Grout Cleaner

If you ever tried to examine your tiles from a close quarter, you must have observed deposits of dust particles and grime on the material that fills the gap between any two tiles. The material known as grout is essentially required for tiling of any surface, floor or wall, to join the opposite facial edges of any two tiles.

Tiles are not at all difficult to clean, most of us are aware of this. It is the grout that poses the challenge. The grout is very porous by nature and it porosity goes down till the floor substrate. Every time you wipe the floor, the grout being porous, absorbs all the grime and filth that you successfully removed from the tiles without much of an effort. So, you see the grout is a necessary evil.

We are aware that stains get more pronounced on lighter colors. That’s why you find darker grouts being used more often. But, even with darker shades you can see dirty spots in those areas that bear heavy traffic. Ideally, the cleaning operation should make all the area look similar and even-colored. That’s difficult to achieve, as inadvertently some areas are left unclean.

It’s true that no tile cleaner can efficiently clean the grout, as it is not able to penetrate through it thoroughly, though some acids might destroy the grout. Another option is to seal the grout by the application of sealants soon after grouting and cleaning. But, then again sealants may have to be applied at periodic intervals of a few years to keep the floor looking fresh and clean. Improper or insufficient cleaning before applying a sealant may forever seal the grime and dirt of the grout.

Grout is not very hard. Even the use of certain chemicals breaks it down easily. Improper use of not so desirable chemicals adds to the problem. Thus the only option left to extend the life of grout is the use of proper tile and cleaning methods.

It has been realized that steam is the Ultimate Grout Cleaner. As the concept of claiming with steam is rather new, it may be desirable to understand its working.

There are various forms of steam. Boiling water to 100o C creates the steam what you normally see at home. Further heating of water produces more steam to escape from the vessel while the temperature of water remains to be100oC. Now, if the vessel can be sealed, the water in the container can be heated beyond 100oC, without boiling it. This is because water needs more of heat energy for getting boiled and release steam under pressure. For producing such a steam, you need to heat water to around 180oC.

Steam produced under high pressure is called dry vapor stream. This steam is different than the domestic steam produced or used at home. Steam vapors that you normally see at home have a good content of water molecules too. Dry vapor steam, has a very low content of water vapors, usually below five percent, and thus derives its name. Water needs to be heated under pressure to get dry vapor steam. The absence of water molecules makes this steam super heated that is capable of entering deeper levels of the grout and thus give better results. But, mind you steam is produced but not delivered at high pressure. Its pressure at the point of release is controlled.

Chemical cleaners too are not able to give the desired results, as the solvent used is not pressurized to facilitate its penetration into the grout. Dry steam vapors under pressure can penetrate the grout after softening and throwing out the dirt and grime that remained deposited even at the lower layers of grout. The process doesn’t affect the structure of the grout. The equipment employed for cleaning the grout by using steam has a brush attachment. The brush facilitates the loosening of the top layer of filth and pushes it out to disable it to trickle back to the grout.

Please note that the pressure of steam produced by a small domestic steam cleaning equipment is insufficient to make it penetrate the grout and is thus unsuitable for carrying out the job. Commercial Steam cleaning machines operate at pressures of six bar or higher.