Tip: Whiten grout using a toothbrush dipped in undiluted vinegar.
The person that originally selected the colors for the house we bought 3 years ago has an obsession with white. I would call their taste “Casual Caucasian.” We have white carpet, white countertops, white walls and moldings, white appliances and white ceramic tile in all the bathrooms.
Now, I have nothing against the color white; I would even incorporate it, moderately so, into my designing. What bothers me about so much white is that there is so much more opportunity for dirt to show. My bathroom floors have 4-inch white tiles, and I assume at one time the grout was also white. Now it is much more of a gray and, in some places, yellow color. When I let my mind roam freely, I really start to wonder about what must go on in a kid’s bathroom that could have caused the yellowing of that grout.
Now, bleach is my best friend. I love the smell of those chemicals that tell me that it has just 1 job and that is to disinfect the heck out of anything that gets in its way. I like to clean with bleach whenever possible, but there are times when it is just not possible. This week I thought I would attempt to work on the grout and see if I could restore it to a fresher, brighter white. My friends at Real Simple suggested using vinegar.
Fact or bull?
Bull. I scrubbed right after applying the vinegar and saw no results, I then let it sit on there for 15 minutes and scrubbed again. Results are still the same; the grout did not look any whiter to me.
Undercover Mother’s revelations
I have to be honest, I buy that paste—like Soft Scrub cleaning product—squirt it into my grout and then go at it with a scrub brush. And I find that the results are pretty good. I don’t think white grout ever can go back to being truly white, which gives manufacturers and contractors the option to replace it for you at a substantial cost to you.
Next time I select a floor, I am choosing gray or colored grout, do you think there is a color called dingy? On another note, my bathroom now smells like a salad, which makes me want to go eat a brownie.
