My entire family room is tile and the floor is looking progressively worse. Even after I mop, the floor really doesn't look clean to me. How do I clean the grout? I have tried two different products...one with bleach with mixed results. I sprayed the cleaner on the grout and let it set for a few minutes. Then I used a long-handled hard-bristled deck brush to "scrub" the floor before mopping the cleaner away. The results are still mixed. It looks better but not good. Is there anything that I can use that will actually work without me spending hours on the floor with a scrub brush? This is not a small area, so it would be awful to scrub all of the time....
Personally, I like Comet for this type of thing. Get the area wet, put on a liberal amount of comet, and let it set for 15 minutes, then scrub. Rinse well, and use Windex to leave a shine afterwards.
Buy TileLab @ Lowes or Home Depot - TWO products - the cleaner & the sealant (a gold bottle & a dark green bottle). Spray cleaner on the grout or entire floor, let it work a minute, then clean with a scrub brush & wipe dry with a towel. You still have to do the whole thing with a scrub brush on your hands & knees (use a gardening cushion!) the 1st time. But then when it dries, put the sealant on the grout & just let it dry - floors will be easier to clean next time. I do this about 2x/year. It's still a task, but some things I guess just need the extra attention - no easy way out! The sealant definitely helps if something staining (wine, tomato sauce, chocolate syrup) gets on the grout - it cleans right up.
I love Tilex with Bleach...not sure if you tried that or not. I let it sit for a long while then wash away.
And they make a grout scrub brush - I think I found one in Target. Its shaped for the grout lines and has really hard bristles.
Worst case scenario is to use a grout scraper, remove all of the grout and then regrout and reseal the tile.
Good luck!
The problem with any kind of mop and tile is that the edges of the tile grab the dirty water and direct it into the channels. In my small tile area, I use a brush. When we lived warm (aka tile everywhere) a steam cleaner was the only thing I'd ever use on the floor since it sucks the dirty water UP.
Home Depot has a grout cleaner.. it works OK.. the key is you need to seal it AFTER you (finally) get it cleaned. You also need to seal it once or twice a year. It's really easy to do... just like spreading on water and you get that at HD too.
There are also companies that will come in and steam your grout and get it looking like new. You may want to invest in this and then maintain it w/ the sealing. They advertise in the coupon books that you get in the mail all the time.
My sister used a little steam cleaner recently for her bathroom floor and said it worked great.
We had some guy come intoour office and he did some sort of acid wash and they came out great. And then we sprayed that stuff on them that seals the grout so you do not get that problem again.
I had tile in our other house too. I had to go to home depot and get the armstrong floor stripper. I used that then mopped it. I had to do this every other month as the grout was white. It works wonders!
HTH
I heard steam cleaners work great, but i've never tried it myself. I did, however, find something that gave me AMAZING results.I had to get on my hands and knees to do it, but it wasn't too bad. SO, you know those Mr. Clean magic eraser sponges? Yea... well first i tried some hardcore grout cleaner with NO results and a couple other things, and then i was like what the heck, lemme just try one of these lil sponges... whaaaat?!? My grout went from black to the orange-ish color its supposed to be!! I really couldn't believe it. Those things really are magic. I went through like 4 or 5 sponges though, and my room is about 10 x 17. Sooo, if you have a spare afternoon to scrub, you'll save by buying these things and doin it yourself rather than renting a steam cleaner or paying someone to come do it for you.
