I have a dirty little secret to share.
My bathroom tile’s grout is gross.
And I can’t be the only one.
Before you start gagging please note that I wash my floors regularly. I’ve got a magic steamer doohickey that steams away dirt and grime without using any chemicals. I clean the floor once a week.
It’s just that I’ve neglected to clean the grout.
For several years. Seven to be exact.
When I first moved into my house I renovated the bathroom. It was beautiful. Heavenly, almost. I’ve never been more proud of a DIY project.
Unfortunately over time the build up of dirty dog paws, hairspray, makeup, more dogs, random dirt, and whatever the holy ghost tracks in… well, the grout changed from a light sand color to a poopy brown.
[Detour for self improvement] Since I decided that 2018 is going to be my year to (insert cliché saying of your choice about empowerment here) I put myself on a six month no dating detox of sorts. Lets just say that I’ve made some questionable choices in the past and I’m now focusing on improving my life, my house, my finances, my Netflix/Prime list, etc., instead of worrying about swiping left or what the douche canoe of the century did to derail me from my life goals.
It’s freeing really. While I still encounter day to day issues of being human, I have copious amounts of time, and sometimes the energy, to get shit done.
[Back to home improvements] Take my bathroom tile grout.
It was disgusting.
One Friday night whilst binging on Star Trek Enterprise on Netflix (yeah what of it, Judgy McJudgerson?) I decided to tackle it. So I looked around the homestead for anything that might be able to clean it. The only cleaning option I really had on hand was Woolite foaming carpet cleaner. Being the frugal, not cheap, homeowner that I am, I figured what’s the difference between carpet cleaner foam and bathroom cleaner foam? Perhaps they just stick a different label on it and sell the same product in different cans. Perhaps there is a real difference. [Cue the comments from know-it-alls about the difference.]
All I know is that I applied it to the grout, let it sit for the recommended 10 minutes per the instructions, and scrubbed it with an old toothbrush. (Said toothbrush might have belonged to an erstwhile manfriend so it was even more gratifying) Voila! Clean grout. Mostly. It’s not as bright as it once was but I can’t remember if the grout sealant I put on it seven years ago darkened it just a little. I’m going with yes, the sealant did darken it.
I did the floor a few feet at a time, mostly because I didn’t want to crawl around in foaming cleaner. It took me about an hour to spray an area, wait 10 mins, scrub, spray again, wait, scrub, and so on. One time I left it on longer than 10 minutes and it turned to watery goo. I don’t recommend such action. Thankfully it’s a pretty small bathroom so it only happened once. All you people with giant bathrooms have my sympathies.
The best part was that I could multitask whilst waiting for the foam to work. I made a giant pot of soup that night too. Being single is dah bessssst.
End result is a bright and shiny floor fit for a queen, or king, as my latest guest dog can attest. The stuff works great on my living room rug, which EJ (beagle #3) has taken a liking to by peeing on it in the middle of the night. I tried many of the dog pee cleaners out there but she kept peeing on the same spot. I used this once and she hasn’t re-peed again since.
Grab some of your own for your carpets, or grout, here: Woolite Heavy Traffic Carpet Cleaning Foam with Scotchgard, 22 oz-2 pk
Update on the rug sticky spray project from last week:
While the can says that it covers 50 square feet I would recommend not spraying all 50 square feet of it onto one rug. I guess I overdid it with the rooster rug. Rug 2 is slightly sticky and Rug 3 has no noticeable difference. I’m reordering the spray to try again but will refrain from using it all on one rug this time.
A Lady's Home Journal 
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