How to Clean Grout With Equipment

Floor scrubbers make short work of dirty floor grout.

When you have a lot of dirty tile and grout to clean, a machine can make the job go a lot more quickly. The best machine for cleaning floor grout is a floor scrubber. An automatic floor scrubber, scrubs with circular brushes and deposits and lifts detergent for easy cleaning. For walls, however, a steam cleaner is much better. The high temperature steam will penetrate the pores of the grout to loosen and flush the debris. Use a unit with a hose attachment for easy application on vertical walls.

Things You'll Need

• Painter's tape
• Broom
• Floor scrubber
• Cleaning solution
• Scrub brush
• Steam cleaner

Instructions

How to Clean Floor Grout With Equipment

1. Sweep the floor with a broom and dust pan. Lifting the surface debris off of the floor will make the floor cleaner's job easier.

2. Cover the baseboards and bottoms of fixtures with painter's tape to protect them from the rotating bristles.

3. Saturate the floor with warm water and allow it to sit for five minutes.

4. Add floor cleaner and cold water to the floor scrubber's solution reservoir. Use the cleaner recommended by the floor scrubber's manufacturer. If that is unavailable, use a tile and grout cleaner listed for use with floor scrubbers. Follow the floor scrubber's instructions for dilution ratios.

5. Turn on the floor scrubber. Engage the solution dispenser and scrubbing brushes.

6. Push the floor scrubber back and forth slowly over a 5-square-foot area until it looks clean.

7. Switch the floor scrubber to pickup and vacuum the waste water.

8. Observe the area. Scrub again if necessary. If not, move on. Clean 5- to 10-foot sections of the floor at a time until the floor is clean.

9. Empty the floor scrubber's waste and solution tank.

10. Fill the floor scrubber's solution tank with fresh water.

11. Scrub over the floor once more then lift the waste water.

12. Hand scrub the areas along the baseboards and around the base of fixtures with a nylon-bristle brush and diluted floor cleaner.

How to Clean Wall Grout With Equipment

1. Fill the steam cleaner with water according to the manufacturer's instructions.

2. Use the steam cleaner's wand or hose attachment to apply steam to the grout according to the manufacturer's instructions. Start from the top of the wall. Move the steam from side to side until the grout is clean.

3. Turn the steam cleaner off.

4. Wipe the wall down with a clean cloth to wipe away any dirty rinse water.

5. Empty the dirty rinse water from the steam cleaner.

References

• Cleaning Technologies Group: Top Scrubbing Procedures
• Extreme How-To: Restoring Tile Grout