best and cheapest way to clean tile grout

[Styx Fan]

I have a product called Duracerramic in my kichen, 1/2 bath and hall. It is a limestone based product which is grouted with an acrylic grout. Any thoughts on how to clean the acrylic grout? I don't want to hurt the grout or the tile.

 

[FINFAN]

I have a product called Duracerramic in my kichen, 1/2 bath and hall. It is a limestone based product which is grouted with an acrylic grout. Any thoughts on how to clean the acrylic grout? I don't want to hurt the grout or the tile.

you can try toilet bowl cleaner...seriously. Not sure on the clear acrylic but it gets caulk clean around our tub. Test a small inconspicuous area first tho

 

[I<3MyGoldMiner]

I use Du Pont heavy duty tile and grout cleaner and a toothbrush. Our grout is supposed to be a cream color but is literally black from all the dirt (bought the home as a short sale and the original owners didnt take very good care of anything.) I've also used soft scrub all purpose with bleach, but it doesn't work as well.

 

[sersee05]

I have ceramic tile throughout my foyer, into my powder room down a hall and into the kitchen. My husband and I used to get down on our hands and knees with a toothbrush and vinegar. It worked but took a long time and we were sore for days. We had Stanley Steemer come out and see how it would go. They charged me $200 for the whole thing. Best $200 I spent. It looked great. That was a year ago and some of it is getting dirty again so I am making another appointment. So I figure about once a year I will do it.

 

[Mary2e]

Check out Aqua Mix. They have a cleaner and a stain/sealer you can apply to restore color. It is fairly easy to do.

I used aqua mix SEALER on all my grout in my new home 20 years ago and it all looks as good as the day it was installed. Water beads up on the grout. I also only use either water and vinegar, and more recently a floor steamer to clean the tiles.

If you get your grout clean, I would seal it immediately and make sure water beads up on it before you wash it. Why? because the color change is due to the grout absorbing the water from washing the floor, which isn't always the cleanest

I've heard the only way to get it really clean is to have a professional use a high powered steamer.

 

[Loves The Mouse]

Check out Aqua Mix. They have a cleaner and a stain/sealer you can apply to restore color. It is fairly easy to do.[/QUOTE

I looked this up on line and there were many cleaners to choose from. Which cleaner did you buy? I'm also looking to clean the grout between my kitchen and bathroom floor tiles. Thanks!

 

[Loves The Mouse]

I had Coit give me a price to clean the grout in my kitchen and baths and it was a bit more than what I wanted to spend. Any great products that you have tried?

Great thread!

 

[Ranger111]

Loves The Mouse sort of mish/mashed the quote function, but the question asked is valid:

Aqua Mix has Heavy duty and Deep Clean, as well as a couple of other "not specifically" grout cleaners, but will clean grout...

What specific Aqua Mix IS everyone using.

 

[findmewdw]

Thanks for all of the replies. My son did use a magic eraser in one bath and most of it looks okay. There are a few spots that didn't leave, so I may try those with bleach tmrw. We did seal all grout when we installed it. It's been probably 10 years ago. Didn't really notice that it had gotten so yucky until I moved something in my kitchen.
I cleaned part of my kitchen with a Norwex product today and it looks pretty good. I have about one third of my kitchen finished, but I ran out of the product. Will probably go ahead and seal that section tonight. Don't want to get it dirty again! It has been a tedious job crawling around on the floor with a toothbrush. Now on to the sealer. Maybe 700 wasn't a bad price. LOL! I saw one post that mentioned Stanley Steamer. I should have received a quote from them, also. Again, thanks for your replies.

 

[Ranger111]

Well, no one answered and I want to do this cleaning soon, so I went ahead and got the LAST bottle of the Aqua Mix Deep Clean on Amazon. $17 with free ship. A lot of DisBoard peeps must have been ordering it for them to have run out....

 

[findmewdw]

Ranger 111, please let us know how the Aqua Mix Deep Clean worked.
I did have a bottle of the Aqua Mix Sealer that I used for the one section that I have cleaned. I have one edge of a tile that did not come clean with the Norwex descaler product that I used for the rest of the kitchen. Bleach didn't work either. I didn't seal that one spot because I want to try other things that were mentioned like vinegar, baking soda, etc. Looks a bit odd right in the middle of my kitchen. Not sure what I will do if it doesn't come clean. What a job! I am having a family party at my house tonight. Kitchen floor looks quite interesting. . . Only a third of the kitchen floor is clean and sealed with that one dark line in the middle of the clean section!

 

[Ranger111]

Ranger 111, please let us know how the Aqua Mix Deep Clean worked.
I did have a bottle of the Aqua Mix Sealer that I used for the one section that I have cleaned. I have one edge of a tile that did not come clean with the Norwex descaler product that I used for the rest of the kitchen. Bleach didn't work either. I didn't seal that one spot because I want to try other things that were mentioned like vinegar, baking soda, etc. Looks a bit odd right in the middle of my kitchen. Not sure what I will do if it doesn't come clean. What a job! I am having a family party at my house tonight. Kitchen floor looks quite interesting. . . Only a third of the kitchen floor is clean and sealed with that one dark line in the middle of the clean section!

I will try to get back on it. I have a quirky job. Very slow in the first month or three of the year, which is usually when I post my most annoying posts here

But, come JUNE, I am running on empty, traveling across this great nation of ours -- except I have bunch of relatives coming at the end of this June and wifey wants clean grout. What do you do?

She is of Norwegian/Danish dairy stock and not afraid of hard work, but her skin does not do well with any chemicals -- even fumes can cause problems....So, I go in with my West Coast fisherman mitts and do the job....Anyway, I will try to report back. I DO KNOW how frustrating this problem can be and I REALLY do not want to use straight bleach, nor do I want to do the grout replacement, but I did see a product, and I do not remember who sold it, but it was basically an epoxy overlay, which claimed to make the grout look new with no real effort.

Seems to me, my mom used such a thing, but that would have been back in the 1970's. It looked so-so then, but I would imagine things have improved since then.

Well, off to watch the Belmont Stakes....

 

[manning]

What about peroxide and baking soda?

Whitening toothpaste?

Peroxide and baking soda works. For vertical surface make it as a paste.