How to Make Shower Tile Grout White Again
Updated 2019
The discolored and clay-stained grout in the tile floor of our foyer looked super old and gross, but after trying nearly a dozen cleaners and cleaning tricks nosotros virtually gave up. So we finally find THE SOLUTION to making the grout look white and clean once again!
Now that nosotros're done, you tin run into how the view just got a heckova lot meliorate around here. The crisp white grout lines play off the white trim and make the whole space experience newer and cleaner.
The funny thing is, it wasn't actually cleaning that did the trick. Then if yous've got a similar result with discolored or stain grout, here'south our official intervention: stop scrubbing! Well, perhaps give scrubbing a fair shot, only don't be discouraged if it gets you nowhere. There's some other way!
Cleaning Tricks That DIDN'T Work
As you might call back, for the by six months that we've lived here, it has looked similar this.
I gave nearly every method nether the sunday a shot to make that grout expect clean. After repeatedly scrubbing the heck out of information technology, I knew that it was actually very (very, very) make clean… information technology just was and then discolored and stained in sure areas, that no corporeality of blood, sweat, tears, or elbow grease could make information technology look that way.
Some of my attempts to make clean grout included (but weren't limited to):
- various blistering 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 castor
- 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
By 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 after vi months of no-dice results?). And so I finally faced facts. The grout either needed to exist scraped out and regrouted entirely (which makes for a pretty messy job, especially 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 you tipped me off to a product y'all've used with success chosen Polyblend Grout Renew. Let me merely skip to the punchline: it worked, and I wish I had tried it before spending six months scrubbing my mind out.
The cost? A cool $12 from Home Depot. (Update: it'south closer to $15 now, simply you lot as well get it more places – even Amazon!) Can I go a what what? Note: this might sound like an ad for the stuff, only Grout Renew doesn't know us from Adam – I'm just across grateful that it worked.
Choose Your Grout Paint Color
GroutRenew comes in several colors now – over 3 dozen, in fact, including several shades of white and fair. Then you may be tempted to get for the brightest white to get the cleanest, freshest await (that's "Artic White" pictured below). However, just like paint colors, the brightest, whitest version may not be all-time for you.
Be sure to have some fourth dimension to await at your room, your tile, and your lighting to make sure you're choosing something that blends well with your space. You can always test out a few colors too earlier committing to ane. John and I actually considered two colors – Natural Gray and Oyster Gray, which both look pretty dark compared to the brighter whites. Nosotros had seen a neighbor with darker grout in her slate floor, then nosotros thought it was worth considering.
In the end we chose Oyster Gray (shown below) which is still a mid-tone Ivory colour – definitely not a bright white. But it looked the most natural and even so seemed very bright in contrast to the nighttime slate tile, without looking artificiall white. Whatsoever brighter and nosotros worried it would expect similar someone in a Crest Whitstrips advertizing! Y'all know, most too blinding.
Oh and the Grout Renew was depression smell and low-VOC, and then this pregnant lady could get downward with it. I did article of clothing a respirator, forth with opening windows, just because I'one thousand into added ventilation and bad Blight impersonations.
GroutRenew Alternatives
This is the simply product we've used, but there are some others on the market if this particular one is non bachelor. Lowe'south sells a like production by MAPEI that comes in a squeeze bottle. Amazon besides has a well-reviewed Grout Pen product that comes in a white or beige option. Once more, we haven't personally tried those, merely they may exist some alternatives to consider if the PolyBlend is non available to you.
How To Apply Grout Paint
The downside to this solution is that it can exist fourth dimension intensive (and patience testing) depending on the size of your surface. For this floor, it took nearly eight hours to apply. But 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 pocket-size price to pay for VICTORY.
Step 1: Clean Your Tile & Grout
I know I said scrubbing wasn't the solution, but it function of the process. I'll break while you laugh since I had already done that TEN One thousand thousand TIMES. But like any surface you'll be painting, you want to brand sure it's make clean of dust and droppings. So at least we're not talking a heavy-duty scrubbing, simply your regular washing to remove surface dirt should exercise.
