Tile grout cleaning – the first stage of maintenance

Tile floors can come in a variety of forms including slate, natural stone and fabricated ceramic tiles which can be manufactured in a variety of finishes.  Tiled floors are chosen for a variety of reasons, mostly aesthetic, as they are available in a range of designs, shapes and colours – but as they score highly in terms of cost durability, many people choose tiled floors due to the apparent perception that they are easy to keep clean.

It is certainly true that tiled floors are easier to clean than many other types of floor, however one may find that if regular cleaning and maintenance is not carried out – you can be left with a floor which acquires a dull, uneven or unsatisfactory finish very quickly.  Part of the misconception comes from the fact that the surface is often shiny and even with a smooth finish can be easy to simply to ‘wipe clean’.  However people often neglect to consider the grout and that is where the problems can arise.

Grout is a construction material which consists of a mixture of sand, cement and water and is a highly porous substance which stains very easily.  The grout is used to fill voids and seal joints, exactly like those between tiles – and as it forms an integral part of the overall finish of the floor, another dis-colouring of the floor can affect the entire finish.  For this reason the grout should be treated with care and with a couple of simple steps shouldn’t cause you any problems.  The first step should be to make sure it is correctly and professionally applied and if you find it is stained, call in a professional tile grout cleaning company which will be able to clean it – and once it is clean and looks uniform, you should look at prevention.

To prevent staining of the grout, usually as a result of spillages, the first step in prevention is the application of a good commercial sealant.  Sealants can either be transparent or in the form of a colour grout sealer and basically offer a protective barrier to prevent spillages from coming into contact with the grout – effectively ‘waterproofing’ it.  If the sealant is correctly installed then the job of cleaning grout becomes as simple as cleaning the surface of the tiles.

Grout sealant, as with any sealant, also needs to be protected as any damage to the sealant will expose the surface and staining can occur.  Most damage will come in the form of surface scratching and surface abrasions usually as a result of dirt and grit which has been walked in on the soles of shoes.  Simple steps such as placing doormats and regularly sweeping and vacuuming should deal with the majority of this problem.

If you need advice on the type of sealant to use, the application or you need the floor or grout cleaned, it is advisable to consult a tile grout cleaning specialist.