Cleaning Tile and Grout: Stains, Sealing and Prevention
By Wall Boulevard
Tile faces are easy. Grout is the part that stains, because it is porous and holds onto everything that lands on it. In kitchens and high traffic areas that shows up fast, and no amount of mopping the tile will fix a discoloured grout line.
The best time to deal with it is before installation, when you choose the colour. In a busy household, anything darker than white will hide day to day discolouration far better. Mapei Ultracolor Plus comes in a wide range of colours if you want to match or contrast deliberately. A light tile with light grout looks excellent and commits you to more upkeep.
How the grout goes in decides how it ages. Use the same batch across a room so the colour stays consistent, and mix a fresh batch rather than trying to revive one that has started to dry out. You are aiming for a toothpaste consistency.
Water ratio and clean tools are where most jobs go wrong. Too much water and the grout will not cure properly; too little and it clumps and goes on unevenly. Dirty water and a dirty sponge leave haze across the tile face, which then needs a cement grout haze remover to shift.
Check what you are opening. Powdered grouts have a shelf life of about a year, while sealed epoxy grouts keep more or less indefinitely. Clumps or hard lumps in the bag mean water or humidity has got in, so bin it rather than fight it.
Seal the grout once it is installed. Even coverage is the whole point, and a professional application is far more likely to deliver it than a rushed pass with a bottle and a brush.
For routine cleaning, mix half a cup of baking soda, a quarter cup of vinegar and seven cups of water. Spray it onto the grout lines, work it in with a sponge or an old toothbrush, then wipe dry with a cloth. For heavier staining, go to one part bleach to five parts water and scrub until the marks lift.
If stains keep coming back, the grout is most likely unsealed and drinking everything up. A professional clean followed by sealing is the fix, and it holds far longer than repeated scrubbing.
Talk it through with us at either store. 19 Mantell Street, Coburg North VIC 3058, (03) 8683 6514. 1/8 Lakewood Blvd, Carrum Downs VIC 3201, (03) 9005 5027.