Pace 2: Selection Your Brush Or Awarding Tool
The instructions suggested using an one-time toothbrush to apply the GroutRenew it into the grout lines and then let it dry for 24 hours. I went with a thin craft brush instead because I had way more control (read: way less mess on the tile surface). The thin paint brush was as well easy to dip directly into the bottle when I needed to load up with paint.
Step 3: Plan Your Starting Point & Go out Route
If you lot're painting a floor, like we were, you'll want to sure y'all don't pigment yourself into a corner (or at to the lowest degree if you exercise, yous can advisedly tiptoe across your tile without stepping on the cracks). I started in the half-bathroom because I figured I could piece of work my mode out of the room and close the door backside me and so it could dry.
It was the opposite of fast. But it worked. Slowly I eked my mode out from around the toilet and right out the door, which took well-nigh an hour and xl five minutes.
Step 4: Exist Gear up For Mistakes
Even with a small craft castor there were still times when it got on the surface of the tile, and at that place was a very brusk window for wiping information technology off before it prepare (and then had to be scrubbed with a fingernail, which was a huge pain) so I literally would do i or 2 cracks at a time and so quickly follow up to smooth both sides of the seam out with a small slice of toilet paper (this would remove any from the surface of the tile also as make the sides of each seam nice and directly looking). A newspaper towel or clean cloth would work as well. That is, if toilet paper isn't fancy enough for yo?u.
Step 5: Be Patient & Footstep Yourself
Being significant, the bathroom was all I had energy for on 24-hour interval ane. Day 2 involved three more hours of line painting and wiping, and I opted to do 50% of the foyer in a strategic style and so we could all still walk on the other half of it. Hither's a shot to show y'all how hilarious John is. I said: ok, get creative with this film so my giant respirator doesn't look weird. I like his version of getting creative – only lop off the whole caput area.
The 2nd mean solar day was the hardest twenty-four hours by far, just because I was still kind of sore from contorting my significant body around in the small one-half bathroom the day before, and the little knobby parts of each of my ankles were dragging on the tile every bit I scooted around similar a canis familiaris with fleas, but information technology was all worth it. Worth it and then some!
Day 3 was some other three hour process, merely it was the most exciting twenty-four hour period because I could meet the lite at the cease of the tunnel. The end of the longest-running business firm battle that I had always waged was near. I but worked my fashion around the foyer doing the other half of those pathways that I had done the day before, and I ducked into that concluding closet while pausing occasionally to fist pump and work on my clean grout acceptance speech ("I'd like to give thanks the university, and the grout gods who invented this cheap bottle of miracles and unicorns").
Step 6: Let Information technology Dry
Later on each application procedure, we gave that department a full 24 60 minutes drying period and fabricated sure nothing got wet for 72 hours (since that was some other warning on the canteen). It's a good deal lighter than the sometime grout was, which still makes us say "whoa now" when we walk through the hallway, merely we think information technology'due south just our eyes adjusting. Peradventure after half dozen months our brains simply tin can't get over the fact that it finally looks clean!
Nosotros also had about 1/4 of a canteen left all of this, which was corking in case nosotros demand some touch-ups down the line. I'll definitely update yous guys if anything funky happens, merely then far information technology has been great.
Update: Subsequently nearly two years of utilise, even with semi-frequent moppings, muddy shoes/paws, and a whole lot of foot traffic, our grout still looks identical to when I applied this stuff (yous can meet an updated picture that we shared afterwards half-dozen months of usehere). For the folks who tin can't find information technology in stores, hither's an chapter link to it on Home Depot.com and on Amazon , and southward ince a few people have too asked for a "way back" before shot, here you lot go. It's crazy how much bluer the tile looked with the brown stained grout and all that blue trim!
Is anyone else waging state of war on something stubborn that's taking more than a few attempts? Like some grout that refuses to become clean? Please feel free to pin and share this post to spread the word. I'd LOVE to help anyone else dealing with this supremely annoying consequence so nosotros can all do the clean grout end zone dance together. Because believe me, after this was done there were mic drops. In that location was shoulder dusting. There was a total on pregnant-lady end zone trip the light fantastic.
Originally Published in 2014
Psst- Wanna know where nosotros got something in our house or what pigment colour nosotros used? But click on this push:
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Source: https://www.younghouselove.com/how-you-like-me-now-grout/
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