Anyone who has ever had a bathroom has likely had the experience of watching tile and tub grout turn from sparking white, to dirty grey, brown, or black. While it’s true that grout can become stained and mildewed easily, and while it’s true that it can be labor intensive to clean, it’s also true that these stains can be prevented entirely. This guide will show you how to get your grout shining again, and then how to prevent it from becoming stained and mildewed in the future.

About Grout

Grout is a flexible form of mortar made from water, cement and sand. It dries into an elastic, rubbery substance that is very porous and can easily collect dirt and provides ideal conditions for bacteria and mildew to grow and thrive. The only way to ensure that your new, clean grout stays new and clean is to seal it. Grout sealant fills the holes and smooths the surface to keep the nasties out and make it easier to clean. Either have the installers seal it for you, or make a trip to your local home improvement store and talk to someone about sealing it yourself.

Sealing your grout doesn’t mean that you don’t have to clean! It can still become stained if you neglect it, but a good sealant will make it much, much easier to maintain.

Grout Mildew Removal and Grout Stain Removal

There’s two ways to remove grime from grout, the do-it-yourself way and the hire-somebody-else way. We’ll start with the do-it-yourself way. The do-it-yourself way is a lot of work so if you have any friends that owe you a favor, now is the time to call it in.

Combine the following ingredients in a small bucket, mix well and apply to your grout using a spray bottle. Let the mixture sit for about five minutes and then either wipe or rinse clean. If you must scrub, use a soft bristled brush and be careful not to accidentally remove grout.

1/2 Cup baking soda
1/3 Cup ammonia
1/4 Cup white vinegar
5 Cups water

DO NOT MIX BLEACH AND AMMONIA – mixing bleach with ammonia produces deadly chlorine gas – chlorine gas was used as a chemical weapon in word war II – I repeat: Do not mix bleach and ammonia!

Alternatively, if your grout is white, you can use a bleach and water mixture (1 cup bleach and 5 cups water). But remember – DO NOT MIX BLEACH AND AMMONIA. If you try the first recipe and it doesn’t work, rinse the surface well and wait a couple of days before using the bleach solution. If you bleach your grout too often you risk discoloring it, and bleach won’t remove the dirt, it merely makes it less visible. Never use bleach on colored grout.

Once you’ve gotten your grout clean, you can save yourself future work by sealing it. Go your local home improvement store and pick up some grout sealer. It does mean a little more work now, but it also means a LOT less work in the future.

There are other methods of cleaning your grout, including the use of pressure washers (machines that shoot water at high velocity) but if you’re inexperienced these should be left to the professionals as they can easily remove poorly applied grout.

Grout Dyes

Some people advocate the use of grout dyes to recolor your grout and hide the dirt and mildew. While this does work, the proper application of a dye can be much more work than simply cleaning it in the first place. Either way you still need to seal it after you finish, but when you apply a dye you must manually clean it off of the edges of each and every tile. Ideally, the grout should be cleaned before dying anyway.

Good luck, and if you have any tips to share with the rest of us, please add them using the form below.

Here’s more about how to clean grout in case you’re still not satisfied.