Monday, July 12, 2010

cleaning grout

Here is the picture of the "before" grout. It doesn't look that bad in the photo, but it was pretty brown after 40 years of use.

This is during the process. I used a cleaner called Heavy Duty Acidic Cleaner by Miracle that is in a blue jug available in the tile aisle of Home Depot. It is VERY smelly and you need to open windows and use your ventilation fan. You dilute it three to one with water and spread it out on the tile in small sections and use a scrub brush. Scrub, scrub, scrub. And ask your husband to come in behind you and take pictures because you are wearing rubber gloves.

Isn't it so lovely? The clean part is at the top of this photo.

The "after." Isn't it a miracle? We had to leave the fan running for several hours to really get the smell out. The cleaner certainly works and I have one more bathroom to go. The funny thing is that when we first bought the house the grout looked white, but then we realized that they had patched some drywall and sanded it down. All the drywall dust settled into the grooves and made it look white. When I mopped the bathrooms for the first time, the grout kept getting darker and darker and I thought I was going crazy. Then I realized what had happened.

So now I have clean grout! Aren't you proud?

7 comments:

Sew said...

Yes very proud because that is a chore! I never was able to find a grout cleaner that worked, but now I know. And don't worry about sealing it because sealer doesn't work.

I sanded out some of the grout in my kitchen floor then went back and sealed it. Uggghhh, it took DAYS and it didn't last....So mad!

JellyBelly said...

You are the woman!!!! You have amazing patience to clean all of that grout!!!

I am so thankful that the people that owned my house put in dark grout! It's ugly, but so easy to clean!

KT said...

I think cleaning grout is one of those things you don't appreciate till you do it (kind of like furniture refinishing!). Looks beautiful!

WheelbarrowRider said...

I can truly appreciate this b/c mine is so disgusting. I am glad to know there is a product I can count on. And since we have no window that opens, sounds like a job for dh! just kidding!

Anonymous said...

Wow! what a difference. I hate grout! It never seems clean no matter what you do! Glad you found a good product that works! :)

maggie may said...

and doesn't it feel like you've conquered the world? ;) how productive!

Frizzy said...

I'm impressed and wish you would come do my grout work. Ugh!