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It’s kinda crazy the things you do & think about when you’re a new homeowner. Like when I gaze at the ceiling when relaxing on the couch and think…I should really touch up the paint on the ceiling in the corner. Or when I scan our hardwood floors looking for nicks or dents & suddenly question why the heck I purchased those new spiky boots. Or when I’m checking out our guest bathroom and immediately zone in on the dirty grout lines in between the floor tiles.
Yep, my attention to detail was not the same back when I was a renter. Now I feel like I have a duty to maintain every crack & crevice in our home. It’s kinda crazy. I’m guessing this motivation will eventually wane, but in the meantime, I’m taking advantage of this urge to make everything in our home better.
Dirty Grout Lines
So that brings us back to those dirty grout lines…
On the edges of the floor you can see that the grout used to be a fresh off-white color. But with heavy foot traffic, those lines got NASTY. Stained, dirty, and full of yuckiness. Instead, their once crisp color had turned much darker.
Determined to bring those grout lines to their former glory, I purchased this $10 bottle of Polyblend Grout Renew. We used it on the DIY show I produce, and the results were amazing. I just knew that I had to give it a try in my own home.
How to Clean Grout in your Bathroom
There are tons of colors to choose from, but I ended up going with “Snow White,” because it matched the color of a tiny section of clean grout and I wanted to make it look fresh & new again. Not only does this stuff change the color of your grout, but it also seals against future stains and inhibits mold & mildew growth. Great perks if you ask me..but honestly I was most excited about changing the color of the dirty bathroom grout.
Following the directions on the back of the bottle, I first cleaned the floor & the cracks in between each tile. I just used a water & vinegar combo and scrubbed it well with a brush.
When the floor dried, I got to work painting on the grout renew. I used a couple of different instruments before settling on a small craft paint brush.
- Toothbrush – Proved to be too wide for our small crack lines, so things turned messy fairly quickly
- Paint Brush – I used one that you would use on a wall to cut in the corners. Again, too wide for our small cracks.
A cheap-o craft paint brush proved to be the winner as it could easily get in the crack.
Here are the simple steps: Dip your brush in the grout renew and paint it onto the crack. Do your best to avoid getting it on the tile. This stuff dries pretty quickly, so I did about 2 lines and would then wipe it up with a small bit of toilet paper to prevent it from drying on the tile surface. Go slooooow and check your work as you go. Also, keep that little wad of toilet paper on hand. Things can get pretty messy.
Below the before again…
And the after!
The footprint of our guest bathroom is small. Like really small. But it still took me over an hour to get all of the grout lines looking good. I blasted some music, had a glass of wine, and just hunched on over to get ‘er done. A few areas were reaaaaallly dirty. So I actually painted a second coat right on over my work once it dried. Every now and then I would step back to check my work and see if any areas needed more grout renew, with the middle of the bathroom needing the most attention.
You’ll then want to let the space dry for at least 24 hours, and then maybe even wait a couple more days before you fully use that area again.
It was a time-consuming & incredibly tedious project, but the results are amazing. Everything looks much crisper & cleaner in there already! Who knew a little bottle could transform an entire room?!
And with a price tag around $10…you really can’t beat the big impact you get from this simple DIY project. So there you have it…how to clean grout the easy way!
Casey
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