How to maintain and clean bathroom tiles?

Sources SVG
Answer
To maintain and clean bathroom tiles effectively, follow these steps:
  1. Prepare the Area:
    • Clear the bathroom floor of any clutter and sweep it clean with a dustpan and brush23.
    • Remove any loose dirt and debris from the tiles using a soft-bristle broom or a vacuum with a soft-bristle attachment3.
  2. Choose the Right Cleaner:
    • Select a cleaner that is compatible with your tile type. For ceramic tiles, most cleaners are suitable, but test a small area first to ensure compatibility23.
    • For grouting, use a specialist mould and mildew cleaner or a homemade vinegar and baking soda mixture2.
  3. Clean the Grouting:
    • Spray the cleaner onto the grouting, holding it 5 cm away from the wall or floor. Leave it to work for 10 minutes or as per the instructions2.
    • Alternatively, use a homemade cleaning solution of vinegar and baking soda, applying it with a toothbrush and leaving it overnight2.
    • Wipe the cleaner away with a sponge, scrubbing as necessary. If mould remains, repeat the process2.
  4. Clean the Tiles:
    • Steam the bathroom to loosen grime, then spray a mild detergent onto the tiles and leave it to dissolve the dirt for a minute2.
    • Wipe the cleaner away with a moistened piece of paper towel, and polish the tiles with a dry microfibre cloth until they sparkle2.
    • For larger floors, work in sections to reduce the amount of water needed3.
  5. Rinse and Dry:
    • Rinse the mop or cloth thoroughly and change the water frequently to avoid streaks and water spots3.
    • Dry glazed tiles with a clean, dry microfiber cloth to prevent water spots3.
  6. Regular Maintenance:
    • Clean your bathroom regularly to maintain the cleanliness and prevent the buildup of dirt and grime3.
    • Use a squeegee after every shower to remove excess water and prevent soap scum and mildew4.
    • Dry the bathroom floor immediately after use to prevent water spots and hazards4.
By following these steps, you can effectively clean and maintain your bathroom tiles, ensuring a clean and hygienic bathroom environment.




Author: Clean My Space



Key insights

  • The three biggest challenges when cleaning bathroom tiles are soap scum, mold, and not knowing the type of tiles you have.
  • Many people damage their bathroom tiles by using the wrong products and methods, leading to unnecessary issues.
  • ️ Natural stone tiles like travertine require extra caution and care when cleaning to maintain their beauty and durability.
  • The technique of letting the cleaning product sit on the tiles while soaking wet is crucial for effective cleaning.
  • Store-bought products specifically designed to melt away soap scum can be effective, but it's essential to follow the package instructions for best results.
  • 🧼 Grout is porous and absorbs moisture and dirt, making it difficult to clean.
  • Sealing natural stone tiles in your shower not only restores them to their original glory but also protects them from stains and damage.
  • 🧼 Using equal parts bleach and water solution or oxygen bleach can effectively tackle bathroom tile mold and mildew.

Timestamped Summary

  • 00:00 Use the right products and techniques to clean bathroom tiles without causing damage, especially if they are glazed or sealed ceramic or porcelain tiles.
  • 02:35 Use non-abrasive products for natural stone tiles and pH neutral cleaner for ceramic or porcelain tiles, consider store-bought products if homemade solutions don't work.
  • 04:31 Spray the cleaning product on the tiles, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, scrub with a non-scratch pad in an S pattern, rinse, and buff dry with a microfiber cloth for a polished finish.
  • 05:54 Use a mop stick with a microfiber cloth or store-bought cleaning products to clean bathroom tiles, avoiding acidic and abrasive cleaners, and consider using a steam cleaner for delicate tiles, and use a deck brush and a rectangular bucket to dilute cleaning product or squirt it on the floor and agitate with the brush to clean bathroom tiles without having to scrub on hands and knees.
  • 07:55 Clean bathroom tiles first, then floors to avoid slipping, use DIY paste or oxygen bleach to clean grout, and consider applying grout sealant to prevent future dirt buildup.
  • 09:34 Follow the instructions to seal your grout and natural stone tiles to protect and maintain their beauty.
  • 10:26 Prevent mold and mildew in the shower by using a squeegee, ventilating the bathroom, and treating buildup with specific products, then use bleach or store-bought products to clean bathroom tiles.
  • 12:10 Keep your bathroom tiles clean by using a squeegee and subscribing to the Clean My Space channel.

