Tile grout – they’re not exactly words that ooze too much excitement!

Grout cleaning in Melbourne is a slow, time-consuming and painful process. You’ll be spending potentially hours on your knees, scrubbing out gaps with a toothbrush to no avail.

Don’t stress, though: as a professional tile and grout cleaner, MasterClean Carpet Care takes care of all sorts of messes in the home… including grout!

Here are a couple of helpful grout cleaning tips to make your least favourite part of spring cleaning just a little bit more bearable.

What is grout?

Tile grout plays an important role in your bathroom, kitchen, laundry, or any other room that has tiles (normally in wet areas of the home).

It fills in the gaps between tiles, ensuring a smooth surface. It also forms a barrier, stopping water from making its way under the tiles and potentially weakening the glue that holds your tiles in place.

What many homeowners don’t realise is that unlike the tiles around them, tile grout is porous. As most grout is made of sand, grout is porous – it absorbs water.

That means grout stains easily. Almost every little blemish or stain will show. And when spring cleaning comes around, many homes are left with dark, mouldy lines between their tiles.

Needless to say, that’s the last thing you want to see in your shower cubicle or kitchen!

 

Home grout cleaning tips and tricks

Depending on the severity of your stains, cleaning your tile grout can be as simple as spraying warm water and following up with a good scrub.

In cases of tougher grout however, you might need to invest in a few grout cleaning products. Alternatively, you might be able to substitute a mild grout cleaner with ordinary household items. You’ll need:

• Baking soda
• Vinegar
• A spray bottle
• A toothbrush

Mild grout stains

To start, you’ll want to mix your vinegar with water (1:1) and pour it into your spray bottle. Spray the tiled area and leave it for five minutes to let the solution soak into your grout.

Then, get scrubbing!

This works because vinegar is acidic. This makes it great at eating away stains… not to mention, it’s 100% non-toxic. I you have kids or pets, vinegar is completely safe, making it a great at-home solution.

Stubborn grout stains

To get rid of stubborn stains, you can add baking soda to the mix.

Baking soda and vinegar go together like oil and water… and in this case, this is exactly what you want!

Mix baking soda with water to create a paste, and apply that to areas already saturated with vinegar. The vinegar and baking soda cause a chemical reaction (the same reaction that powers primary school volcano projects!) that makes it easier to lift build-up.

What to avoid when cleaning your own grout

When things get really dire, many home improvement websites will recommend you add hydrogen peroxide or bleach to the mix… although we don’t recommend it!

Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide can cause irritation to the eyes, and in some cases, can even cause burns on sensitive skin.

Bleach

Bleach can be even worse. Inhaling bleach can cause stinging, light-headedness and coughing. In large enough concentrations, it can even cause damage to your lungs.

Have you considered the material?

Another thing to consider is what type of material your tiles are made of.

Homeowners with natural stone tiles in their bathrooms and kitchens are advised to avoid using any of these home solutions and instead to seek the support of a professional grout cleaning company.

This is because the corrosive nature of these products can damage natural stone surfaces. While they may clean your grout, they’ll also leave you with tiles that:

• Don’t shine like they used to
• Feature long, discoloured streaks
• Are cracked and uneven

 

The best tip we can share? Call a professional grout cleaner to do it for you!

You’ve run into grout stains that are too stubborn to handle on your own.

But you’re not quite sure of the exact formula you should use: you don’t want to risk damaging your lovely bathroom tiles, after all.

Unsure? We encourage you to contact a professional.

While it may be possible to clean out mild grout stains on your own, we don’t recommend going DIY for anything much bigger. Not only do you run the risk of damaging your tiles, but there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to do the job successfully and without damage.

MasterClean Carpet Care doesn’t just do carpets – we know how to safely clean tiles and grout, too!Interested in getting a professional’s help for tile and grout cleaning?

Give the team from MasterClean a call on 1300 556 748, or request a quote online!