Tiles are a fantastic way to improve the appearance of a room. They’re sleek, stylish and are tough to beat. But you have to remember that your tiles are only as good as the adhesive you use to bind them to your wall or floor. And that binding agent is usually a tile grout.
Tile grout is specifically designed to keep your tiles in tip top shape, however they aren’t invincible. It can be affected by a number of issues like mold and dirt that can severely shorten its lifespan. This is why you need to be prepared to both prevent damage from happening and fixing it when it does.
Preventing Grout Mold and Dirt
The first method that any home or business owner needs to know when taking care of their tile grout is prevention. Stopping the damage before it even happens can be a surefire way to minimize the time and effort you have to spend in the future. There are a few ways you can do this:
Frequent Cleaning and Constant Maintenance
The most common way to ensure that you prevent tile grout mold and dirt is to frequently clean and maintain your tiles and the grout that’s adhering it to a wall or ceiling. This prevents any of the damaging contaminants from staying on the grout for a long period of time. It also lets you catch any potential issues before they become a major pain in the future.
Use Mats to Avoid Tracking Dirt on To Your Tiles
Another great way to prevent any dirt, grime and mold from eating away at your tile grout is to use placemats that you or any visitor can use. These placemats catch any dirt, grime and mold spores that may be hitching a ride on someone’s footwear. The stuff that gets caught on the placemats is stuff that isn’t tracked onto your tiles.
Do remember to clean and replace these placemats as they get dirty, since a dirty placemat can eventually become an issue as well.
Keep Your Tiles as Dry as Possible
Tile grout is excellent at protecting the wall under the tiles, and keeping the tiles themselves adhered. However, one of the worst enemies of tile grout is water. Water can slowly erode the grout itself and create numerous issues later down the line. So we recommend that you try your best to keep tile grout as dry as possible. A few good ways to do this is to keep a mop, rag or both on hand.
Keep a Room with Tiles Ventilated
Have you ever gone into a room where the air felt stale or stagnant? You might not realize it but this is actually a big problem for most rooms, and even more so if the room uses tiles. Stale air usually means that any mold spores that come into the room have time to find a surface to stick to and grow. It also means that any water in the air stays there, which also helps mold grow. Make sure that you have a way to keep your tiled rooms flowing with air, otherwise you might have to deal with mold eating away at your tile grout in the future.
How To Handle Dirty Tile Grout
You can’t really stop your tile grout from growing dirty over time and it’s an accepted fact that a room will eventually get messy, no matter how much you try to keep it clean. So the next step when trying to keep your tile grout mold and dirt free, is to ensure that you’re prepared to actively clean up these messes.
Bleach is Your Best Friend
One of the most common ways for you to handle any dirt and grime on tiles and the grout that’s holding it together, is bleach. Bleach is a fantastic cleaning chemical that can really scrub out those problematic stains. Mix it in with water, and start scrubbing with a mop, rag or scrub brush and you’re good to go.
Alternative Cleaning Solutions Work Too!
Besides using bleach to clean things up, you’ve got a number of other great cleaning solutions that you can use to remove stains and molds. Lemon juice, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide and many others work just as well!
Hire A Professional Cleaning Team
A common issue as to why grout stains can start growing is the fact that you simply may not have the time to handle the cleaning yourself. In this scenario, it may be worth it to hire a professional cleaning team like Master Clean Group to do your tile scrubbing for you! A professional cleaning team will be able to keep your tile grout white, and mold free without any issue!
Final Thoughts
Keeping tiles free from stains, grime, dirt and mold is a necessary part of being a home or business owner. And hopefully that part of your home or business life is made much easier with the tips and tricks we’ve left in this article for you!