How To Clean Grout Between Professional Cleanings

people always ask me why their grout lines get so dirty even though they clean their floors regularly well the answer is simple and it might surprise you your grout lines get so dirty because of your routine cleaning not in spite of it magic carpet man I know I know it seems counterintuitive the floor is dirty so you clean it then it's clean right well maybe it depends on how well you clean the floor before you cleaned the floor let me explain if you don't get all of the dry loose dirt off the floor before you get the floor wet then you just turn all that dirt into mud then what happens to the mud when you run your mop over the floor you smear the mud all over the floor but more importantly into the grout lines you see your tile is non-porous it can't absorb anything at all and I'm talking about ceramic tile here not Satya or brick or any kind of natural stone I'm only talking about ceramic tile right now ceramic tile is essentially no different than glass from a cleaning perspective the glaze they melt onto the surface is hard and smooth like glass and it can be cleaned very effectively just by wiping it down grout though is nothing like glass it's rough and porous and it can be very difficult to get the dirt out of it once it gets a hold of it so as your mop wipes the tile clean it pushes all the mud into your grout week after week this goes on and it happens so gradually that you don't even notice it until you move a rug or a piece of furniture or you have a few tiles replaced and then all of a sudden you see the difference that's why it's so important to get all that dry loose dirt up before you get the floor wet sweeping is okay and if that's all you got then it'll have to do but vacuuming will get up more loose dirt than sweeping will and the more dirt you can get up before you get the floor wet means Lester that you'll turn into mud later unfortunately none of what I just said matters at all because life doesn't happen in a vacuum in an ideal world we would all thoroughly vacuum the whole floor before using a pH neutral cleaner to clean it the problem with idealism though is it tends not to account for life in the real world in the real world nobody vacuums their tile every single day and most people use a broom instead of a vacuum anyway and a broom simply cannot wrangle the fine particulate soils into a dustpan and so it gets left behind on the floor and then someone spills a glass of milk which runs off the edge of the table and onto the floor and your toddler toddles around the house with their spill-proof sippy cup leaking all over the place and as you pass dishes from the synched to the dishwasher water drips onto the floor and I'm not even gonna get into what the dogs are up to and now all that fine particulate matter that's all over the floor is now wet and turning to mud and there's nothing you can do about it because it's too late to vacuum all you can do is wipe up that mess but that's not enough to totally clean the floor unless you have the ability to extract the dirt from the floor you'll be limited in how much dirt you can get off the floor extraction is how professionals clean a tile floor and it's the only way to get the floor really clean extraction allows us to fully rinse the cleaner the dirt the grime and everything else off the tile and out of the grout you just can't get all of the dirt up without extraction and that brings us to the main reason why your grout gets so dirty the MA and it doesn't matter if you're using an old string mop one of those maxi pad mops or a microfiber mop which is what I recommend they all have the same liability they can only hold so much dirt before they start to smear the excess all over the floor and say it with me into the grout but these are the tools that we have at our disposal so we have to make them work for us and we do that by thoroughly vacuuming before we wet clean changing our mop water our maxi pad our microfiber pad or whatever else we're using often and use a pH neutral tile cleaner after vacuuming this is the most important step in keeping your tile and grout clean so what is a neutral pH tile cleaner and why should you use one a neutral pH tile cleaner is neither acidic nor alkaline the pH scale works like this seven is neutral water is the 7 on the pH scale so our floor cleaners like fabuloso and bonus stone tile laminate cleaner everything above a 7 is alkaline and everything below a 7 is an acid moving away from 7 each number increases tenfold 9 is 10 times stronger than 8 10 is 10 times stronger than 9 and so on until you reach 14 which is 10 million times stronger than 8 the same applies to the acid side each number is 10 times stronger than the previous making 0 10 million times stronger than six using a neutral ph cleaner is important for two reasons the first is that using alkaline cleaners like leach and ammonia and acidic cleaners like vinegar and pine-sol can actually cause a buildup of residue on the floor that can attract new dirt like a magnet makes the floor very difficult to clean even for a professional take this floor for example my client mopped this floor with ammonia every week for years and years and years just look