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This question is from Rebecca:
I have a random questions and I'm hoping you can save the day. The kitchen floor of my rental apt is tile with very wide rough grout. Because the grout is somewhat porous, it seems, spills seem to soak in fast and leave stubborn stains. After trying a few home-made recipes for floor cleaner (and none with great success) I caved in and bought a green household cleaner to try.
While the cleaner, Green Works Natural Dilutable Cleaner (the only one available in my local store!), does the job, it suds up like crazy with my regular mop and scrub brush and is somewhat problematic to use with all the soap foam!
Since i really only use this cleaner on the tile floor, I'm looking for a way to calm the soap bubbles to make it a little easier to manage so it doesn't go to waste. Any ideas?!
We've never used Green Works' Natural Dilutable Cleaner. Has anyone else had this problem? And, do any chemistry nerds have any thoughts on how you could get the soapy bubbles to subside?
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I always use a splash of white vinegar in the rinse water to calm the bubbles.
Treat your grout with grout sealer. This will help with the staining problem.
This may sound obvious, but you are diluting the cleaner, right? You should be adding the cleaner to a lot of water, and that itself would cut down on the bubbling. Perhaps tinker with the cleaner to water ratio, and see if it still cleans without all the suds. As suggested, white vinegar cuts soap suds as well, and you could try a final rinse of vinegar and water.
Rent a steam cleaner to properly clean out the grout (or hire a company to do it), and then get a grout sealer from Home Despot and be very liberal w/ the sealer, meaning apply several coats. As for the bubbles, ilonastella is right: vinegar works wonders.
Sprinkle salt to get rid of suds. Works even on overflowing dishwashers, according to the original Heloise column.