How Often Should You Clean Your Tile Grout?

Whether it's for your kitchen backsplash, your bathroom walls, or your laundry room floor, tile is a durable material that offers plenty of design options. Most tile surfaces feature grout, which not only gives the floor or wall a polished look but also keeps dirt, moisture, and debris from getting under the tiles. However, while tile grout serves an important purpose, it has one pretty frustrating downside, too — how easily it gets dirty. Many homeowners are unsure how often they should clean their grout, but the truth is pretty simple. In most cases, tile grout requires deep cleaning at least once a year. But you should also do some light maintenance cleaning daily or weekly, depending on where the tile grout is located and how much foot traffic it sees.

Grout is a filler material used for the joints between tiles. It is typically made of sand and cement and hardens when mixed with water and allowed to cure. Tile grout is difficult to keep clean because it is usually a light color like white that shows dirt easily. However, its bigger issue is that it is a highly porous material. That means it has plenty of crevices that can trap dirt, bacteria, grease, and mold. But you aren't doomed to suffer with grimy grout. The key to sparkling clean tile grout is periodic deep cleaning, as well as regular light cleaning.

Because grout can harbor dirt, bacteria, and mold so easily, deep cleaning and sanitizing your tile grout from time to time is essential. In most homes, you only need to deep clean your grout once a year. However, if you have children, pets, or a large household, you may need to increase your deep cleaning to twice a year or more.

You can deep clean your grout yourself, but it's essential to avoid the worst grout cleaners and methods if you don't want to do long-term damage. In particular, bleach is damaging to both grout and tile, causing grout to crumble and tile to become dull. Instead, consider using a high-powered steam cleaner to deep clean your tile without any potentially damaging chemicals. In addition to removing dirt and grime, steam is also hot enough to kill bacteria and other germs trapped inside your grout.

However, for many homeowners, it's easier to have your grout professionally deep-cleaned. DIY deep-cleaning methods may not be effective enough, depending on how dirty and grimy your grout is. If it has visible stains or discolorations, that's typically a sign that you should let a professional handle the job.

While deep cleaning your tile grout annually is crucial, you should also do regular light cleaning. Tile walls, such as showers or kitchen backsplashes, are easier to keep clean, so wiping them weekly is usually sufficient. On the other hand, tile floors tend to get dirtier since people can track in dirt from outside, so they may require daily cleaning.

For daily or weekly maintenance, several methods can work well. The simplest method involves scrubbing the grout with a nylon-bristle brush and warm water, using a circular motion. For added cleaning power, you can mix some liquid dish soap in with the water before scrubbing the grout.

Considering how many baking soda cleaning hacks there are, it's probably not a surprise that this household staple also makes an effective tile grout cleaner. Create a paste with two parts baking soda and one part water, and scrub it over the grout to remove dirt and grime. If this paste alone isn't getting the job done, prepare a solution of equal parts water and white vinegar in a spray bottle, and apply it over the baking soda paste. This combination will foam, and once it stops, you can scrub the grout as usual. No matter which cleaning method you choose, be sure to rinse the grout thoroughly, and dry the grout and tile thoroughly with a microfiber cloth afterward.