Best Way To Clean and Seal 15 year Old Grout

[PickleF16]

My parents have never sealed the sanded grout on their floors. The grout lines are fairly large and the color is a medium shade. Every 6 months or so my mom will steam clean the grout feeling like it cleans and disinfects it. She has even gone so far as to use bleach water to clean it. It doesn't look bad but it is definitely darker than it's original color.

Now she would like to strip it clean and seal it so it won't get so dirty and hopefully retain its original color.

Can someone give me a step-by-step process that I can pass on to my mom so she can accomplish this task?

Also, what is the recommended cleaning procedures on a daily or weekly basis? I have heard some recommend only dust mopping (no water) to keep the dirt from packing into the grout. Since we are talking about a kitchen floor, what do the professionals recommend using when a wet mop clean up is needed?

As always, I am so grateful for this forum and the people who donate their time to helping others. :bow:

Terri

[Sponsored Links]

[Davestone]

If you want a grout joint that won't get darker or absorb stains look into colorsealing.For general cleaning typically i recommend dust mopping, but that's not really appropriate for a kitchen,then we recommend a neutral tile cleaner,and rinsing your water frequently.Pushing dirty water into the joints really doesn't help.For grout that old i would recommend an acidic tile and grout cleaner.Mix it appropriately and let it dwell on the tile for five minutes, then scrub with a stiff brush,and use a wetvac to get up the residue,then rinse a couple times.If the color is good move on, if not you may need to clean again or try the colorsealing.Let dry a day and use an impregnating sealer following the directions.

[ccarlisle]

Some people advocate the use of an alkaline cleaner on a kitchen floor since there most of the soils are oily, therefore predominantly acidic, and thus respond better to alkaline cleaners. Follow that by an acidic cleaner and/or a bleach depending on the results.

[PickleF16]

I appreciate all the information, it is very helpful. Sounds like a bit of a daunting task but needs to be done.

This is a great forum and I'm thankful you are here and willing to share with others.

Aloha,
Terri

[Davestone]

The reason for the acidic cleaner is to strip anything that's on the grout,like sealers,and to remove a layer of it to get to the natural color.

[SABoyt]

Sorry Charles, no disrespect to your opinion or post but i cringe every time i hear the word bleach. I have had customers that used bleach on their floors and destroyed the grout color not to mention the affect to the tile itself. Let's just use the bleach in the laundry and leave it off the floor. Other oxidizing products will do the same job (or controlled acid use) without the dangers of color change.

Dave, many of the sealers out there today respond better to alkaline than to acid. Not to say that acid will not remove most of them, but the alkaline cleaners will sometimes do a better job. I agree with your post (#2) but i would use an alkaline cleaner first to remove the dirt then the acid to etch the stains.

Terri, if you use a wet mop on the floor just be sure to dry the grout lines with a towel after mopping. This will help to eliminate the standing dirty water in the grout lines. There are professional hard surface cleaners that can handle this task on the tile and grout just like professional carpet cleaners do for carpet. This might be the best first step to get it to where it needs to be and make it easy to maintain.

[ccarlisle]

Steve:

Point well taken! and thanks for correcting my post... I agree that strong oxidizing agents may affect the dyes or pigments in some grouts so I'd best be careful with my wording.

If we use "bleaching agents" at all, we use diluted sodium hypochlorite (the chlorine bleach we all know in laundry) or hydrogen peroxide. And since we know that either of these oxidizers may oxidize a sensitive dye or pigment over time, their use should be quick (just to affect any stains) in order to avoid any colour change.

However, we have not seen as much change in the grout colour as you might have, as our experience is probably less than yours. The focus of the use of oxidizers is the stains at the surface of the grout that have not been affected by our alkaline or acidic cleaning, nor the temperature and the pressure of our equipment. We hope that the organic dyes - because I think they are the more vulnerable to oxidation than pigments - are only minimally affected - but we know at least some will.

Perhaps we should all stick to hydrogen peroxide? unfortunately, I still think H2O2 would oxidize dyes in a similar way, although fewer dyes would be sensitive. But I don't really know...but I have a huch it's a matter of concentration. Plus, there's 'grout colorants' to consider too...:confused:

Good stuff to wonder about!! Thanks for the heads-up!

[SABoyt]

Posted by ccarlisle: And since we know that either of these oxidizers may oxidize a sensitive dye or pigment over time, their use should be quick (just to affect any stains) in order to avoid any colour change. This is what you and i know that many of the non-pros that read this thread might not - concentration and dwell time. :tup2: Most of the problems that i have seen arise from the use of clorox has been its use straight or only slightly diluted and over only a period of just a few weeks in some cases.