How to Remove a Stain from Grout

Today I found a stain in the tile grout in my step-kids bathroom. I had to remove a stain from grout, as I hate seeing my home dirty. At first, I didn’t know what to do. The stain was really dark and it came from some dog food that had gotten wet in the bathroom. The reason the dog food was in the bathroom in the first place is another story. Here is the thought process I went through while brainstorming tile grout stain removal.

Remove Stains from Grout Thought Process

The first thing I reached for when I started the grout stain removal process was bleach cleaner. The bottle was empty. This was an emergency, and there was no time to travel to the store to purchase bleach. I had to do some brainstorming.

What do I know about grout? It is porous. It is very hard to remove stains from grout.

Do I know of any other surface like grout that I clean? Yes! Chances are, you do too. Your teeth are made of delicate, porous material called enamel. It is hard to remove stains from the enamel of your teeth just as it is hard to remove stains from grout.

What is used to remove stains from teeth? I didn’t want to use toothpaste when removing stain from grout, so I looked at my tube of Mentadent. Baking soda and peroxide are the two main ingredients in that particular brand of toothpaste. I had peroxide and baking soda so these are the two agents I decided to use.

I took baking soda and sprinkled it generously over the stain. Then, I poured peroxide over the baking soda to generate a paste. I used a small brush and scrubbed for about twenty minutes. I then rinsed the area with some water and wiped up the paste with a washcloth. The stain was much lighter and almost unnoticeable.

Remove Stains from Grout – Professional Advice

After I was successful in removing stain from grout, I decided to search the web to see if there was any other advice. There was a recipe for a cleaning agent that may have worked better than my method, although I did not try it. Here is a recipe for a grout cleaning solution from HowtoGetRidofStuff.com:

1/2 Cup baking soda
1/3 Cup ammonia
1/4 Cup white vinegar 5 Cups water

Apply the solution to the grout stain using a spray bottle. Allow it to sit for five to ten minutes, then wipe clean. If it is difficult to remove stains from grout, use a bristled brush and take care not to remove grout tile.

Remove Stains from Grout – Words of Caution

Some important safety advice for removing stains from grout are as follows:

-NEVER mix bleach with ammonia. If you try to clean a stain from grout with bleach, rinse the area and let it sit for 24 hours before using an ammonia solution.
-On delicate tiles, use baking soda only. Bleach and ammonia are very abrasive.

I hope that if you have a stain in grout, you don’t have any trouble removing stains from grout.