Want a simple trick for cleaning grout in your shower, bath, or kitchen? This is the absolute BEST homemade grout cleaner; just baking soda and bleach!
Want a simple trick for cleaning grout in your shower, bath, or kitchen? This homemade grout cleaner works great and it only requires 2 ingredients: baking soda and bleach. If you want to see how easy it is to clean your grout, scroll down to the bottom of the post for the video!
When we moved into our apartment it wasn’t very clean. I already shared my 5 minute microwave steam cleaning tip, but another area that needed serious cleaning was the bathroom. The grout was disgusting! But after cleaning it with this homemade grout cleaner, it looks brand new again!
There are tons of recipes out there for homemade grout cleaner, but I wanted an effective one that wasn’t too hard to make. I ended up with this grout cleaner recipe which only has 2 ingredients, and it worked great!
Homemade Grout Cleaner
30 minutes (time spent doing stuff)
15 minutes (time spent waiting around)
45 minutes (total project time)
Tools
a scrub brush or an old toothbrush (this DIY scrub brush for your drill works great; let the drill do all the scrubbing work!)
rubber gloves
respirator
safety glasses
Materials
3/4 C baking soda
1/4 C bleach
Instructions
This is what the grout looked like when we moved in. Gross!!!
Mix the baking soda and bleach together in the bowl until it forms a thick paste. Apply the paste to the dirty grout lines and let it sit for 30 minutes.
The bleach will do most of the work just sitting there, but after 10-15 minutes, scrub it with your scrub brush to really work the cleaner deeper into the grout.
Wait another 10-15 minutes and then rinse the cleaner off. If you have a handheld shower head, use that; otherwise just use a damp rag and rinse it out often as you wipe the cleaner away.
Remember, grout does sometimes turn darker when it’s wet. So if you’re not totally impressed with how sparkling white your grout is right when you finish rinsing it, wait a few hours until it dries!
I am so happy with how CLEAN everything is now!
Just a few important notes:
- You’re using bleach. Make sure you are wearing old clothes or something you don’t care about. I figured it wouldn’t splatter so I didn’t change before doing this, and now my jeans have white spots all over them! There is a surprising amount of splatter, even if you’re careful. So just change first.
- Wear rubber gloves
to protect your hands from irritation.
- Open a window or wear a respirator
to protect your nose, mouth, and lungs.
- Wear safety glasses
to protect your eyes from irritation.
- And if you use a washcloth or rag to wipe the cleaner off, make sure it’s something that’s okay to be bleached.
When we bought our house, I decided to clean the grout in the bathroom and the grout in the kitchen floor using this same recipe. Luckily the grout in the house wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been in the apartment, but it still needed a good cleaning. I put together a quick video to show you just how easy it is!
How’s the state of your bathroom grout? Or in your kitchen, if you have tile on the floor or in your back-splash? I’m really liking these make-it-yourself cleaning recipes, because they work just as well and it means I don’t have 30 different types of chemical cleaners laying around! We have been using homemade borax free laundry soap for almost a year now and we absolutely love it! It’s cheap, non-toxic, and works better than commercial detergent!