Tile and grout can get pretty dirty over time. Grout, in particular, can become stained and even start to smell. Tile floors can also become dull and dingy. After some time of using Swiffer, mops, and other things to clean your floor, soil and grime will begin to accumulate causing a build-up of biofilm on both the tile and grout. 

No matter what you do or what you use, most of the time it won’t easily come out. Some customers resort to using bleach or some acids they saw on Youtube or TikTok and cause permanent damage to their floors. Bleach does what it’s supposed to do and bleaches. This does nothing to remove biofilm, soil, and grime from your tile or grout. Bleach harms grout and shouldn’t be used to clean your tile flooring.

Acid on the other hand, if improperly used can cause severe damage to the grout. With time, your grout will most likely need to repair or re-grouted by a professional. Tile and grout floors should be cleaned at home using a neutral floor cleaner. This helps prevent any damage to your tile and grout and is something we recommend to our clients. At some point, tile and grout will eventually need to be cleaned again regardless.

What Causes Tile & Grout To Get Dirty?

Many factors can cause your tile and grout to accumulate dirt and grime at rapid rates. Heavy use of deep frying in oil is known to cause biofilm and darkening of grout. As you fry food, the oils heat up, and hot droplets of oil come out of the pan onto the cooking surface, counters, and floors. As it cools, it gums up and with constant foot traffic is transferred throughout the home by foot traffic. 

Dirt and soil on the bottom of shoes come off, mix with the oil, and get transferred onto the floor. This also happens with walking barefoot outside and throughout the home. Being that we live in a humid climate, our bare feet transfers soil and grime right onto the tile floor. This also helps to embed soil, grime, and other contaminants onto the tile.

How Can We Slow The Rapid Rate of Buildup on the Tile Floors?

There are several simple ways one can slow down the progression of build-up. One of the simplest yet hardest ways is to have people entering the home, remove their shoes by the main door. Having a place to put your shoes will help everyone keep the shoes organized.  

If you walk around without shoes make sure your feet are clean and or your wear clean socks. I’m not trying to insult anyone here with this but you would be surprised by what I’ve seen in the past twenty-six years in this business. Another way to keep your tile floors clean is to have a mat at each entrance of your home. One outside and one inside. This will help contain most of the debris at the door versus on your floor. 

How Do You Maintain Your Tile Floors Before Or After A Cleaning?

• The first step before mopping your floor is to sweep the floor to pick up any loose debris, dust, and sand.

• The second step would be to then vacuum the floor you’re going to mop to make sure you’re not swirling soil into the nooks and crannies of your tile and grout. 

• Lastly, I recommend getting two mops and two mop buckets. I would also recommend using a neutral floor cleaner to clean your floors. Though this extra bucket may seem extreme, when your mop a floor your first mop is clean until you dunk it back in the dirty water to then ring it out and re-mop the floor. In essence, you’re mopping the floor with dirty water. The second mop is to remove some of that dirty water you just swirled around. If you follow the steps provided here you can slow down the progression of re-soiling.

I don’t recommend the use of steam mops or any machine that generates steam unless you have old tile flooring. The steam can remove the protective coatings on your tiles. Porcelain tiles made in 2018 to the present that comes from China, have poor protective coatings. What we are seeing is customers damaging the tile with aggressive cleaning habits and the use of the wrong cleaning solutions. This leaves what looks like splotches or stains on the top layer of the tiles. This is the removal of the protective coating and nothing can be done to fix this. Many tile and grout cleaning technicians began noticing this phenomenon several years ago. This was brought to the attention of many tile manufacturers by leaders in my industry but it fell on deaf ears. Poor quality tile is still being made in China and these problems don’t present themselves until tiles get cleaned.

Should I Clean My Tile And Grout Myself Or Should I Hire A Professional?

Anyone can clean their tile and grout themselves. The problem with this is that most attempt to use the wrong cleaning solutions such as vinegar, muriatic acid, phosphoric acids, bleach, and other chemicals. Acid does have its place in certain situations but it’s best handled by professionals who know how to properly use it. Acids will eat grout and eventually ruin it with time. With that being said unless you have training and experience leave acids to cleaning professionals. 

