Tile is an excellent flooring choice for many reasons. It can easily match any decor style or household’s flooring needs. Tile floors also come in varying designs, shapes, shades, etc. giving homeowners the liberty to get creative with their flooring.
This is incredibly useful for homeowners who want to use tile in their kitchen and living room, but don’t want the spaces to blend together — they can simply use two separate types or shades of tile to signal when one room transitions into another.
Cleaning tile and grout isn’t as hard as many may think. Tile is also incredibly durable and can last for an extended length of time, adding yet another benefit to homeowners looking for a permanent flooring option.
These benefits aside, homeowners who are considering having tile floors installed can get hung up on the concern that tile is difficult to maintain or requires extensive deep cleaning in order to look fresh.
5 Simple and Natural Tips for Cleaning and Maintaining Your Tile
Because most tile floors have grout between each tile, you may be unsure how to properly clean grout in order to keep bacteria growth down. Grout is a very porous material, making it the ideal host for bacteria and mold growth.
Grout cleaning is important and with the proper cleaning solutions, you can prevent mold and clean caked on dirt.
This is an unnecessary fear, however, as grout can be easily maintained using natural cleaners. Tile and grout cleaning can be easy with the use of the cleaning solutions below and proper maintenance.
1. Vinegar Solution
Because of its acidity, vinegar makes an excellent natural tile cleaner. A vinegar cleaning solution will eat away at grime caught in the cracks and prevent bacteria build up.
This cleaning solution is easy to make, completely natural, and will leave your tile floor streak-free and shiny.
To make a vinegar cleaning solution, you will need a bucket or spray bottle, water, and vinegar (many homeowners use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar for cleaning). For a vinegar tile cleaning solution remember, a little goes a long way.
Vinegar is a powerful cleaning agent often accompanied by a strong odor so you may need to ventilate your home following usage.
2. Baking Soda & Vinegar
Baking soda and vinegar are extremely powerful cleaning agents and thorough cleansers that will leave your tile floor and grout in pristine condition.
Create a baking soda and water cleaning paste and distribute it on the area that you are cleaning. Use a bristle brush to gently scrub your tile and grout to remove dirt and stains. Once you have scrubbed the surface, allow the baking soda paste to rest for a few minutes to further loosen stubborn dirt from the grout.
While your baking soda cleaner is setting, make your vinegar and water solution (equal parts of each) in a spray bottle. Mist the baking soda covered area with your vinegar and water solution and allow the cleaning agents to bubble.
You can scrub the area a little more with your bristle brush before rinsing and voila! Your tile floor and grout should be sufficiently clean and shiny.
3. Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is a versatile cleaner used for anything from cuts and scratches to teeth whitening and tile cleaning. The hydrogen peroxide kills bacteria and brightens surfaces, making it a convenient and useful cleaner.
Hydrogen peroxide is especially useful for lifting stubborn stains from grout, so if your grout is easily stained this is the best solution.
Pour hydrogen peroxide directly on your tile and allow it to set for several minutes before rinsing. If you find that your grout is still stained, try making a cleaning paste from hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Use this paste and a bristle brush to gently scrub the grout and rinse with warm water when finished.
4. Steam Clean Your Tile Floor
Steam cleaning is a method that works really well on tile floors. A steam cleaner uses boiling water to create steam in order to leave surfaces shiny and clean.
The temperature of the water sanitizes your floor while gently lifting stains from the surface. Steam cleaning your tile floor will loosen dirt caught in the grout and remove dark stains between your tile.
This is an easy, effective, and natural way to clean your tile floor and grout. Steam cleaning your tile floor requires nothing but water and a couple of minutes and will leave your home feeling fresh.
5. Sweep Often
A huge part of maintaining your tile floors and keeping dirt from building up in the grout is sweeping often. You should be sweeping your tile floor at least once a day, this will ensure that you don’t end up spending long periods of time deep-cleaning but instead are always maintaining and keeping build-up at a minimum.
Sweeping will also prevent dirt from being tracked and trampled into the grout, thus making less tedious grout cleaning for you in the future.
Learn More About Your Flooring Options
If you would like more information on how to clean and maintain your tile floors or would like to explore the possibility of having a different kind of flooring, like wood tile laminate, installed in your home, contact Remnant King Carpet today!
Our team of flooring professionals is accustomed to troubleshooting and helping homeowners find the perfect flooring option for their home. If you would like to learn about the services we offer or flooring options we have, give us a call today.