We tested 6 popular products to determine which one was the best grout cleaner on the market…
Searching for the best grout cleaner? You’re not alone. Because the reality is that no one wants to spend any more time and energy on that hideous cleaning chore than the bare minimum required.
You don’t hear many people say cleaning grout is their favorite household task, that’s for sure!
We have a rental property. A while back, we had to turn it over for new renters. The previous family had been living in the property for about 5 years. And though they were great tenants, I don’t think they EVER cleaned grout.
So there were lots of grout cleaning projects to be tackled throughout this house once the tenants left. I wrote another post about cleaning kitchen grout and the best grout cleaning tips, if you want to check that out as well!
Here in this bathroom, sadly (or maybe happily), these pictures (and even the video below), don’t really demonstrate how thoroughly gross this grout was before I cleaned it.
Maybe that’s because it’s uniformly dirty which I guess helps it look a little better? You may just have to take my word from it that this floor looked terrible to begin with.
The floor USED to have white grout, believe it or not. Here’s a picture of the floor when we still lived in the house ⤵.
And at the onset of this project, the grout was more like a mocha 😳🤢.
Because I knew how much grout needed to be cleaned in this house, I took some time to research “best grout cleaner on the market” and saw conflicting info out there.
So I gathered 6 of the most commonly recommended products together and decided I would figure it out for myself.
And before I continue, I’ll let you know that this content is NOT sponsored by any company.
I don’t have any relationship with any of the brands that I tested in this project. I truly wanted to figure out which product worked the best, and once I figured it out, share that info with you, too.
What We Tested To Determine the Best Grout Cleaning Product On The Market
1. Clorox toilet bowl cleaner with bleach
2. Soft Scrub with bleach
3. CLR
4. Aqua Mix Heavy Duty Tile and Grout Cleaner
5. Lysol Hydrogen Peroxide Spray
6. Lysol toilet bowl cleaner with bleach
I put together a video to show you the process I used to test these products, as well as the method I used for applying them to the grout and cleaning the grout with them.
The video is just 4-minutes in length, and hopefully, it will answer most of your questions!
Grout Cleaning Video Overview
As you can see in the video, I divided our small bathroom floor into 6 areas, testing a different product in each zone.
Using several different brushes (because I wanted to test those out as well, and this one was a clear winner) I initially scrubbed each zone once the product was applied, and then allowed the cleaner to soak overnight since the floor was so dirty.
After allowing the cleaners to soak, I removed all of the product with a sponge and water.
Based on what I saw, here are the results in rank order from BEST grout cleaner to worst performer…
Results (in rank order) from BEST grout cleaner to worst performer:
1. 🎉 Clorox and Lysol toilet bowl cleaners (both with bleach) 🎉
2. Soft Scrub
3. CLR, Aqua Mix Tile & Grout Cleaner and Lysol Hydrogen Peroxide Spray all performed poorly
**Here I need to mention that using toilet bowl cleaner to clean grout is an off-label use. There is some concern out there that using it on grout can cause damage to your floors due to the corrosive nature of toilet bowl cleaner. So use this method at your own risk, like any project I suppose.
That caveat aside…I use toilet bowl cleaner on ALL of our tile surfaces in this home and our rental properties. I have yet to see it cause any damage, whatsoever. And this is after years of (albeit intermittent) use.
One reader did email me to tell me a cleaning company she follows on Instagram recommends a mixture of bleach + water + Tide powder…I will give that a try next and let you know how it goes!
As far as supplies go, here’s what I recommend you’ll need to tackle your own grout cleaning project at home…
Grout cleaning supply list
- Cleaner (based on results, I’d recommend toilet bowl cleaner, brand of your choice…gel with bleach type)
- Grout cleaning brush (I’ve linked the one I use and love)
- bucket of water
- sponge
- open windows/fan(s)
- respirator mask
- rubber gloves
What is the best grout cleaning brush?
Below is a pic of my favorite brush.
There are many out there, and I tried several. But this one is smaller and allows you to really get into those grout lines better than a larger brush. Strong bristles make a huge difference as well!
I’ve often seen people recommending toothbrushes, but those bristles just aren’t strong or durable enough to do the kind of job this $3 brush will do for you.
I’ve also seen “wire” grout brushes mentioned once in a while. Though most tile is pretty tough, I’d be hesitant to use wire just on the off chance that it could scratch your tile, and possibly dig into and remove some of your grout. Better to stay with the brushes whose bristles are made of a poly material.
That’s a grout cleaning wrap!
Remember to check out my top grout cleaning tips here. Finally, if this post helped you find the best grout cleaner on the market, pin this post for later!
You can even leave your own clean tile picture and comments on the pin to help others, too!
Pssst…before you go, I sure would love to hang out with you again really soon! Sign up now and get a no-cost copy of “Builder-Grade To Beautiful: 10 Totally Transformative Home Decorating Solutions, All Under $100!” Click here to enter your email or on the image below. Your copy will be emailed right away!
Cher Robertson says
I had a similar situation to yours except I believe the grout was even more stained than yours was. I used a liquid spray T. S. P. And found that it did an excellent job without too much hard scrubbing required. I had a tile floor that went continuously from the front door, down the main hallway, throughout the kitchen as well as the main floor powder room. A major undertaking! Thankfully it did a great job and although I was down on my hands and knees, the lack of hard scrubbing meant that the job was done in a very reasonable amount of time. I purchased the T.S.P. at Home Depot here in Canada. I would definitely recommend this product.