The other issue with cleaning tile and grout is that the process is very time-consuming for the homeowner without the proper equipment. They usually start and give up after a while when they see that it’s going to take way longer than they expected. Depending on the situation, it can also be very time-consuming for a tile cleaning technician because of the amount of grime build-up on the grout and tile. In our experience customers who attempted to clean the grout gave up because they weren’t getting the results, they were after. Additionally, most homeowners don’t notice the biofilm laying on the tile service and concentrate only on the grout.

Using the wrong solutions can also remove the protective coating on the tile causing it to look blotchy. If you spent thousands of dollars on getting your floors installed most of the things you can buy store can damage either grout or tile.

If you don’t have the proper training and experience it is possible to accidentally remove the protective coating on your tile, for which there is no remedy.

When Is It Time To Call A Professional Tile Cleaning Company?

Regardless if you tried to clean your tile and grout and gave up or haven’t even attempted, hiring a professional tile cleaning company is the right step. Before hiring any company you see on the Facebook marketplace, Craigslist or some other hidden part of the internet make sure you properly vet them. Our business uses paid ads on all social media platforms as well as websites indexed on the major search engines. You usually see a paid ad while scrolling on Facebook and you see a picture or video that says sponsored.

The companies or individuals I’m talking about are using the free post sections on these social media platforms, which is against most terms of service most of the social media companies. Why should you be careful of a person or business posting free listings? This is where you may encounter non-insured or unlicensed companies or individuals. Not every one of them fits that criteria. Many legit businesses still use free sections to advertise.

The problem here is that those with less experience, no experience, no license or insurance reside here. They usually offer the cheapest bottom-of-the-barrel prices. Some will use ridiculous prices to get their foot in the door of your home. This is called baiting. Once in your home, they switch you to their expensive pricing model. Another issue you may encounter is what you believe is the deal of a lifetime. What you end up getting is someone with the wrong equipment or experience in your home or even worse an uninsured company.

Do you want to open yourself to liability with that to get that “deal”? I’m one for saving money myself. I won’t let any uninsured business in my home for the simple fact is if they or someone with them gets hurt they can sue you, the homeowner.

So how do you still find a reputable service that can offer you a great price? Make sure they have good reviews either on Google or Facebook. Next, ask if they are insured and ask them how many years they have been providing the service. A reputable company will provide proof of insurance if you ask them for it. Another way to check is to ask them if they are certified and by who. We are certified by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration. Some companies can be certified by other reputable leaders in the industry. These tips will save you from the most potential issues or dealing with a non-reputable company.

Why Should You Hire The Tile & Grout Cleaning Pros?

In addition to having twenty-six plus years of experience, all of our tile cleaning technicians are trained and certified with many years of hands-on experience. We are licensed and insured. We are a small family owned business that values honesty and integrity. We only use the best cleaning solutions and equipment to get your tile floors looking great and smelling fresh again. We are not the cheapest company on the block and we aren’t the most expensive. You will not find the cheapest company with the best equipment, cleaning solutions, and reviews. If you’re looking for a great service, a company you can trust, and the best cleaning results for your tile floors then call us today.

What Is Our Cleaning Process?

1. As we measure your tile floors, we also inspect the tile and grout for cracks and make you aware of any issues before cleaning.
2. We then spray the area to be cleaned with a cleaning solution to begin the soil and grime emulsifying process.
3. Next, we scrub the tile and grout lines using a mechanical machine as well as special brushes to get all the hard-to-reach areas and loosen the contaminants. This step alone is a step many in my industry don’t do. This also helps ensure maximum soil and grime removal
4. We then clean your tile and grout using a tile spinner that shoots very hot water and removes water, soil, and grime simultaneously. The contaminated water is sucked up via our vacuum hose and goes from the inside of your home to our van.
5. Floors are then mopped and fans are placed to dry the floors.

Once floors are dry we will apply tile sealer if that was part of the tile cleaning package you chose. Tile sealer is extra and we pass the cost to the customer. If you decided not to have a sealer we will do a final walk-through with you to make sure you are happy with the results. From time to time there are stains in the grout that is unable to be removed.

This is because your grime may have permanently stained some of the grout or a liquid or oil absorbed deep into the grout. No matter what company you choose this applies to all. Full stain removal is never guaranteed by any company due to the various situations. I can honestly say that if we are unable to remove it no other company can.

Call us today for the best cleaning options for your tile and grout by calling 407-777-0124!