Grout Cleaner

When we first walked through our house it seemed so perfect. I loved everything about it. Once we moved in, I realized that it was in need of some definite TLC and some serious deep cleaning.

One room that needed extra attention was the kitchen. After scrubbing it down completely, it still didn’t feel as clean as it should be. The floors just seemed grimy. I realized I needed to clean the grout in between the tiles.

Growing up, my dad was always the one who would clean and scrub the house, or have us kids clean and scrub the house, until it was spotless. (My friends’ parents used to say that they’d send them over to our place to get some training in if ever they slacked on chores.) So when I asked him for advice, he shared his grout cleaning recipe. This can be used for tiles in bathroom showers, on counters, or floors.

Ingredients:

• 7 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 1/3 cup ammonia
• 1/4 cup white vinegar

Steps: 

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bucket or bowl. Mix completely until baking soda is dissolved.
2. Pour solution into a spray bottle. This will make it easier to use for cleaning and to target the worst spots. Shake solution as necessary.
3. Start cleaning! Spray solution on your grout and wait 3-5 minutes
4. Use a toothbrush, scrubbing sponge, magic eraser, cleaning brush, whatever you have, to scrub the grout you just sprayed.
5. Use a damp cloth or towel to wipe up where you’ve just scrubbed. Wring out dirty water into a separate container or bucket.
6. When you are finished, mop the floor.

I used a combination of an old toothbrush and a sponge to scrub the grout. The only way to really clean it right is to just get down on your hands and knees and scrub. It takes time and patience, but it works. I scrubbed section by section and rinsed as I went. The whole process took about 4-5 days. If I tried to do too large of a section in one day, I’d get tired and slack off on the scrubbing and it wouldn’t come out as well.

Our grout is pretty old so there was only so much a cleaning would fix, but it definitely made a difference-almost like a whole new kitchen!

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