Tile grout, especially those in the bathroom, are incredibly susceptible to mold growth. Leave it, and it will spread quickly – which is why cleaning your tiles are essential for a clean, healthy home. We’ll show you how to easily remove mold from tile grout and have them looking white again.
Topics Covered
- Why does mold love tile grout so much?
- How to remove mold from tile grout
- How to prevent tile grout mold
Why does mold love tile grout so much?
Mold spores are always around us, both indoors and outdoors. Sure, you could drastically reduce their numbers with the help of an air purifier, but completely eliminating them is impossible.
These spores float around the air and eventually settle down on various surface areas – including tile grout. Once they enter the grout pores, they sit and wait for a food source so that they can grow. Food sources are water or high humidity levels – which is why mold on tile grout in the bathroom is so common.
The good news is that there are a number of steps you can take to make your bathroom less humid, which you can read about here. However, it is vital to clean tiles and grout – especially in the bathroom, regularly.
How to remove mold from tile grout
There are many over the counter products and even natural household ingredients that will not only kill and remove mold from tile grout but will also have them looking like new.
Unfortunately, it’s going to require some elbow grease, but no one said it was going to be easy. Here we will show you how to clean mold from tile grouting with white vinegar and baking soda.
The baking soda method
Baking soda is an excellent and safe method for removing mold from tile grout. Another big plus is that it acts as a deodorizer and therefore gets rid of unpleasant odors in the process too.
You can substitute baking soda for borax, just in case you don’t have any baking soda available. The procedure and results are exactly the same. Just bear in mind that borax can be a skin irritant with sensitive people, so wear gloves when handling it.
1: Prepare the baking soda and scrub
In the first step, we will be making a baking soda paste. Take a cup and fill it halfway with baking soda. Add a few teaspoons of water and mix it until it becomes a thick paste. Use this paste and a brush to scrub the tile grout thoroughly.
2: Rinse
Use warm water to rinse the baking soda from the tile grout. Done!
The vinegar method
White vinegar is an excellent mold killer and here we will show you how to use it on grouting.
1: Pre-soak
Add a 50/50 mixture of white distilled vinegar and water into a spray bottle. Saturate the tile grout with the mixture and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. You may also want to open some windows to allow sufficient air circulation to counter the vinegar smell.
2: Re-soak and scrub
Re-soak the grouting and scrub with a hard brush until the mold comes off.
3: Rinse
Rinse the vinegar from the grout with clean water. Done!
How to prevent tile grout mold
Unfortunately, there is no magical one-step solution to prevent mold on tile grout. What you need to know is that it’s caused by water and high levels of humidity, which is why tiles in bathrooms are most prone to mold growth. However, there are some things you can do to minimize this.
Control bathroom humidity
It is essential to keep bathroom humidity to an absolute minimum. And doing so is easy with a bathroom dehumidifier or exhaust fan.
Apply a grout sealer
A quality grout sealer will seal tile grout, thereby preventing mold spores and water from entering the pores.
Tuff Duck grout sealer does an excellent job at this. One gallon of Tuff Duck will provide an impressive 3,000+ square feet of protection that will last for up to 5 years with one single coat.
Regularly disinfect with vinegar
There is one little additional trick. Take a spray bottle and fill it with a 50/50 mixture of water and white distilled vinegar. Each time after your bath or shower, spray this mixture onto the tile grout and leave it. The vinegar will do a lot in terms of disinfecting and killing mold spores before they grow into full-blown mold.