What Gets Into Your Grout Gets Out!
Grout in tiled walls and tiled flours often collects a melange of unpleasant stuff. Tile-cleaning services can help get it out, but it is important to first know what gets into tiling grout and why you should clean it out. The following information is best suited to that purpose.
Bacteria
Bacteria can be tracked in on shoes, on feet, on old socks on feet, and on animal paws, and even bacteria from downward sneezes, urine, and vomit lands on tile floors. Because tile grout is filled with tiny pores, microscopic bacteria have the perfect homes into which to move. The pores in the grout are bigger than most bacteria, so even when you think that you have cleaned the floor, you have only pushed some hardier varieties of bacteria into the pores of the grout. Within time, the bacteria grow and multiply, making anyone who touches the floor long enough (and does not wash their hands) sick.
Mold and Mildew
Mold LOVES grout. Just look at old tiled tub walls. The grout is blackened by mold. The reason for this is not only the pores in the grout, but also the fact that grout is made with earthen substances: a bit of clay, crushed cement, and water. Mold gravitates toward anything wet and anything to do with soil, dirt, and clay.
Likewise, mildew roots itself within grout, specifically mildew that is frequently moistened by any source of water. On a floor, this would be wet shoes, wet feet, discarded wet clothes, wet towels, etc. As this mold grows, it even becomes part of any wet cloth item left near it, a most unpleasant encounter when you pick up wet clothes to wash them.
R.O.D. (Regular Old Dirt)
Where people go and animals walk, dirt follows after them. That is just fact, even when people try to do everything possible to scrub and clean. A lot of regular old dirt comes off floor tiles just fine, but some of it falls into the grout areas, eventually discoloring grout.
What Tile-Cleaning Services Do
Tile cleaners attack grout cleaning with a three-pronged approach. One, they steam-blast the grout to loosen dirt, mold, and mildew. Two, they use a disinfectant strong enough to kill mold, mildew, and bacteria. Finally, they use a cleaner and brush with a damp rag to completely clean the grout by hand. These steps ensure that your tile floors and grout are very clean indeed.