Who doesn’t want clean tile? Either you’ve already got it or you give it a real mean glare from the couch.

The easiest way to keep your tile clean is to seal it in the first place. If you inherited your dirty grout lines like I did the only way out is to get down and clean them.

You’ve got a few options that I will cover in this article.

Scrub with adhesive

Steam

Paint the grout lines

Chemicals

In the before picture of my tile. The floor doesn’t look too bad – but I think I’d grown used to it. I hated it when we bought the house and off and on hated it while we finished the basement, put in a back yard and built a loft bed. See what I did there 😉.

We weren’t sitting around, staring at a horrible floor. We were working our tails off, occasionally noticing the floor. Then a well meaning family member mentioned it and I had a 40 year birthday bash coming.

(I know I finally made the big 4-0 😊)

Which meant it was time for the real deal. It was time to clean that floor and seal it.

Baking Soda and Vinegar Meathod

I had scrubbed the floor before with baking soda – it worked, but took several washes to get the residue off. I had done a 4’x5′ section to see how it went. Didn’t seal it because the rest of the floor needed to be done first. Within a few weeks the tile was back to normal – ugh!

This time, my 40th birthday try, I decided to get it all done in one blow and rented a really expensive tile steamer.

I was hoping for a magical experience, where I pointed the steam and simply wiped away any leftover mist. The truth is, I worked up a sweat scrubbing the tile – just like I’d hoped not too.

The good news? I figured out how to do it for free with no harsh chemicals, annoying residue or expensive rental machines.

The steamer by itself left light lines, but in no way got the whole floor clean.

I found I had to steam and then scrub. I was also in a rush because I only had the rented steamer for 4 hours. It was too pricey to do a thorough job.

Here my floor was cleaner, but still had dark lines and I had to return the steamer.

I was annoyed because of the price I had paid and time restraints – and it still wasn’t clean.

However I had noticed something, I was cleaning up alot of water. Steam after all is a gas from really hot water…

Why was I paying all this money for hot water??

Hot Water No Chemicals or Adhesives

I came home and tried again. This time with no time restraints. How good can boiling hot water do at cleaning grout?

This is the amount of dirt I got up with just hot water and a metal bristle brush. For just the cost of boiled water, I was able to get the exact same result as a rented steamer.

Or better because it didn’t cost me $50.

The good news is not only was it cheaper, but it also left no residue behind. No harsh chemicals to breath in while cleaning or to expose my children to.

Boiling water and a metal bristle brush worked just as well as any other method I’ve tried – and it was free.

After your floor is clean, be sure to seal it. I used 511 Impregnator Sealer. Hoping this works to the tune of never having to clean tile grout again. 😜

Paint Grout Lines

Another option is to “paint” the grout with Grout Refresh. You can see instructions on how to get that look here.

Chemicals

You can clean with chemicals. As time has gone on I’ve become more weary of the chemicals we use. My youngest was diagnosed with asthma at one year of age so I personally have started looking for options that don’t require chemicals.

That being said, sometimes chemicals are just easier. There are a few options out there and people claim ut makes your life easier and will get the job done quickly.

One option is Clorox toilet bowl cleaner you can view the how to here. Though I haven’t tried this personally I would suggest you clean your floor very well after since it is meant to be kept within a toilet bowl.

There are also options to use Oxiclean or Resolve to clean your tile.

Whichever option you choose, best wishes. I am so glad I got it done and that I sealed the grout afterwards. I’m not going to do this every month.

What have you found helps in cleaning grout?

Until next time,

Natalie