Video Full Text

  • 00:00 Cleaning your bathroom tiles might seem pretty straightforward and it is so long as you understand the right products tools and techniques that you should be using to get the job done and that's why in this video I'm going to teach you to clean your shower tiles like a pro and just a quick reminder if you haven't done so already to subscribe to the clean my space channel and give this video a thumbs up if just about nothing beats a nice hot long shower for you. The three biggest challenges you're going to face cleaning. Your bathroom tiles are as follows. First up is soap scum. Soap scum is a combination of hard water that comes out of your shower head combined with dead skin cells body oils and any products that you're using when you're in the shower when you are done your shower. The water dries and anything that is contained in those water droplets sticks to the tiles over time that builds up and you have soap scum. The second issue that people run into is mold and mildew. That's because showers have a lot of moisture in them and if you're not ventilating properly you're going to get mold and mildew pretty quickly and it's persistent so you've got to stay on top of it. The third issue is not knowing the type of tiles that you have and cleaning them improperly. A lot of people end up damaging what they have in their bathroom because they literally throw any and all products at it hope for the best and sometimes end up with damage. So we're going to eradicate all those issues right now now in a shower you're going to have a glazed or a sealed tile that is a vitreous surface meaning. It won't absorb more than three percent moisture which is what you want. The first type of tile that we most often see in a bathroom is a ceramic or a porcelain tile. This is what I have. It's very durable. It's very easy to clean and in fact when we were putting our bathroom together. That's exactly why we chose it. We wanted easy and not temperamental. For these you don't have to worry too much about the products that you're using you can't really damage them with products but you do want to make sure that you're using a non-scratching tool because you don't want to ruin. The finish. Cement. Tiles are also popular for the bathroom but you want to make sure that you're not using any acidic cleaners whereas a porcelain or a ceramic tile can easily handle that next up are glass tiles. Now these are moisture resistant as well as stain resistant so they're a good choice for the shower.
    Read More
  • 02:35 But when it comes to cleaning you want to make sure that you're not using anything that's abrasive that goes for both products and tools and then there's the big old umbrella category of natural stone you know it. It's granite marble limestone slate quartz and I'm missing one travertine travertine. That's the one there are beautiful choices. You can get them in a high polished finish or kind of like a more raw unpolished finish. They're pretty durable. They look beautiful but you've got to be really careful when it comes to cleaning them. An acidic product can etch or mar or stain essentially ruin those tiles. So you've got to make sure that you're using the right product and in terms of tulle again. I would treat them very carefully. Some are softer than other and the last thing you want is an inconsistent scratch because you tried scrubbing somewhere and you noticed that the tool that you were using was a little too abrasive so stick to a very ph neutral cleaner and a pretty gentle tool when it comes to cleaning ceramic or porcelain tiles. These are the most durable and they can handle just about any product that's appropriate for tub and tile cleaning whether it's something that you make or something that you buy and yes. There are plenty of great store-bought products that you can use. I always like starting off with something simple something that I make at home and then if that's not working like if I were in a professional cleaning situation or. I hadn't cleaned my shower in a really long time the soap scum was really bad perhaps. I'd buy a store-bought product and try something a little bit more powerful that said we have amazing diy recipes and I would always start there first. I'll put a link to our 50 diy cleaning product recipes down below for you to check out so for the tub and tile cleaner. It's just equal parts dish soap and vinegar.
    Read More
  • 04:31 I would use a half cup of each. You can add 10 drops your favorite essential oil just to make it a little bit more fun and the technique that you're using here is you're spraying the product on the tile and you're going to let it sit for a few minutes five minutes. If it's you know a relatively clean shower and if it's sort of dirty you can let it sit for up to 10 minutes. The idea here is you don't want to spray it on and let it dry. You want to spray it on and let it sit while it's soaking wet. So really hose those tiles down a wet product is a product that works now after that time has elapsed. You can go in there using a non-scratch scrub pad and use the s pattern to go from top to bottom and scrub. Those tiles clean what you should see or feel if you can't visually see. It is the soap scum starting to come off the way you'll know it's coming off. If you're touching. It is you'll notice the tiles feel smooth and not that gritty sensation that you would feel if you felt soap scum on there before you started cleaning by the time that's done you're going to rinse everything down and then you can buff it dry. Now there are a few different ways you can buff it dry. You can use a squeegee but I find after I clean the shower. I think using like a large microfiber cloth like our utility cloth is a great way just to put that extra polish on a shower and if you have high tiles like.
    Read More
