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Do you know how to clean bathroom tiles and leave them spotless? Most people think that they know the best way to clean bathroom tiles, but if you look closely, it often results in those wall tiles being left with some grime on them.
The problem is that failing to clean ceramic tiles correctly, whether they be wall tiles or floor tiles, will lead to mould and mildew building, and nobody wants that.
So, let’s go through a few quick and easy tips that will help you to get those sparkling bathroom tiles you have always wanted.
Potential Cleaning Solutions
This is what makes cleaning bathroom tiles so difficult. People recommend different solutions for getting the dirt and grime off, ranging from baking soda to vinegar to buying expensive bathroom sprays from stores that claim to leave everything sparkling.
While you may need to try a few different solutions, the one thing that is guaranteed is that you will need to use some elbow grease to get those tiles sparkling.
Do You Need Harsh Chemicals?
Let’s deal with an important point, and that’s the question of using products such as bathroom tile cleaners or other cleaning products that don’t use natural ingredients.
Now, it’s entirely up to you as to what you wish to use when cleaning. However, natural ingredients will manage to leave you with clean tiles and remove dirt without too much hassle. You can apply them safely to the floor, and wall tiles as natural products will still manage to break up the dirt on the surface of those tiles without any problem.
Harsh and strong chemicals may talk the talk, but there are other options for cleaning tiles.
The Best Way to Clean Your Bathroom
When looking to clean a bathroom tile, including floor tiles, one key point is to start with shower tiles. The problem with shower tiles is that it’s very easy to get limescale and mould building up on them if you leave them alone, and that makes it harder to find an effective cleaning agent that will remove all of that grime.
So, with shower tiles, you need to get a spray bottle and create a mixture that is 50/50 of water and white vinegar. After your shower, spray the tiles with the mixture. The acid in the distilled white vinegar works amazingly well at cutting through grime and limescale.
Leave it for a few minutes, and then use a dry cloth to wipe everything off.
Cleaning the Tiles Themselves
So, what about the rest of the wall tiles or floor tiles? Well, you could go ahead and buy a tile cleaner that is suitable for bathroom floor tiles or wall tiles. However, that will be full of chemicals, and not everyone is happy about using that in an enclosed area.
But there is another way to clean bathroom tiles that won’t be so caustic or guilty of creating so many fumes.
Get that spray bottle and make the 50/50 mixture, as mentioned earlier. However, we will add another step, and that’s to add a few drops of dish soap. It will provide you with a basic cleaning mixture to get those tiles sparkling in just a few minutes.
With this, you want to use a sponge that has mild abrasions on it, such as a bathroom scouring pad. You can buy a bathroom sponge that will have the correct consistency with those abrasions, and that will make your life easier.
Rinsing the Tiles
It’s essential to know how to correctly rinse the tiles to avoid leaving soap scum over them. That can become quite dangerous and slippery, and just wiping with a damp cloth will not do it right.
What you need to do is to rinse the tiles with warm water. You don’t need to soak the bathroom tiles to get the soap off them, so get a damp cloth, and use some energy to wipe over the tiles.
Once you are happy that the soap is off them, use a dry cloth to make everything dry, safe, and sparkling.
With this, you will partly allow them to air dry, but do try to buff dry tiles as well. This will make them really shine after cleaning, and that’s what you want to achieve.
Cleaning the Grout
Things can get a bit harder as cleaning the grout requires some extra steps and methods to get everything sparkling.
The problem is that grout will tend to discolour over time. You have to be careful what you use as well. A steam cleaner may sound like a good idea, but the pressure will damage the grout, and we want to avoid that.
So, for this job, you will need a few items:
- An old toothbrush
- A stiff-bristled grout brush
- Baking soda
- A damp cloth or sponge
- A dry cloth
- Hydrogen peroxide (sometimes optional)
Making a Baking Soda Paste
The key here is to make a paste by combining the baking soda with the hydrogen peroxide. You only need a few drops of water to make the paste, and you are going to use this to get into the grout and leave it sparkling.
Work the baking soda into the grout, and use some elbow grease to get rid of those tough stains. Work your way along the different grout lines and scrub the grout with a fair amount of pressure.
The problem with grout is that there’s often a build-up of stains that get into the surface, and most cleaning products for the bathroom just won’t make a difference.
Use your stiff-bristled brush and work the grout in before rinsing with warm water. It may require quite a lot of rinsing due to using a thick paste, but it’s worth it in the end when you see it has managed to remove those stubborn stains.
Rinsing the Grout
You also need to think about rinsing the grout, and this is not done with a simple wipe. Cleaning with a quick wipe will only remove the surface grime that you have scrubbed off the grout. So, you need to step your cleaning up to a whole new level.
Once again, you want to use warm water and a rough sponge. After you have removed the grime, get a microfibre cloth, but make sure it’s a clean cloth, and wipe everything down. Take care that you get all of that dirt off, or it will simply start to stain the grout.
Getting Everything Clean
The key to understanding how to clean bathroom tiles is to do it regularly and avoid the build-up of dirt and grime that will then make your task a lot harder.
Using a normal bathroom cleaner will help if you manage to keep on top of things, but even if you use our tip to combine baking soda with hydrogen peroxide a couple of times a year, it will keep those tiles sparkling.
The hardest part will be in dealing with those grout lines. However, with some patience and perseverance, you should be able to get everything sparkling. Then, simply wipe things down after every hot shower, and perhaps focus on the shower tiles more often since they get the brunt of the water and dirt.
Cleanliness Does Matter
That’s how to clean bathroom tiles, and you can see that you have several options available to you. The tips and steps mentioned above apply to both floor tiles and wall tiles, so the only thing left for you to do is to go and give the tips a try and see which solution works best for you.
Paul is the type of person who never met a problem he couldnāt fix. He can always be found tinkering with something in his house, even if it isnāt broken! His tips and tricks are often shared on our site. Heās the one you call when something breaks because he has been known to improvise fixes for everything from leaky faucets to malfunctioning dryers.
