Thursday, February 5, 2009

Grout-Cleaning Secrets

By Sam Weyland

I like to believe I am very competent in the kitchen. Food and beverage are very intimate to us as human beings, and the ability to prepare food is a gateway to someone's soul. That said, I make it a point to have my friends on the kitchen table whenever they visit, so we could chat whilst I prepare food.

Aside from my better than average cooking skills, what impressed my guests the most is how clean my kitchen tiles are. The kitchen counter, in particular, nice and clean. It's white and tiled all around, and my friends notice and ask how I manage to keep it that way. I've never told them, but here's the big secret:

I don't.

You see, I'm a practical person. I believe in showing off what you're good at, and not insist on doing what you can't really do well. And I'm fully aware that I'm no good at cleaning tiles, and especially grout. Believe me, I tried.

And this is in no way my fault. Grout is a very porous solution, and as such all manner of clogs and dirt sweep through it on an everyday basis. And when you clean, your scrubbing can only reach the surface. In addition, the dirt below what you can reach remains visible even when unreachable, and it will breed bacteria on top of that. So nope, you won't find me doing what is not within my capacity to do.

So, if I do not clean my own grout, then what do I do? For one thing, I maintain my grout well. I clean up immediately after doing my magic in the kitchen, so the particles from the food don't have time to settle in. And every night, after the family has settled in, I spray alcohol, mixed with water, upon the surface of my tiles and grout. It disinfects and cleans the place before the dirt can burrow into the material.

And even with all these safety measures, you can't keep the grout thoroughly clean like this. All this will accomplish is delay what'll happen eventually. The solution: When the times comes and you notice it getting really dirty, call in the professionals for a more deep cleaning.

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