OK ladies..ceramic tile cleaning news!

[DopeyRN]

I have ceramic tile which has been down for 3 1/2 years. When I first noticed "flaws" in my tiles here and there I thought they were scrapes and fussed at the kids. As time went on, I kept cleaning my tile with a floor cleaner bought at Wal Mart. More and more flaws appeared, and they were in the exact same spot on each tile. When it had gotten bad enough I called the floor place. Sent over a person who looked at it and agrred something was up...the same spot in each tile..obviously a flaw. Well 2 months later the tile rep came today. He bent down with his car key and started scaping at the spot...something I NEVER would have done cause I sure didn't want to make it worse. It came up!!! The white vein came back!!! I was so happy...OK not so happy that he was telling me I had imbedded dirt , but I envisioned 800 sq ft of tile being broken up and removed. I tested a few areas and it worked!

SO HERE IS THE TIP OF THE DAY
Go to Lowes or Home Depot. Buy a tile cleaner that contains phosphoric acid. (You know the Coca Cola Emails we all have gotten thet coke kills rust on car batteries...well it is the phosphoric acid that makes that possible). He said if you soak a small area of grout/tile at a time, scrub it and immediately wipe that area clean with *clean* water your grout will be good as new. I cannot wait until I have a few days off in a row so I can try this out...imagine floors and grout as clean as new.

This concludes this public service announcement of the day!

 

[POLLY ANN]

This has got to be the best tip of the day for me! I hate my kitchen tile (more so the grout). It's got to be the hardest thing to keep clean with three kids runniong around and dropping stuff all over it.

Thanks for that tip, DopeyRN, I'm on my way to Lowe's right now! lol

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am glad you found something! That is why I had hardwood put in. I would go mad with the grout cleaning. Good Luck!

 

[cinmell]

Great tip, thanks for sharing!

 

[RitaZ.]

Here is another tip for cleaning tile and grout. When my neighbor first told me about it I was skeptical, but I tried it and it couldn't believe the results.

First, spray the grout with a degreaser (ie. 409, the oranges ones,etc.) Then pour hydrogen peroxide over that, get a brush (I have one with a handle that works well) and scrub the grout with the solutions (don't kill yourself scrubbing the grout, just enought to work it in). Just leave it sit for a while (10 to 15 minutes) to allow the solutions to do their job. After that, you can scrub the grout again and you will be surprised at how clean the grout will be. Mop the floor with clean water and you will not believe how dirty the water will be. Repeat the mopping until you are satisfied with the results.

BTW, Walmart sells the large bottles of peroxide and they are inexpensive. Good luck!