How to Get Floor Grout White Again
Updated 2019
The discolored and dirt-stained grout in the tile floor of our foyer looked super old and gross, but afterwards trying nearly a dozen cleaners and cleaning tricks we nigh gave upward. Then we finally find THE SOLUTION to making the grout look white and make clean again!
Now that we're washed, you can run into how the view just got a heckova lot improve around hither. The crisp white grout lines play off the white trim and make the whole space feel newer and cleaner.
The funny thing is, information technology wasn't actually cleaning that did the pull a fast one on. So if you've got a similar issue with discolored or stain grout, here'south our official intervention: stop scrubbing! Well, mayhap give scrubbing a off-white shot, but don't be discouraged if it gets you nowhere. There'southward some other way!
Cleaning Tricks That DIDN'T Work
As you lot might recall, for the past 6 months that nosotros've lived hither, it has looked like this.
I gave nigh every method under the sunday a shot to make that grout await clean. After repeatedly scrubbing the heck out of it, I knew that it was actually very (very, very) make clean… information technology just was so discolored and stained in sure areas, that no amount of blood, sweat, tears, or elbow grease could make information technology look that way.
Some of my attempts to clean grout included (but weren't limited to):
- diverse baking soda paste mixtures
- various white vinegar solutions
- copious magic erasers
- specialty grout cleaning floor sprays/potions/scrubs
- bleach pens
- oxygenating cleaners like Oxiclean
- Mrs. Meyers powdered cleanser + a wire brush
- Barkeeper's Friend + a wire brush
- a borrowed steam mop
- scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush
- lots and lots of muttered cursing
The Solution To Getting White Grout Again
Past this point I did what most people would do. I gave up and ignored information technology for another few days (what's a few days afterward six months of no-dice results?). And and so I finally faced facts. The grout either needed to exist scraped out and regrouted entirely (which makes for a pretty messy job, particularly in the main hallway of our house which connects the entire upstairs to each room downstairs) or it needed to be refinished.
Thankfully a few of yous tipped me off to a product you've used with success called Polyblend Grout Renew. Let me just skip to the punchline: it worked, and I wish I had tried it earlier spending 6 months scrubbing my heed out.
The cost? A cool $12 from Habitation Depot. (Update: information technology's closer to $15 at present, just you lot also get it more than places – even Amazon!) Can I go a what what? Notation: this might sound like an ad for the stuff, only Grout Renew doesn't know usa from Adam – I'm just across grateful that it worked.
Choose Your Grout Paint Color
GroutRenew comes in several colors at present – over three dozen, in fact, including several shades of white and fair. So y'all may exist tempted to go for the brightest white to become the cleanest, freshest wait (that's "Artic White" pictured below). However, just similar pigment colors, the brightest, whitest version may not be best for you.
Be sure to have some time to expect at your room, your tile, and your lighting to brand sure you're choosing something that blends well with your infinite. You tin always test out a few colors besides earlier committing to one. John and I really considered 2 colors – Natural Gray and Oyster Gray, which both look pretty night compared to the brighter whites. We had seen a neighbor with darker grout in her slate flooring, then nosotros idea it was worth because.
In the end we chose Oyster Grayness (shown below) which is still a mid-tone Ivory color – definitely not a bright white. Merely it looked the most natural and still seemed very bright in contrast to the dark slate tile, without looking artificiall white. Any brighter and we worried it would look like someone in a Crest Whitstrips advertising! You know, almost too blinding.
Oh and the Grout Renew was low odor and low-VOC, so this pregnant lady could get downwards with information technology. I did wearable a respirator, along with opening windows, just because I'm into added ventilation and bad Blight impersonations.
GroutRenew Alternatives
This is the only product we've used, merely there are some others on the market if this detail one is not available. Lowe's sells a similar product past MAPEI that comes in a clasp bottle. Amazon as well has a well-reviewed Grout Pen production that comes in a white or beige option. Once more, we oasis't personally tried those, but they may be some alternatives to consider if the PolyBlend is not available to you lot.
How To Apply Grout Paint
The downside to this solution is that it tin be time intensive (and patience testing) depending on the size of your surface. For this floor, information technology took nearly viii hours to apply. Simply since I had hands spent 25 hours trying various stain lifting methods before resorting to this, well, eight hours with a canteen of Grout Renew was a minor price to pay for VICTORY.
