Grout cleaner

[worsestershiresauce]

My parents have just moved house and are trying to clean the wall and floor tile grouting. It's a large area, so the bicarb tip I picked up on here probably isn't practical. Can anyone recommend a really good grout cleaner that they could potentially buy on-line (they are in France)

Thanks

[valiumredhead]

Bleach and an old tooth brush.

[worsestershiresauce]

Thanks, I'll pass on the tip.

[ceres]

best thing I have found for floor grout is oxiclean powder. make it up and pour it on - then leave it to work.

it does take a lot of rinsing as it dries to a haze on the floor but it brought my pale grey grout back from darkest black.

on wall grout I use Dettol mould and mildew cleaner. it smells like it's made of pure bleach but brings the grout up really well - and no scrubbing required!

[worsestershiresauce]

Thanks ceres. Really helpful

[ilovepowerhoop]

I second dettol mould and mildew remover and use it for the grout in my shower

[worsestershiresauce]

Thanks ilove

[nancy75]

I recommend the dettol one too, i am also intrigued by the bicarb tip - what is it?

[worsestershiresauce]

I think you can bulk buy bicarb quite cheaply for cleaning, mix it into a paste with a little water, and then scrub it into the grout using a toothbrush. Apparently it works really well, but it might be a bit of an effort over a large area.

[ceres]

I tried the bicarb first - worked fine but a bit too labour intensive for me!

I googled and found the oxiclean tip (I just use cheapo stuff, doesn't have to be oxiclean).

I just poured freshly made strong solution onto the floor and left it to work. I then roughly mopped the floor to mop up the solution and repeated the oxiclean. no effort required at this stage. mopped it back up again and then the more difficult bit - the floor did take lots of rinsing to get all the oxiclean up.

a wet and dry vacuum would make it much easier as the dirty solution could be sucked up and then the floor flooded with clean water, swooshed about with mop, sucked up and repeat as necessary.

good luck - it is very satisfying when the grout comes up nice and clean!

[Merel]

The bicarb is better mixed into a paste with bleach, scrubbed in with a toothbrush and then left to work for half an hour or so.

[worsestershiresauce]

Thanks everyone, these tips are great. I've been passing them on to my mum who reports her tiles are looking much better

[Bunbaker]

Dettol here as well. It really does work.