Cleaning Bathroom Tile and Grout

Tile and grout can get really dirty.

The bathroom is one of the harder jobs we do when cleaning our homes. Keeping up with cleaning tile walls and scrubbing tile floors can be a nightmare, especially if you have a busy family life.

When my bathroom gets dirty I try to ignore it, hoping that someone else will step up and clean it. (It’s not like I don’t have anything else to do!)

The bathroom tile gets a filmy haze of soap scum and body oils dull the color and shine, and the grout lines become dark and stained with mold and mildew when they are not cleaned regularly.

Does that sound familiar?

It’s hard to get someone to help us keep the bathroom clean and since self-cleaning tile and grout hasn’t been invented yet, I’m very happy to share my cleaning tips to help you to keep this job under control.

Practice makes perfect and I know just how to clean bathroom tile quickly and easily; Removing stains, soap scum and mold and mildew.

Use these cleaning tips to make bathroom tile cleaning a breeze!

Are you ready then? Let’s get busy cleaning!

Homemade Bathroom Tile Cleaning Solution

No need to buy a specialty cleaner to remove soap scum, dirt and grime.

Clean your bathroom ceramic tile with a homemade cleaning solution made from ingredients you already have at home:

• 1/2 cup of ammonia
• 1/2 cup of baking soda
• 1 gallon of warm water

BLEACH SHOULD NOT BE MIXED WITH AMMONIA.

Make sure to rinse the ammonia cleaner completely from the tile before using any other cleaning solution on the tile.

Homemade Mold and Mildew Remover

Bleach is the main ingredient in many commercial grout cleaning products. It does an excellent job, but be careful when spraying it because chlorine bleach can damage carpet, metal, wood and fabric, etc.

Mix up a cleaning solution:

• 2 cup warm water
• 2 cup bleach
• 1 Tbs. liquid dishwashing detergent

You can also use a scrub brush to remove the mold and mildew if you need some extra scrubbing power.

1. Mix your cleaning solution and add it to a spray bottle.
2. Spray the solution on the mold and mildew stain.
3. Wait about 15 minutes.
4. Spray the area with warm water to rinse it off.
5. Wipe the area dry to remove any additional debris.

Heavy Mold and Mildew Stains

Use pure chlorine bleach for extra strength bleaching power. Leave the bleach on the mold and mildew stain for about 15 minutes then rinse and wipe dry.

There are other products you can use for very heavy mildew stains. If bleach doesn’t remove the stains, try a mold and mildew remover like mold armor.

If mold and mildew have permeated too deeply into the grout to be able to scrub or bleach it out, you can call a grout repair company which can grind off the top level of the damaged surface and re-grout and seal the grout for a few hundred dollars.

Cleaning Precautions

Never mix ammonia and bleach. The combination will give off a toxic gas which is very harmful.

Keeping your Tile and Grout Clean

Mold and mildew comes with any area that has high humidity and a moist environment.

Clean and dry grout means that there will be no more mold and mildew.

To prevent further mold and mildew stains, seal your grout with a grout sealer. Grout sealer is simply a water repellent to prevent water from seeping into the cracks.

Clear silicone waterproofing can also be applied to grout. This will repel the water and prevent mold and mildew from reoccurring in the grout.

Note: Even the best grout sealer will need to be reapplied every 6-12 months.

A Great Cleaning Tip!

Here is another really great tip I’ve tried myself-

Apply rain-x to your clean glass shower doors (follow the manufacturer’s directions as if you were applying it on your windshield)

When taking a shower, the water will run down in sheets, you won’t get hard water spots or soap scum building up on the glass, and your shower doors will shine like new for 6 months or more.

The bathroom is always going to be the one room in the house that no one likes to enter with a scrub brush.

You might not like it, but now you don’t have to worry about it. Bathroom stains like soap scum, mold and mildew don’t have a chance now that you have these expert cleaning tips to clean it up fast.

Great job & good luck!