Cleaning grout and tiles on washroom floors
If you've been tasked with cleaning grout in washrooms or high traffic toilets with a tiled floor in a pub, club, gym or leisure centre and they're in pretty bad shape then follow our advice below;
Aggressive agitation and the right chemical can bring grout and tiles back to life
Equipment Required
- Deck Scrubber/Scrubber Dryer Machine (cylindrical works best in our opinion - they tend to pick up the dirt better than rotary machines)
- Wet Vac
- Mop & bucket or spray applicator
Urine – The idea is to bring up the layers and layers of uric acid and/or general dirt and scum that have built up over the weeks/months/years (!) and have settled into the grout.
Water soluble chemical helps extract the dirt from grout
No Quick Fix
These layers will continue to come to the surface with repeat cleaning over a few months but it's not a job that produces instant results so it's worth explaining this to your client. A wet vac is essential in order to stop the uric acid settling back into the tile and grout.
- Use a heavy duty hard surface cleaner with a water soluble solvent – Selden F40 Strongarm
- Dolute 1:10 with warm water (40-50 degrees)
- Thoroughly scrub with a deck scrubber or machine (with stiff brush)
- Leave for 5 minutes
- Repeat scrubbing
- Thoroughly rinse off with water
- Pick up all the water with a wet vac
- Repeat entire process once or twice more
- Daily use multi-purpose floor or washroom cleaner for daily cleaning with wet vac if possible
The deck scrubber or Caddy Clean is best used in areas that have cubicles or are tight spaces. If you have a large open space then using a low speed rotary floor scrubbing machine with a brush attachment or cylindrical scrubber would produce great results.
NB After this deep clean, it is essential to factor in regular cleaning of the tiled surfaces to ensure dirt is not settling again and to prevent limescale building up and locking in the dirt.
Other Options
As previously mentioned, limescale locks in the dirt on tile and grout. Another product that zaps limescale (thus cleaning the grout and tile) is Selden H005 Act Original. Definitely worth a try but if used neat, it may eat into the grout.
Other uses for Selden Strongarm
Strongarm is also awesome to use on safety flooring. Diluted with water, it is fantastic at bringing up the dirt from the tiny pores in the surface. Again, you'll get the best results using a stiff brush on a machine with a wet vac to pick up and suck out the dirt and excess water.