OT: How do you clean your tile???

[Emmas Mom]

We have great tile in our kitchen area but I'm SOOOO tired of our industrial size mop & bucket! I hate that the water gets dirty & I feel like I'm washing with dirty water. I hate lugging the dang thing around. I don't want my toddler near it but she always wants to help when someone's mopping. So, is there a better way? What do you use to clean your tile?

[bostonsmama]

I got rid of the mop and bucket long ago! I just fill up my sink with hot water, add the cleaner-sometimes a natural cleaner like Basic G, Castille Soap, or a utilitarian one like Armstrong Citrus Floor cleaner. I use a Vileda sponge mop from Costco much of the time. To be exact, I'll dip it in the cleaner, squeeze out excess, rinse the scrubber of foam, mop and rinse large dirt off in the other side of the sink, then dip it in the clean/soapy water & repeat.
In between these twice a month moppings I'll swiffer wet jet once a week (and always vacuum before hand with my little Eureka Stic Vac).

Once or twice a year, I'll spray grout with a bleach-based foaming bathroom spray and scrub w/ a toothbrush or hard-bristled brush. We sealed our light grey grout with a lifetime sealer and it still gets yucky over time. It helps to put throw rugs under the sink, prep areas and stove to catch grease spatter, food droppings and the such.

I'd love a microfiber mop, but I'm a little too lazy to do the research on the right one.

HTH!
Larissa

We're doing it! IVF orientation & consult scheduled for May 2nd!
Saline Sonogram--May 5th

Proud Aunt to Jack Dorian, born to my brother and SIL on 3/06
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/32719.jpg

[cmdunn1972]

We have large, white tiles in our kitchen. I'm pretty much a swiffer junkie. I'll either handvaccuum or dry-swiffer the floor first to get the cat hair and heavier stuff first. Then I'll follow up with the wet swiffer. Sometimes I'll spot clean using either windex or disinfectant wipes when I'm in a hurry.

The nice thing about the swiffer is that the floors dry quickly.

HTH!

[BeachBum]

Us too. We swiffer with the dry static cling type cloths. Then use the the swiffer wet jet--the one with the solution that squirts out. It works great!

[JBaxter]

I have tile in the kitchen and hardwood in the entryway and dinning room and I used the floormate w/ vinegar & water on both. Occassionally I will do a hand/knee scrub with a brush but in general its just the floormate. It leaves the floor dry enough for Nathan to walk on before Im done. I say I average 2x a week with a potty training toddler, a 14 & 11 yr old boys and DH.

[omgrown]

Another vote for the Swiffer Wet Jet. We have 12" square white tiles in our kitchen (which is also the entry to our apartment) and 2 dogs and a toddler and even with shoes off rules in place, I have to Swiffer Wet Jet just about everyday. I do keep a sponge mop around for about once every two weeks or so mopping, just because I sometimes don't feel like the swiffer gets the grout clean enough, but if def. works well for easy everyday cleaning.
OH, another thing I've found that I like is putting microfiber towels on the swiffer instead of the disposable pads. Its a little tricky at first because it has to stick to the velcro on the bottom, but I think they're better than the disposable pads and you can wash and reuse them, so no waste!

[karolyp]

Sorry, don't mean to hijack, but I saw your response and had some questions. What bleach-based bathroom spray do you use to clean the grout? I have a light tan grout that is also sealed but is so dingy looking (even after I've cleaned it with an acidic grout cleaner). So I'm willing to try anything to get it back to it's original color! And what sealer did you use?

TIA!

[Emmas Mom]

Thanks for the responses...we'll have to try out the Swiffer, I'll try anything to get rid of that huge mop! ;)

I don't mind the "hijack" at all, you never know when you'll get a good cleaning tip out of a so called "hijack". :D

And Larissa...I'm wishing you SOOO much luck with your IVF!!! I hope to hear really good things for you & your DH in the not to distant future!!

[bostonsmama]

Sorry, didn't see this til now.

Most recently we've had a lot of luck with Scrubbing Bubbles Foaming Bathroom cleaner w/ and w/out bleach (I'm sure the Lysol version in the tall blue and white can will work the same). An old, firm toothbrush works best actually for scrubbing. We worked on it over 3 days for ~30 min/day for 260-ish sq ft (12-in tile with 1/4-in grout lines).

The sealer was the best we could get: TILE LAB's SurfaceGuard Penetrating Sealer w/ a 20 year warranty (dark green bottle w/ yellow top). I figured 20 years would be the "lifetime" we'd live in this house, but who knows now. We've spent so much time making this the house of our dreams, that if space weren't a concern for the future, I wouldn't entertain leaving. Anyways, it's been pretty evident that this grout sealer has its pros and cons. But it's sure ahead of whatever's in second place. TILE LAB's 2-year sealer literally does need to be done every two years. And perhaps a testament to the fact that it DOES work might be that all of the scum pooled on the surface of the grout and when we cleaned it off, there indeed was clean, bright grey grout underneath, unstained to the center. That has to count for something. I was just under the impression that regular mopping would inhibit scrum collection on the grout (like it would repel stains), but perhaps that's my dream world!

HTH!
Larissa

We're doing it! IVF orientation & consult scheduled for May 2nd!
Saline Sonogram--May 5th

Proud Aunt to Jack Dorian, born to my brother and SIL on 3/06
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/32719.jpg

[karolyp]

Thank you Larissa! You're such a big help here! I'm gonna try the scrubbing bubbles and bookmark this for future reference. Thanks again!