How Clean Do Grout Lines Need To Be

Grout lines on tile floors can become dirty and discolored over time. To clean either light or dark-colored grout lines, try the following methods using common household cleaners.

To clean dark-colored grout lines on tile floors:

Mix baking soda and white vinegar in a cup to a paste-like consistency.

Use a small brush to apply the mixture to the grout lines.

Allow the mixture to remain on the grout lines for a little while.

Use a small scrub brush or an old toothbrush to scrub the grout lines.

Clean the floor with water to remove the baking soda and vinegar solution.

Cleaning tile grout with old toothbrush. — Using an old toothbrush to clean tile grout lines.

To clean white or light-colored grout lines on tile floors:

Sprinkle dry oxygen bleach on the grout lines.

Spray the bleach with water in a spray bottle to wet it down.

Allow the oxygen bleach to remain on the grout lines for a few minutes.

Scrub the grout lines with a small scrub brush or old toothbrush.

Clean the floor with water to remove the oxygen bleach.

Watch this video to find out more.

Further Information

Cleaning and Staining Grout in Tile Floors (video)
How to Apply and Seal Grout on Tile Floors (video)

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Danny Lipford: If you have dark grout, like this, in order to get it looking a little cleaner and more consistent in color, this is a great solution to clean it.

Get some baking soda, mix it just in a cup. Then, at the consistency of kind of a paste, add white vinegar—just a little bit or it'll really foam up on you. Then, mix it up like this. That's just about perfect. Of course to do a whole floor, you'll need a lot more than this, but just as an example here.

And then you can apply it right to the grout. Put plenty on there, you can do the whole entire floor. Then, let it sit there a little while, soak in, and start working. Then get your little brush, like this. Just brush it out. And then come back and thoroughly clean the floor. Now, like I say, it'll make it a lot cleaner and a lot more consistent look on the darker grout.

Now, if you have lighter colored grout or white grout, you'll want to try oxygen bleach. A lot of people use oxygen bleach for a lot of different things, but you'll approach it a little bit differently.

Basically, you'll take some of the oxygen bleach, and just sprinkle it over the grout joints. Then take a water bottle and spray all of the joints down to kind of activate the bleach.

Then let it sit there a little while, again come back with your brush, brush it out. Let it sit a little longer, and then wipe everything out. And that will certainly brighten up that white or lighter colored grout. And that should really make a big difference in the cleanliness and the look of your grout.