at that buildup [Applause] we also recommend against using acidic cleaners like vinegar for routine cleaning because vinegar is not a very effective cleaner vinegar is very good at removing some inorganic soils like water spots on glass but very ineffective at removing organic soils which is what the majority of the dirt found in your home is made of organic soils also vinegar can damage materials like travertine marble limestone and it can even cause damage to grow if used for prolonged periods of time like this floor that's been cleaned with vinegar once a week for the past nine years look at how much grout is missing from this floor the acid in the vinegar dissolves the calcium in the cement and the grout and weakens the grout overall across the floor and you end up losing grout and incidentally if you have damaged Grau like this and you hire someone to regrab the damaged areas be sure that they match the new grout color to the old grout color not the color of the dirt that's on the old grout this seems pretty logical but it's something that I'm seeing more and more and more lately the contractor will match the new grout to the dirty old ground basically using black grout to fill in the areas where the grout is missing then after I clean there are areas like this that look dirty because they crowded with black grout these areas aren't dirty this is the way the grout looks there's just black grout interspersed among the tan grout there is nothing that can be done about this from a cleaning standpoint the only thing you can do is to regrow it looks awful and it makes me look bad because there's no way that I can set my clients expectations about something that I didn't even know was there until I reveal it in the cleaning process why do tile guys do this come on man show a little pride in your work the second very important reason that you should only use pH neutral floor cleaner to clean your tile and grout is because alkaline and acidic cleaners will diminish the life of your grout sealer grout sealer is a clear solution that we apply only to the grout lines the grout absorbs the sealer which clogs up the capillaries in the cement preventing the muddy water from your mob from getting into the cement in the grout which by the way happens to be slightly alkaline and the grout sealer is made to bond with that slightly alkaline cement that means if you're cleaning with an acid like vinegar you can actually lower the pH of the grout and cause the Seeler to fail of course sealing the grout does not mean that the grout will stay clean forever there's a common misconception about grout sealer and carpet protector that once applied to the floor they never ever get dirty again it just doesn't work that way what the grout sealer does is act like a barrier between the grout and the dirt it's the same principle as applying wax to your car your car still gets dirty but the wax is there to take the abuse from the elements and when it starts to look a little dingy you wash the car apply a new coat of wax and then everything is right with the world again I can tell instantly when I start cleaning a floor if the grout has been sealed or not this is an example of grout that has not been sealed or at the very least hasn't been sealed recently see how slowly I'm going and how many passes I have to take to get the dirt out and now here is an example of grout that has been sealed see how effortlessly the grout comes clean and while we're on the subject of sealing grout I should also point out how not to seal your floor this floor was coated with acrylic floor finish don't ever do this acrylic is not made for tile and grout or natural stone or wood or any other flooring except vinyl and should never be used on anything else it took a lot of extra work to remove the coating and get this floor cleaned and look how dirty the floor was with the acrylic coating on there only use a sealer that's made specifically for sealing cement grout well that's about it if your floor is new you should start implementing these steps immediately if it's not new then a cleaning professional like me can help you by cleaning and sealing your floor and bringing it back to a condition where you can then start implementing these steps going forward from there you should be able to keep your floor looking good for about 18 to 24 months before you need another major professional cleaning and if everything is done right future cleanings should be a breeze and remember a floor that's easy to clean is not only healthier but it will save you money I hope you have a better understanding now of why your grout gets so dirty and what you can do to help keep it clean if you want more tips and insights about cleaning follow me on Facebook and Instagram the links are in the description down below I post about different cleaning situations that I come across on a daily basis and what I do to get things clean and don't forget to Like and subscribe thanks for watching and until the next one stay clean [Music] [Applause]

Channel: How To Clean Like A Pro

Views: 1,777,721

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Id: qaYa4PwpKh8

Length: 10min 15sec (615 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 13 2020