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?