Q&A / 

How to Clean Grout

Dirty grout

Here is some gross tile grout in my own kitchen. My kids constantly spilled iced tea here. The actual grout color is a light gray. Look at the next photo to see the magic of oxygen bleach. ©2017 Tim Carter

How to Clean Grout TIPS

DEAR TIM: I've spent hours looking on the Internet for products to clean my floor tile grout. There seems to be lots of different answers at chat rooms and online forums about using chlorine bleach, baking soda, vinegar, peroxide, etc.

My grout is colored and I don't want to harm it. I also don't want to spend lots of time scrubbing.

Is there an easy way to clean floor tile grout? Is there a product that's non-toxic and doesn't produce fumes? Rose C., Dallas, TX

DEAR ROSE: Every now and then I lurk in some of the Internet home improvement forums and chat rooms to see what type of bad advice is floating to the surface at any given point in time.

Bad Advice Is Everywhere

I'm constantly amazed at how much bad advice is readily available. In fact, some of the advice is downright dangerous, especially when some people talk about blending household chemicals together to make a witch's brew of cleaning solution.

I often wonder if some of the advice posts are malicious in nature. There are people in this world who are pranksters and bullies and get great satisfaction from giving advice that can create mayhem and pain.

Toxic Harsh Chemicals

Some of the chemicals you discovered in your search will work, but not the way you want them to. Fumes can be released that choke you or your loved ones.

Other chemicals simply don't do a great job of cleaning and are a waste of time and money.

Chlorine Bleach = BAD

Chlorine bleach is a powerful oxidizer that can remove stains in floor tile grout. But it can also remove color.

Chlorine bleach can damage nearby fabrics and rugs if it is accidentally applied to them. As you know, the fumes from chlorine bleach are highly irritating to many people and any pets you might have around your home.

Bird-Killing Chemical

These fumes can be deadly to small birds as well. If you have canaries or parakeets in your home chirping away, you may find them motionless on the bottom of the cage if you release chlorine bleach fumes in your home.

Baking Soda + Vinegar = NOTHING

If you've stumbled across advice that tells you to mix baking soda and vinegar into a solution with water, you've found someone who skipped going to their high school chemistry class. Mixing those two together yields nothing. The baking soda neutralizes the weak acid in the vinegar.

Baking Soda = A Joke

I've never had any luck with baking soda. If you mix it with water you just have a solution that's a mild base. It's alkaline like regular soap and it just doesn't do much at all to blast apart stain molecules

Vinegar Is For Hard Water

Vinegar only works well to dissolve hard water deposits that might buildup around sinks and dishwashers. Vinegar is not an effective floor tile grout cleaner.

If you feel compelled to try vinegar, and it's a complete waste of time and money, only use white vinegar as its fumes are far less offensive that apple-cider vinegar.

Liquid Peroxide

The peroxide you mention is probably common liquid hydrogen peroxide. It can be an effective cleaner, but only if you can get the peroxide to release one of its extra oxygen ions. Plus, it's out-of-this-world EXPENSIVE.

IMPORTANT TIP: The 2017 price for a gallon of food-grade hydrogen peroxide was $52! CLICK HERE to check the current price.

This is not always easy to do. Hydrogen peroxide has two atoms of hydrogen and two atoms of oxygen. If you can get it to release one of the oxygen ions, you get a free oxygen ion and regular water.

Stain Solver - The Miracle Grout Cleaner!

Oxygen Bleach

Stain Solver is MADE in the USA with USA ingredients that are food-grade quality. CLICK THE IMAGE to order some NOW.

Stain Solver is a certified organic oxygen bleach powder.  Stain Solver is Made in the USA with USA ingredients.

It's a magic dried form of hydrogen peroxide that's very inexpensive when compared to liquid hydrogen peroxide.

A handy 4.5-pound container of powdered Stain Solver creates 20 gallons of floor-grout cleaning solution.

The current cost of 4.5 pounds of Stain Solver is less than one gallon of liquid hydrogen peroxide!

You spend less money and get over 20 TIMES the amount of cleaning liquid!

How Stain Solver Works

When you mix the Stain Solver powder with water, it releases billions of microscopic oxygen ions into the non-toxic no-odor cleaning solution.

The free oxygen ion is a powerful stain remover as it acts much like a torpedo or a cruise missile to attack and split apart stain molecules. Once a stain molecule is split apart, the stain disappears.

