How to Clean Tile Grout

Stephanie Lydecker: We’re talking grout, that dirty little secret in our bathrooms. Well, here to help us stand up to those stains is our cleaning made easy expert, the queen of clean, Linda Cobb. Hello.

Linda Cobb: Hello Steph, how are you?

Stephanie Lydecker: Great! Grout is the worst. It’s so hard to get rid off. It’s unavoidable it seems like.

Linda Cobb: Well is it if you got tile, you’ve got dirty grouts.

Stephanie Lydecker: Dirty grouts.

Linda Cobb: But I got some really easy secrets for you today.

Stephanie Lydecker: Okay, I like this one with that eraser.

Linda Cobb: Isn’t that neat?

Stephanie Lydecker: Do teach me.

Linda Cobb: Now, this is for a small area obviously. I don’t want to turn your hands in this during the whole kitchen or something with it.

Stephanie Lydecker: Okay.

Linda Cobb: But if you’ve got dirty grout, look for a pencil and ink eraser. And you’re going to use the ink in because that’s more abrasive. All you’re going to do is take it and erase just like that.

Stephanie Lydecker: Oh, that comes clean right away.

Linda Cobb: See?

Stephanie Lydecker: Let me try.

Linda Cobb: Even you can do it. And it’s great for those small stains that you get even on the bathroom walls or any place like that erases it right away. That’s simple.

Stephanie Lydecker: That’s wonderful. All I can do is my mind doing this.

Linda Cobb: Isn’t that great?

Stephanie Lydecker: Yes.

Linda Cobb: But we don’t want you to do in the whole house like that.

Stephanie Lydecker: I love to clean. Okay.

Linda Cobb: I do, that’s why I like you so much.

Stephanie Lydecker: We are cleaning in common.

Linda Cobb: We do.

Stephanie Lydecker: So for the larger jobs, what do you recommend?

Linda Cobb: I've got a really easy solution that you mix up and it’s all safe, all natural which I love. What we’re going to do is we’re just going to take two cups of baking soda. And remember, cleaning that with natural products is not brain surgery. So, you can measure approximately. It doesn’t have to be perfect. We’re going to do one cup of borax. We’re going to put that in.

Stephanie Lydecker: It’s like making a cake.

Linda Cobb: It is. Then, we’re going to add approximately one cup of hot water. Now, once you stir, you’ll know whether you need to put more in or whether that’s going to be enough.

Stephanie Lydecker: Okay.

Linda Cobb: And now, what we’re going to do is start and stir that up. What this is going to do is make a safe, natural kind of abrasive cleaning product. Okay, we’ve got that all stirred up. Now, what we’re going to do is we’re just going to put some onto our tile. Now, if you’re doing flour, make sure you’re using a brush that has a handle on it. But for something like this, a hand brush is fine. And if you’re doing just countertops, the same way. We’re going to start and we’re just going to work it in just like that.

Stephanie Lydecker: Wow! It looks that it’s coming clean right away.

Linda Cobb: Yup! Now remember, safe and natural is the keyword here.

Stephanie Lydecker: How often do I do this?

Linda Cobb: This is only when the floor is really dirty and really needs to be cleaned. And when you're done with this, all you’re going to do is you want to have a spray bottle, of course you’ll have a bucking of water. But just like I’ll show you, we’re just going to spray some water on that. Now, we’re going to wipe that off and I think you can see that it cleans up absolutely beautifully.

Stephanie Lydecker: That’s brilliant.

Linda Cobb: It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s safe and it’s natural. And that’s the most important thing and even better, it’s inexpensive.

Stephanie Lydecker: That’s exactly right.

Linda Cobb: Yes!

Stephanie Lydecker: Okay, so I see that we have beautiful tile.

Linda Cobb: Yes, and you know what? An easy everyday cleaner for that is ammonia about two tablespoons. And again, you don’t have to measure exactly.

Stephanie Lydecker: You love working with ammonia in general, don’t you?

Linda Cobb: I do, it’s great. And then we’re going to put in a tablespoon approximately of borax. And we’re just going to mix that up and then you’re going to use either a map or a soft cloth. Ring it out on it. And we’ll simply going to wash just like this. One thing you want to remember, never use vinegar on tile floors.

Stephanie Lydecker: I've done that, you’re kidding.

Linda Cobb: Because it adds to the grout. It’s an acid. So, that’s why we’re using ammonia and borax. It works much better.

Stephanie Lydecker: That’s great to know. I've made that.

Linda Cobb: Now, if you want to use a map instead of using down on your hands and knees. One thing we don’t want to do and if you’ll hand me the sponge map there, we don’t want to use the sponge map because that works just like a squeegee. And it pulls all the dirty water into those grout tracks and makes the dirt stay in there which is exactly want you don’t want the dirt.

Stephanie Lydecker: Wow! So, these are a no.

Linda Cobb: Those are big no.

Stephanie Lydecker: Okay.

Linda Cobb: But we got a couple of these once you pull some of those up. This one is like, I guess it’s okay. Anything that’s this messy, the queen says, “Don’t be bothered using.”

Stephanie Lydecker: Yes, don’t be bothered Queen.

Linda Cobb: Exactly!

Stephanie Lydecker: You know the deal?

Linda Cobb: Absolutely!

Stephanie Lydecker: What is the proper, this is terrible.

Linda Cobb: Rug map, same thing, dirty, mildery, molly, nasty, nasty, nasty. Don’t use that. Then we have a micro fiber map down here which is great.

Stephanie Lydecker: What do you recommend? Is this the one that works?

Linda Cobb: This is the one I love because you’re going to use it with nothing but water. When you’re done cleaning with it, you pull the head off. Throw it in the washing machine and you’re done. It’s that easy.

Stephanie Lydecker: How clever is that.

Linda Cobb: And again, you use nothing but water with this map. And it’s always clean when you’re ready to use it. Anybody can do it.

Stephanie Lydecker: That’s fantastic. This one I like too because it’s adjustable.

Linda Cobb: It is. You can adjust the hand over which is really important. Handle should be on a map but shoulder height. So, make sure when you’re mapping, that’s what you're using. And I like one that’s adjustable because they’re not adjust to your husband’s height.

Stephanie Lydecker: Okay, so just a recap real briefly. The eraser is for cleaning grout. Also, we have a little ammonia, borax and baking soda mixture also for the grout.

Linda Cobb: Borax, baking soda and water.

Stephanie Lydecker: Right! And then we have ammonia with water and a little borax for our beautiful tile here.

Linda Cobb: That’s it and you can keep that home easily cleaned.

Stephanie Lydecker: Keeping it nice and sparkling.

Linda Cobb: Yes!

Stephanie Lydecker: Wonderful to see you.

Linda Cobb: Thanks.