Dirty Tile Grout: Stain It Or Color Seal It?

While trying to find the best and most cost effective solution for cleaning my grout I came up with several possibilities. While there was one clear choice for me you could choose to steam clean your grout, color stain the grout, or color seal the grout.

First, steam cleaning grout will remove stains from the upper sections of the grout, but deeply penetrated stains in the grout will still show. Grout is like a sponge very porous and absorbent. By stream cleaning the grout it becomes more porous causing the grout lines to soak up more stains and bacteria.

There are other options to restoring your dirty grout than color sealing your grout. One choice would be color staining. Staining your grout will greatly improve the appearance of your dirty grout, but there are some big underlining issues with staining your grout. Because the grout is made up of a mixture of sand and cement it is very porous. Staining your grout will color mask your dirty line but will not seal out moisture which causes discoloration, cracking, and most important bacteria (mold etc.) to grow.

The most effective solution to cleaning your dirty grout is to color seal the grout. By color sealing the grout you get a beautiful match to your tile and are free from stains and bacteria. Color sealing guarantees that your grout will never crack, chip, or peel. Once the color sealant is down cleaning is simple. Any household cleaner will do the job. Just wet-mop the floor and towel dry for a perfect looking grout.

In conclusion, I found that color sealing your grout gives you the best solution for dirty grout. Color sealant can be color matched to any shade, seals out unwanted stains and bacteria, and last forever. Steaming cleaning and color staining will definitely help your grout look better but not for very long. A quality grout sealant is by far the best way protect and to make your grout lines new again.

Want to find out more about the best way to clean dirty grout, then visit Jeff Peters’s site on how to choose the best color sealant for your needs.