Step 1: Clean Your Tile & Grout
I know I said scrubbing wasn't the solution, just information technology part of the process. I'll suspension while you laugh since I had already done that X Million TIMES. Just like any surface you lot'll be painting, y'all want to make certain information technology's clean of dust and debris. And so at to the lowest degree we're not talking a heavy-duty scrubbing, merely your regular washing to remove surface dirt should practise.
Step 2: Pick Your Brush Or Application Tool
The instructions suggested using an old toothbrush to apply the GroutRenew it into the grout lines and and so permit it dry for 24 hours. I went with a thin craft brush instead because I had way more than command (read: mode less mess on the tile surface). The thin paint castor was likewise piece of cake to dip directly into the bottle when I needed to load upwardly with paint.
Step 3: Programme Your Starting Point & Exit Road
If you're painting a floor, like we were, yous'll want to sure yous don't paint yourself into a corner (or at least if you practise, yous tin can carefully tiptoe across your tile without stepping on the cracks). I started in the one-half-bath because I figured I could work my way out of the room and close the door behind me so it could dry out.
It was the reverse of fast. Merely it worked. Slowly I eked my way out from effectually the toilet and correct out the door, which took about an hour and forty five minutes.
Step four: Exist Ready For Mistakes
Fifty-fifty with a small craft brush there were nevertheless times when it got on the surface of the tile, and in that location was a very short window for wiping information technology off before information technology set (and then had to be scrubbed with a fingernail, which was a huge pain) and then I literally would exercise ane or ii cracks at a time so chop-chop follow upwards to polish both sides of the seam out with a modest slice of toilet paper (this would remove any from the surface of the tile every bit well as make the sides of each seam overnice and straight looking). A paper towel or clean cloth would work likewise. That is, if toilet paper isn't fancy plenty for yo?u.
Step 5: Be Patient & Pace Yourself
Being pregnant, the bath was all I had energy for on Solar day i. Day ii involved three more than hours of line painting and wiping, and I opted to practise 50% of the vestibule in a strategic style then we could all withal walk on the other one-half of it. Here'due south a shot to prove you how hilarious John is. I said: ok, get artistic with this picture so my giant respirator doesn't look weird. I like his version of getting creative – just lop off the whole head expanse.
The second twenty-four hour period was the hardest day by far, only because I was still kind of sore from contorting my significant body around in the small half bathroom the day before, and the little knobby parts of each of my ankles were dragging on the tile every bit I scooted effectually like a domestic dog with fleas, but it was all worth it. Worth it and then some!
Day three was another three hour procedure, merely information technology was the most heady twenty-four hours considering I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The stop of the longest-running house battle that I had e'er waged was well-nigh. I just worked my style around the antechamber doing the other half of those pathways that I had done the twenty-four hour period before, and I ducked into that terminal closet while pausing occasionally to fist pump and work on my clean grout acceptance spoken communication ("I'd similar to thank the academy, and the grout gods who invented this cheap bottle of miracles and unicorns").
Step vi: Let It Dry
Later on each awarding process, we gave that department a full 24 hour drying menstruation and fabricated sure nothing got wet for 72 hours (since that was another warning on the bottle). It's a good bargain lighter than the old grout was, which still makes u.s. say "whoa at present" when we walk through the hallway, only we think it'southward just our optics adjusting. Maybe after 6 months our brains just can't get over the fact that it finally looks clean!
We also had about ane/4 of a bottle left all of this, which was great in case we need some affect-ups down the line. I'll definitely update you lot guys if anything funky happens, but and so far it has been swell.
Update: After nearly two years of use, fifty-fifty with semi-frequent moppings, dirty shoes/paws, and a whole lot of foot traffic, our grout still looks identical to when I practical this stuff (you tin can see an updated picture that we shared later on six months of usehither). For the folks who can't find it in stores, here's an affiliate link to it on Habitation Depot.com and on Amazon , and s ince a few people have likewise asked for a "manner dorsum" earlier shot, here you go. It's crazy how much bluer the tile looked with the brown stained grout and all that blueish trim!
Is anyone else waging war on something stubborn that's taking more than a few attempts? Like some grout that refuses to become clean? Please feel costless to pivot and share this postal service to spread the word. I'd LOVE to assistance anyone else dealing with this supremely annoying result and then nosotros tin all exercise the clean grout finish zone trip the light fantastic together. Because believe me, after this was washed there were mic drops. In that location was shoulder dusting. There was a full on pregnant-lady end zone dance.
Originally Published in 2014
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Source: https://www.younghouselove.com/how-you-like-me-now-grout/
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