Let's face it. Grout is nobody's friend. It's usually bright white, which just means Every. Little. Blemish. Shows. It's porous, so stains soak in and stick around. And it's pretty skinny, making it all the more difficult to get to. But here we have it: a little help to make your least favorite chore a little more bearable.
What You Need
Ingredients An arsenal of green cleaning products, namely baking soda, vinegar, or oxygen bleach.
Equipment: A grout brush (or old toothbrush), and maybe a steam cleaner for tough-to-fight grime. (See below.)
Instructions
We'll start out with the lightweights and move down the list to heavier-duty eco cleaners. They're all good for superficial cleaning, maintaining, and getting rid of a little mold that's built up over a couple of months. For extra grime, see steps 5 through 7.
1. Grab an old toothbrush or a small grout cleaning brush. We'd recommend the special purpose tool because grout brushes have sturdier bristles and are a little bigger, but an old toothbrush will totally work in a pinch.
2. Start simple. Spray the affected area with a 50-50 mixture of vinegar and water, and then scrub with the brush. *Here's a tip: forget straight lines, and scrub in circles to remove more grossness from the grout.
3. If that's not doing the trick, reach for the baking soda. Make a paste by mixing baking soda with water, then spread the mixture along the grout.
4. Using the brush, scrub the baking soda mixture into the grout, again in circular motions. Rinse well and repeat if necessary.
5. Try out a steam cleaner. You can rent one from most home improvement stores.
6. If that's not enough, turn to a non-toxic oxygen bleach—which is normally combo of borax or sodium percarbonate. Just like baking soda, make a thick paste to scrub into the grout.
7. Leave the paste on the grout for about 15 minutes, and then scrub it off and rinse well.
That should do it! If you have any more eco-friendly grout cleaning tips, be sure to share.
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Images: Tile: Bedrock Industries; Oxy-Boost; Vinegar: Flickr member Elyce Feliz; Borax: Flickr member Ben Sutherland, Baking soda: Kathryn Wright.
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what kind of tiles are in the first picture? they are beautiful!
When I moved in, my new place had a serious case of mold in the shower. I bought a small, portable, steam cleaner and now use that seasonally to keep the mold out of my bathroom. I love not having to use harsh chemicals and not having to rinse the grout over and over again to get rid of the baking soda.
@meplus3: I added the photo links below, so you can click through to find the Bedrock Industries tile from the first photo. Happy browsing!
I'm going to have to try the steam cleaner option. I have tried vinegar, baking soda and oxygen bleach but they all required so much time and energy and the results weren't great. Thanks for the tip!
So, in other words, keep scrubbing fruitlessly like I have been or buy a steam cleaner. I can't say I feel too satisfied with this article. I hate grout.
absolutely love those green tiles!
Ketherian-
I have been thinking about getting a steam cleaner for a while. Is there a brand you recommend? thx
i just moved out of an apartment with the WORST shower grout mildew I'd ever seen. No bathroom cleaner would ever take it off. Read this, went to work with baking soda paste and a toothbrush, a little tedious but worked like a charm. now my old landlord can show off a shower with perfectly white grout. cost me $1.50 between the toothbrush and the soda.
I second allisonnf's comment. I have seriously stubborn stains apparently.
woah, woah, everybody!!!!!! ditch the chemicals--even the "natural" ones!! get yourself a stash of Mr. Clean Magic erasers for goodness sakes! Takes the stuff off the grout-- no elbow grease. You will, however, need one pad per shower, maybe two. I buy the cheap ones from the dollar store.
My favorite combo is to mix half baking soda, half borax (which also prevents mildew), a squirt of dish soap (grease cutting) and then enough water to make it into a frosting-like past. Spread it all over, let it sit 15 minutes and then scrub. You can also add a couple tablespoons of cream of tartar to the mix which whitens if you have stains. It's still labour-intensive, but it works. I would love to try a steam cleaner too.
oops, that's paste...not past.
I find that a spray of hydrogen peroxide after cleaning helps the stains fade away with no smelly fumes!
I have been told not to use vinegar on grout because the acid in it erodes it.
get a sonic scrubber. I love mine for bathroom grout. It's seriously amazing.
just discovered, completely by accident, that "magic erasers" are AMAZING at cleaning grout!!!! I was SO shocked that SO LITTLE EFFORT was required to completely remove all mildew and grime as i cleaned my entire bath area in about 5 min..no chemicals, just water, and very LITTLE elbow grease.
The grout in the master shower of our new house had soap scum buildup that was so thick and nasty I didn't even want to finish cleaning it. I called Stanley Steemer. They came out and used this awesome brush thing with steam and some cleaner and it looked like the shower was just installed when they finished. They also sealed the grout and it's much easier to keep clean. I had a seamless fiberglass shower in my old house and even though they aren't as pretty I'd prefer that. SO much easier to clean!