Stain Solver & Floor Grout Video

Watch how easy it is to use Stain Solver to clean dirty floor grout. CAUTION: I guarantee you'll order some immediately after watching the video.

Apply to Dry Grout

It's best to apply the Stain Solver to dry grout. As the solution is applied to the floor, it soaks deeply into the grout and starts to blast apart all of the stain molecules.

The best part is there are no fumes and the oxygen ions will not harm the color in the grout. The solution will not harm any adjacent carpets or fabrics.

Longer Dwell Time = Less Scrubbing

When you work with cleaning solutions, you often get the best results if you allow the chemical to work on its own. This is called dwell time because you want the chemical to linger or soak on the item being cleaned.

When cleaning floor grout, I'd allow the Stain Solver solution to dwell at least fifteen minutes, and maybe longer. The longer you allow the Stain Solver solution to soak into the grout the less you have to scrub. The countless oxygen ions are down in the grout working for you.

Stiff Scrub Brush

When cleaning floor grout, you just need to use a scrub brush that's got stiff bristles and the bristles need to contact the grout.

Some ceramic tile has grout joints that are recessed below the surface of the tile. If you don't press hard enough, the brush never contacts the grout. Don't allow that to happen.

Never Scrub Again!

Once your floor grout is clean, you can do a simple thing so you NEVER AGAIN have to be on your hands and knees scrubbing a floor!

All you have to do is add Stain Solver powder to your mop water each time you clean the floor. Throw away that useless pad cleaner that really doesn't work well.

Get an old fashioned string mop and mop your floor. Get the mop water to saturate the grout and allow it to dwell for about five minutes.

Come back and rinse the floor and the grout should look like new each week.

before & after grout cleaning

Here is a before and after of the same tile. I left some of the grout untouched by the solution of oxygen bleach. Look at the gray grout! It looks new and the entire process took ten minutes. ©2017 Tim Carter

Weak Oxygen Bleach

Not all oxygen bleach powders are the same. The best ones are:

  • certified organic
  • made in the USA with USA ingredients
  • highly concentrated with active ingredient
  • active ingredient is FDA registered food-grade quality
  • contains no fragrances or colored useless crystals

Stain Solver meets all those above specifications. Just about every other powdered oxygen bleach available in the USA contains ingredients that were sourced offshore.

Beware Made in the USA Label

I believe laws have been passed that allow some companies to trick you. You may see a label that says: Made in the USA.

What it really means is that the product may have been assembled or packaged in the USA, but the ingredients come from some other non-USA country.

Remember, Stain Solver is Made in the USA and the two ingredients are made in the USA as well. The active ingredient is made in Houston, TX and the pure, natural soda ash comes from a mine in Wyoming.

Homeowner Testimonial

"WOW, that's all I can say! I purchased your product last week to clean the grout on my 800 sq. ft. of tile, and it looks as clean as the day we moved in eight years ago. I must admit, I was a little skeptical when I ordered the Stain Solver, but after having used it, I know I will always have some on hand and look forward to cleaning my wood deck this spring. This is by far one of the best products I have purchased in many, many years. Thanks Tim!" - Ed, Macomb, Michigan

How Stain Solver Was Born

I discovered oxygen bleach in the mid 1990's. I was doing research for deck cleaners.

One night, I had dinner with Jef Morgan, a chemist of a company that distributed American-made oxygen bleach. We talked about how well it worked to clean wood.

I then asked, "Tell me, can you clean anything else with oxygen bleach?" Well, the flood gates opened.

For the next hour, Jef told me about everything it could clean; clothing, rugs, roof shingles, patio furniture, and tile grout.

CLICK HERE to see actual homeowner Before and After photos of all the things Stain Solver can clean.

Three Friend Testers

I was so intrigued I started to test this product. It did everything Jef said it would and more. I then gave some to three friends and had them try it.

It appeared to be a true miracle product. I was so impressed and felt so good about this wonder material I actually started to sell it under the registered name Stain Solver.

Full Transparency

This column is not meant to be self-serving. The woman who asked the question lives in Dallas and is not a friend or relative. There are other companies that sell very powerful and high-quality oxygen bleach. If you want the best product that indeed is the most powerful, then look for the one that costs the most per pound. These are the ones that have the most amount of active ingredient in them.

Column 531

SPONSORS / 

18 Responses to How to Clean Grout

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *