How to Clean Tile and Grout

We all know the frustration when you find a stain or grimy guck stuck to the tile in your kitchen or bathroom, especially given how hard it is to clean contaminants out of this porous material. You might wipe the substance off the surface, but the mark will remain, leaving evidence of what occurred for months or even years to come.

Luckily, there are effective ways to remove tile and grout contamination and reverse discoloration caused by spills.

Professional cleaning is the most effective method, but realistically, you can’t call us each time you have a spill or notice the shine on your floor starting to dull. To maintain appearance over time, you’ll need to perform frequent surface-level cleanings yourself and hire professionals to deep clean about once a year.

For these surface-level cleanings, we recommend that you avoid harsh chemicals and protect your grout sealant by using a neutral tile floor cleaner. Stanley Steemer offers a retail tile and grout concentrate that’s highly effective without posing a risk to your sealant.

Stanely Steemer Tile and Grout Cleaner can be used on any tile floor, whether in your bathroom or your kitchen. It can also be used on tile and grout backsplashes in your kitchen or on tiled bathroom shower walls.

To get the most out of our cleaner, we recommend following these steps:  

1. Sweep the tile to remove all loose dirt.
2. Mix ¼ cup of the concentrate in a gallon of water. You can mix another solution with a slightly higher proportion of concentrate for particularly tough spots.
3. Use a sponge mop or towel to apply the cleaning solution to the floor or shower wall.
4. Allow it to sit for 1-2 minutes before rinsing with clean warm water. For stubborn spots, use a soft brush to scrub gently.
5. Use a microfiber mop to absorb any excessive water.
6. If you used the solution on the floor, allow it to finish drying before walking on it. For other surfaces, it’s also advisable to let it dry before exposing it to water or further contamination.

When it’s time for a professional deep tile cleaning, Stanley Steemer offers a service that goes deep into the pores of your tile floor, flushing out embedded contaminants and removing tough spots. This is particularly important in the typically humid and bacteria-prone areas of your home, such as your bathroom, where bacteria can multiply quickly in the pores of your floor or shower wall.

Our three-step tile and grout cleaning process involves examining, scrubbing, and cleaning your floors, removing 96.5% of common household allergens, as well as harmful bacteria.

Here’s a more in-depth breakdown of what we’ll do when we clean:

1. First, we’ll examine your floor or shower wall to ensure we use the appropriate cleaning method. It’s important to find any damaged tile or grout during this stage. Then, we use a pH-balanced cleaning solution to scrub grout lines and remove stubborn dirt or stains.
2. Next, we use a state-of-the-art, hot-water-extracting machine to clean your tile floors or shower walls.
3. Finally, we’ll offer a restorative grout sealing and coloring process to revitalize the grout in your home. Color and clear sealing create a protective barrier that helps keep stains out of porous grout and restores the uniform look of your tile, even if you’ve had stains in the past. 

Go online or call 1-800-STEEMER to schedule and get a free tile and grout cleaning quote for your home now!