When you walk into someone’s home, chances are high that their kitchen and/or bathroom will have tile flooring—not just for the aesthetics, but for durability factor as well. In fact, it’s likely that your home has tile floors somewhere, too. And with good reason. Clean and tidy tiles do a lot for bringing life and beauty to your property, especially if they’re new.

However, as time goes on, no matter how many times you carry out tile and grout cleaning, the tiles as well as the grout lines in between those tiles, become dirtier. Regular cleaning with water and detergent can actually affect how grout lines look because they absorb those substances. Over time, this can lead to discoloration.

Certain tiles may also start accumulating dirt, becoming duller and reducing the overall appeal of your tile floor.

Given that, it’s easy to see why many homeowners struggle with keeping their tile floors in practically pristine condition. This is where professional tile and grout cleaning comes in.

If you’re not sure whether or not calling in a professional is worth it, here are several reasons to do so.

The Use of Advanced Cleaning Solutions and Equipment

While we’re sure there’s nothing wrong with the detergents you use to clean your floors, there’s no denying that the grout between your tiles will absorb part of the solution due to how porous grout actually is. Mop water used to clean the floor will also seep into the material, leading to further staining.

Professionals, however, have access to cleaners that won’t be absorbed as readily, and advanced equipment like high-powered vacuums to loosen, if not outright remove dirt that’s been embedded in the tiles and grout. They use brushes, too, that are specially designed to remove grime and dirt from grout lines, which can do a lot to improve a tile floor’s appearance.

Given all that, it’s easy to see why professional tile and grout cleaning has an edge over regular cleaning, and why the former would be preferable.

Periodic Cleaning Means Tiles Last Longer

If you always choose to go the DIY route when cleaning your tile floor, you’ll find yourself dealing with several tiles loosening thanks to a buildup of waste below them. This would call for immediate repair. When you get professionals to handle this cleaning, though, you can rest assured this will prevent buildup and thereby lessen the possibility of tiles coming loose.

Professional tile and grout cleaning can also help you avoid water damage, which can happen when mold and mildew accumulate underneath the tiles. Besides causing tiles to loosen, this lets even more water flow in. This can lead to even more tiles eventually coming loose, as well as damaging the floor under your tiles.

Tile and Grout Cleaning Becomes a Hassle-Free Process

Most homeowners put off cleaning tile floors because getting them to look clean and bright seems tedious, not to mention may feel like it takes a lot of time. Ironically, if you hold off on cleaning your tile floor for these reasons, you’re just making things worse. When you do clean your floor, you’ll have a harder time getting rid of the dirt and grime that’s built up

When you call a professional, though, they can get rid of much of the dirt and even apply a clear grout sealer to keep the grout lines from absorbing moisture. This lays the groundwork for easier cleaning in the future.

As you can see, you have a lot to gain—and practically nothing to lose—if you have professionals handle your tile and grout cleaning. You obviously don’t want to wait until your tile floors start showing signs of damage. Just contact the nearest professional floor and carpet cleaners in your area to find out more and see the benefits for yourself.

Stone and tiles are a stunning and durable choice of flooring and walls for kitchens, bathrooms and living areas. Although tiles are generally easy to clean and require little maintenance, the grout between tiles can become discolored and dirty over time. While tiles and stone are generally water resistant and impermeable, grout is slightly porous.  This means that it can absorb dirt, mold, bacteria and grime over time, which not only means your grout is no longer white, it’s no longer clean either. Here we look at the most effective way to get grout truly clean again and whiter than ever.

The Disadvantages of Home Treatments

Home treatments for grout whitening include using vinegar, bleach, scrubbing brushes, baking soda and other commercial solutions to clean and whiten grout. There are disadvantages to these treatments and care needs to be taken when using them. Acid based treatments such as using vinegar can gradually erode and eat away and the grout, requiring you to re-grout your tiled surfaces over time. Bleaching products such as chlorine bleach, baking soda and other commercial products may temporarily ‘whiten’ the grout, but don’t fix the underlying issue such as removing mold and dirt. Scrubbing also erodes grout and requires extensive work and effort. These drawbacks make these techniques the less preferable options when it comes to whitening and cleaning grout and tiles.

