout greenish. I wouldn't use bleach on anything but white grout -- and then only sparingly.

HIH,

Lisa

[Mekanamom]

A steam cleaner thing, like the Shark Ultra Steam Blaster (http://www.amazon.com/Shark-Ultra-Steam-Blaster-S3325/dp/B000BQSJVK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1204596799&sr=8-1).

There may be better ones out there, but that's the one I recently bought & it worked great on my dirty grout.

It was kind of fun blasting it clean with the steam. :) The machine came with a little brush so I could steam and scrub at the same time. Then it's just a matter of following along with a rag behind to mop it all up.

[Michelle T]

Sorry, but that's the only way I got my tile and grout kitchen counters clean!

I tried all sorts of things to keep our "white" grout clean, nothing worked that great after a few years. But a bleach mixture, or Comet scrub worked best.
MichelleT

[Tarheel Heather]

Sorry, but that's the only way I got my tile and grout kitchen counters clean!

I tried all sorts of things to keep our "white" grout clean, nothing worked that great after a few years. But a bleach mixture, or Comet scrub worked best.
MichelleT

Granite will happen along with new cabinets!

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Yes. The only thing I've found that works better than a steam cleaner is using OxyClean with the steam cleaner. :) It's awesome. The OxyClean seems to come alive in the presence of steam. I used a Shark Steamer (As Seen On TV) that I got from Walgreens.