  • 05:54 I do you can actually use a mop stick the microfiber cloth on there and work your way up and down that way just to save your arms and your shoulders from doing some extra work. If you're looking for a store-bought cleaning product you can consider something like a bar keepers friend cream cleaners like them something that's a spray on top and tile cleaner. There are plenty of options out there. Even a steam cleaner is actually great at getting. Your tiles cleaned any type of tile so there are lots of different options. I'll link some good ones for you down below if you don't want to make your own. I'm going to treat cement glass and natural stone tiles all with the same type of product in tool recommendations because they're much more delicate than your ceramic and porcelain tiles. So we're just going to use the same products for all of them. Now. As I said if you have a steam cleaner that's a perfect thing for you to use you want to stay away from anything that's acidic and anything that's abrasive. There are fabulous store-bought products that are specifically designed to melt away soap scum and I will link those for you down below and the way that you want to apply. Them is to follow the package instructions. Everybody's a little bit different but essentially you're going to put them on the tiles let them sit for a period of time. You're going to use a non-abrasive scrub pad like the one. I was showing you before you're going to scrub it off and give it a good rinse. Now a tip for cleaning shower floors because unless you want to get down on your hands and knees and scrub. I have an easier solution for you. You can use something called a deck brush. It's a pretty easy thing for you to find online. You would need a rectangular sized bucket and then you can dilute your cleaning product into that bucket. Alternatively you can kind of squirt it on the floor and then you can agitate it with the deck brush. That way. You don't have to get down on your hands and knees and do the scrubbing hey if you want the exercise. I'm not going to stop you. But if for whatever reason you don't want to do that or you have a mobility issue that's a great alternative. Finally.
    Read More
  • 07:55 I'm going to tell you this about cleaning showers. I always start with the tiles first and I do the floors last. In fact you want to keep the floors as dry as possible so that you don't slip and when you're doing the floors you want to start at one side of the shower. The shower that's the side that's closest to the back corner and you want to work your way out so that way you're not stepping over anything that's really wet and now the thing that holds it all. Together. Grout grout is the binder that holds your tiles in place and also prevents moisture from getting in but funnily enough grout is porous. So every time you shower it is absorbing a little bit of something that you might not want getting behind the wall. Whether that's moisture or the stuff that's coming off your body the stuff that's contained in soap scum that's also getting into your grout. The only difference between your tile and your grout is it's really hard to penetrate the grout and get all the dirt out to clean your grout. You can do a couple of different things. A great diy recipe is to use one part hydrogen peroxide to two parts. Baking soda you can whip up a paste and apply it with a cleaning toothbrush let it sit for about 10 minutes and then give it a good scrub rinse it and buff it dry now if you have a really stained tile and you want to up it. You can mix up a solution of oxygen bleach like oxiclean and you can apply that instead something else you can consider doing if you notice that your grout gets pretty. Dirty pretty quickly is to apply a grout sealant. This is pretty simple you pick it up you clean your grout you let everything dry and then you apply it with a paintbrush.
    Read More
  • 09:34 You don't have to be a michelangelo. You just have to follow the instructions and let it dry. That sealant is going to protect your grout for a good period of time. Several months from anything getting in there which means it'll retain its beautiful color and you don't have to worry about scrubbing it clean so much another maintenance thing to do if you have natural stone tiles in your shower is to seal it. You can pick up a natural stone sealant. You don't have to get this brand. Any reputable brand will be fine. You follow the package. Instructions apply it accordingly and the most important thing is that it beautifies it which means it restores it to its original glory but it also protects it from stains and damage and so on and so forth. You can read about the frequency in which you should be sealing it on the particular product itself.
    Read More
  • 10:26 But it is a good habit to get into in the bathroom particularly in the shower there's going to be an ongoing battle between you getting clean and you preventing mold and mildew from building up. In there. The easiest way to do that is to stay on top of the moisture in the shower which means after every shower. Every family member picks up a squeegee and swipes the walls chad and I have a rule you get out of the shower you squeegee. It takes less than a minute to do our whole shower. We've gotten pretty good at it. But it makes a huge. Difference also ventilate during and for at least 30 minutes after your shower. That way you won't have tropical destination environment in your bathroom which is perfect for mold spores. Now if you happen to notice any mold or mildew building up first of all try to get into that habit of removing moisture like I just talked about but you can also treat it with a few different product options. You can of course diy. It you can use an equal parts bleach and water solution to try and tackle it. If you're not a bleach fan. You can use oxygen bleach to try and do it or you can pick up a store-bought product. If you've watched clean my space videos you know for years. I've talked about this product concrobium. I've had great results with it. You can pick up molded mildew products. It doesn't have to be this one you would follow the package instructions you want to spray it onto the surface. Let it sit for the prescribed amount of time scrub it off and rinse it. Clean. You might have to retreat the area several times to remove the staining and to provide a level of protection from mold and mildew coming back but staying on top of it is very important because if you see it there it means it can start getting into the drywall.
    Read More
  • 12:10 If you want an expensive bathroom renovation on your hands keep doing what you're doing so. Now the tub and tile cleaning force is with you and with that. I would love to know in the comments down. Below are you a squeegeer a squeegeer. That's a person right or are you someone who doesn't believe in it let me know what you think in the comments and if you're not someone who squeegees after watching this are you gonna get into it are you riding that wave another annoying thing to clean. In your shower is a glass shower panel or a glass shower door and if you want to know how to do that. I got you covered here's a video you can go check it out. If you haven't done so already make sure that you subscribe to the clean my space channel thanks so much for watching and we'll see you next time.
    Read More