How to Get White Grout White Again
I Tried 3 DIY Grout Cleaners—And One of Them Blew Me Away
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The grout on my bathroom floor tile haunts me. It's one of those projects I never really have the time or the initiative to tackle, but I hate how dirty it'due south become. It's beyond the maintenance stage and in need of a actually good cleaning.
Since I find myself at home now a lot more than than before, I decided it was time to tackle some long-procrastinated cleaning projects. To kickoff: weeding out my coat cupboard, getting myself to Laundry Hamper Zilch, and cleaning the damn grout. Permit's call them my quaran-cleaning projects.
I asked our Lifestyle Director and cleaning proficient Taryn Williford for her all-time DIY grout cleaning suggestions. She suggested a philharmonic of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, water and baking soda, or warm water and vinegar. Since I had an abundance of time on my hands this weekend, I decided to approach information technology like a science experiment. I taped off three squares, and got to piece of work. I can't believe I'm displaying closeups of my grimy grout on the net, merely here we get.
I mixed everything upwards in a reusable container from the kitchen, and dug up three actress dentist office toothbrushes to do the dingy piece of work.
Method 1: Baking Soda and Water
I started with the middle square: blistering soda and water. I mixed equal parts of both into a container to class a paste (information technology was a picayune thinner than I was expecting, then I added some extra blistering soda). I was surprised how apace this worked! I tried two techniques: the beginning was to let the paste sit for a bit and then scrub. The second was to merely dip the brush in the paste and scrub direct on the grout. The 2d technique was really more effective. Overall, the grout was noticeably cleaner, merely still a bit discolored. At this point I started to wonder if a re-grouting project was in my DIY hereafter.
Terminal grade: 7/10: This one gets points for simplicity (just one ingredient I nigh ever have stocked), besides every bit ease and effectiveness. However, the task isn't 100% done and the grout is still pale grayness.
Method two: Vinegar and Water
Vinegar can help clean so many things, so I had high hopes for this i. I mixed one part vinegar with ane part warm water, and got to work. And then I worked. And worked. And nothing actually happened. Again, I tried a mix of scrubbing and letting the mixture sit for a while, only it didn't seam to brand a difference. While the brush lifted visible/loose particles, making it marginally cleaner, it didn't feel like a deep clean of the grout at all. Bummer.
Concluding grade: 3/10: I ever have white vinegar on mitt, so I'll throw this one a few points. Only it overall was disappointing (and a waste of an 60 minutes on the floor scrubbing which just made me… mad).
Method three: Baking Soda and Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is 1 ingredient I don't keep on hand, so I had to wait until my weekly run to the shop to pick information technology upwardly. Mixing this one up really felt like a center school scientific discipline throwback: the peroxide (one office) and the baking soda (2 parts) made for a satisfying sizzle. And every bit I mixed it up, the paste turned foamy—similar a watery shaving cream.
As I commencement started scrubbing, the results looked very similar to baking soda and water. Just afterwards a few minutes it started brightening—and brightening. This one required perhaps the most elbow grease (the watery and viscous solutions before were easier to spread out). But it was worth it. Over the hour I scrubbed, it kept looking meliorate than I could accept imagined.
Concluding grade: 9/10. This was by far my favorite—it's been two days and I'm all the same delighted. Who knew grout could be and then satisfying? I knocked off one point because I had to find hydrogen peroxide.
Grout Learnings
I call back part of why I was putting off cleaning the grout was because I was worried I wouldn't be able to clean information technology, and that my cleaning procrastination was going to end upwardly costing me money and time in re-grouting all those little tiles. Only finally facing the project head on was ultimately such a relief—I keep staring at that little square (I've since removed the tape) and feeling so relieved that I found a solution that works.
That said, once I finished, I did try to clean the whole bath with the winning solution. But subsequently four hours of painstakingly scrubbing those three squares, I just didn't take the arm stamina to go along going. So with that in mind, I really don't think a toothbrush is the best option hither. While it's precise, it's too incredibly slow and laborious. When things settle downwardly, I'k going to discover myself a proper scrub brush (OXO makes one for this very purpose), and take on the rest.
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Source: https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/best-diy-grout-cleaner-test-36737568
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