Steam cleaner for grout

momma9 wrote

on May 4, 2010 5:45 AM

Good morning,

Though I have not been posting, I am still here reading posts.  Thank you in advance for your help.

We have floor grout in a church to clean and the plan has been to use a steam cleaner.  I have read review after review about steam cleaners and I am thoroughly confused.  There are good and bad reviews about the very same steamer.

Has anyone here used a steam cleaner to clean grout?  If you have, please let me know which steam cleaner you used and the performance of steam cleaner.

I will need to order in the next day or 2.  I will be back this evening to eagerly read responses.

Peace and love,

Diane

Evalie wrote

on May 4, 2010 6:51 PM

I don't have a definite answer about the steam cleaner, but after helping people with various hardware type issues for about 20 years, I have a few ideas I'd like to pass along.

If the grout is old and in fairly good condition, a comercial grout cleaner/whitener might be a better idea than steaming. Steaming sounds like it would be nice and fast, but I'd be cautious. Grout is very porous if not kept sealed, and when the sealer wears off, that's usually when dirt gets imbedded into it. I would be afraid of injecting too much water into the 'porous' grout.I think I'd just try a cleaner made for grout, let dry, then see what the color looks like. If the grout is supposed to be white, there is a whitener you can buy to rejuvinate the color.

Whatever you choose to do, think about buying some silicone grout sealer to use afterwards. It will prevent it from getting imbedded with dirt later and only has to be done about every couple of years to keep it looking new.

Hope this helps.

momma9 wrote

on May 5, 2010 7:44 AM

Thank you for your reply and assistance.  Your advice is sound.  I appreciate you taking the time to answer.

Peace and love,

Diane