How to Protect Bathroom Grout?
Bathroom grout is usually made of sand, cement and water. Although it is traditionally white, it is now made and sold in a number of colors. Grout adheres your bathroom tile to the walls, floors or ceilings. It also absorbs water, mold and mildew because it is a porous material. In order to protect bathroom grout from discoloration and bacteria, it is essential to clean, dry and seal the grout regularly. Read more to find out how to protect bathroom grout.
Dry your bathroom after every shower or cleaning. Use a squeegee, towel or cloth to dry all marble tiles after they get wet. Make sure you have a bathroom fan or window that can suck the excess moisture out from the air. If you do not do this, grout will absorb excess moisture, which will turn into mold and mildew. It will stain and breakdown the structure of the grout, causing it to crumble prematurely. In extreme cases, the water and mold can get behind the grout and into the floor tiles.
Clean bathroom tile and grout weekly with a pH neutral cleaner. Many multipurpose surface cleaners are pH neutral, so check on the bottle before you buy and use it. A neutral cleaner means that the pH, or “potential of hydrogen” is not acidic or alkali. The potential of hydrogen is judged on a scale of 0 to 14, with 0 to 6.9 being acidic, 7 being neutral, and 7.1 to 14 being alkali. Water is also neutral, at a pH level of 7.
Clean the rustic tile and grout occasionally with a mild alkali cleaner. The frequency of deep cleaning grout depends upon the amount of traffic the bathroom gets. Deep clean every month, if it is heavily used, with 1 of the 2 methods below.
Mix 1/2 cup of powdered oxygen bleach into a gallon of water. Use a spoon to stir it until it is completely dissolved. Pour the mixture all over your dry bathroom grout. Reapply after the solution soaks into the grout, or about every 15 minutes for vertical surfaces. After 30 minutes scrub the tile and grout with a nylon brush, or a toothbrush for an extra thorough cleaning. Rinse well with warm water and dry with a towel or squeegee. The more you reapply the oxygen bleach on your wall tile and scrub it, the cleaner your grout will become.