Why You Should Seal Your Tiles and Grout

Because home cleaning methods for tiles and grout have some drawbacks, it’s best to minimize their use. As they say, ‘prevention is better than cure’. This is where the role of tile and grout sealing is so important. Sealing tiles and grout reduces their permeability to mold, dirt, bacteria and other stains. Sealing helps to prevent staining and keeps your tiles clean and grout whiter for longer. Always keep your grout sealed, and reseal it after cleaning when the protective sealant might be scrubbed or washed off.

Why Professional Tile And Grout Cleaning Works

Professional tile and grout cleaning is a unique high powered technique that’s more effective than home cleaning techniques. The professional tile cleaning process uses commercial cleaning techniques and solutions to target deeply ingrained dirt and mold from within grout. Using high quality cleaning solutions and deep scrubbing machines or high pressure sprayers, dirt and mold are extracted from deep in your grout and tiles. This helps to instantly whiten your grout while keeping your stone, tiles and grout clean and hygienic. Because this commercial technique is more thorough, you don’t need to clean as often. That means your grout seal stays intact and your grout stays whiter and cleaner.

Professional stone, tile and grout cleaning also saves you from the often laborious work involved in scrubbing and cleaning your own tiles.

Getting your grout white and keeping it that way means prioritizing deep, professional tile and grout cleaning and sealing grout to prolong the effects. Avoid harsh cleaners or acid based cleaners to maintain your grout and keep it looking beautiful for longer.

While fresh white grout and clean tiles can look stunning when first installed in your home, grout often becomes discolored and even moldy over time. No matter how much cleaning or mopping you do on your tiled surfaces, you can never seem to get them quite as bright and shining as they were before. While getting your grout and tiles perfectly clean again can be difficult, here we have compiled some of the most popular and effective methods of tile and grout cleaning.

Homemade Cleaning Solutions

Natural and homemade cleaning solutions like vinegar and baking soda are popular choices for routine cleaning of your tiles and grout. Combining a paste of baking soda and applying it to your grout, then spraying vinegar over your tiles can create an effervescent cleaner that lifts minor stains. A combination of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda applied to grout, then washed off with dish soap can help to remove minor discoloration and bring the whiteness back to your tiles. While these homemade treatments are not so invasive, they can often fail to lift the deeper stains and stronger discolorations, and more intense grout cleaning methods need to be sought.

Chemical Solutions

There are a range of commercial chemical-based solutions on the market that claim to deep clean grout or bleach grout to return it to its original color. While these commercial solutions can be occasionally effective, they can also end up damaging tiles and surfaces in the bathroom kitchen where they’re used. Try to review all cleaning solution choices with your local tile flooring professional before using on your floors.

Bleach

As a method to remove heavy duty stains and mold from grout, bleach is often turned to as the ‘sledgehammer’ option to conquer even the toughest stains. Bleaches can include oxygen bleach, chlorine bleach and undiluted hydrogen peroxide. While strong bleaches may seem effective, they can actually weaken and destroy grout more quickly, causing grout to crack or crumble away. If you have mold in your grout, bleaching will only remove the color of the mold, and won’t actually get rid of the mold itself, making it appear as though you’ve solved the problem when you’ve really only covered it up. Bleach is best used only extremely sparingly and diluted on problem areas when it comes to tiles and grout.

Scrubbing 

While scrubbing is touted as a popular and chemical free way to remove stains and mold, what is actually happening when you scrub your grout is that you’re wearing away the uppermost layers of the grout. This can weaken your grout over time and is once again best used only sparingly.

Professional Cleaning

Professional tile and grout cleaning remains the gold standard for getting your tiles and grout clean and white again. Professional tile cleaning using a combination of gentle yet effective deep steam cleaning, targeted cleaning solutions and expert techniques, to help make your tiles and grout shine again, with minimal damage to your surfaces.

While getting your tiles and grout back to pristine condition can be a challenge, professional tile and grout cleaning can bring new life to your tiled floors. Maintain the effectiveness of professional tile and grout cleaning with regular routine maintenance using safe cleaners and gentle techniques to maintain strong and clean grout