Cleaning tile floors
 

I bought a house a few months ago that has quite a bit of tile in it. I use a stick vac to sweep it and then have mopped it. It doesn't seem very clean to me. If I wet a paper towel and wipe the floor you can see what was left behind. I have tried the Shark steam mop, but that didn't work very well either. I do live in the desert but it's not the dust that bothers me, it's the dirt. I was thinking about getting one of those Hoover hard floor cleaners. Does anyone have one, and what do you think? Those of you who have tile, how do you get it clean? This is the first time I have had tile so not sure what to do.

Thanks

I live in the desert too. I clean my white floor tiles by vacuuming first with my shark vacuum, then I use a string mop that I rinse a lot. Since my tiles are white I use dawn dish detergent (just a little) and bleach in hot water. The grout does not get very clean, I've learned to live with it!:shock:

I mop with Mr. Clean and water.

I mop with Mr Clean and water also. You can use strong cleaner and get down and scrubb it till you feel it is really clean, then get tile and grout sealer. This will make it much easier to keep clean.

Add 1/2 cup of brown vinegar + 1/2 cup of methylated spirits to warm water and mop with this. Works a treat.

Sounds like there is a build up of grime left behind by the former occupants. You may have to do a "deep clean" then just maintain with the stick vac and a mop. When doing a "deep clean" there's nothing like a bucket of hot water a good squirt of detergent and a splash of cloudy ammonia. Unfortunately this does entail a hands and knees, scrubbing brush approach coupled with vast and painful amounts of elbow grease. Cloudy ammonia is very fumey, so good ventilation is the key. If you are unable to do it yourself....hire someone. Detergents can leave residue....once you have deep cleaned a splash of methylated spirits in warm water should be enough to keep it sparkling.

I have tile on the floors around my pellet stove and the wood burner in the basement. They make a cleaner especially for tile foors. I think I bought it at wal-mart. Works great.

Can you tell us the name of the cleaner. Methylated spirit? Is that found in the cleaning department?

Funny you should ask about the hard floor cleaners. I have tile in my kitchen with epoxy grout-never have to seal it. But the mop I have doesn't get in the grooves and I can tell that it's not as clean. I was wondering about the steam mops and such too. Looking forward to hearing some suggestions.

I hate tile floors mainly because of grout. My son in law discovered that using a carpet cleaner works to clean grout.
Thats a machine carpet cleaner not the stuff in a bottle. The brush gets into the grout.
I had a steam cleaner and it did not work, waste of money. Sealer for grout is useless also. Used it before and lots of work to apply but does nothing.

I have a Hoover floor cleaner. It works fairly well - the "suction" feature does not leave the floor dry but it dries quickly. However I've had problems with the filter causing the machine to stop working no matter how much I clean the filter. So I run it without the filter. It is only used to filter the dirty water - why?? Who knows. It works fine without the filter. I just wish the brushes were a little bit longer to get into the gout better. Maybe I need new brushes!!!

We were told to just use plain water and mop. Instead I use a Swiffer wet mop and have not had any problems.

I have a linoleum floor with a deeply embossed pattern that eventually filled up and turned dark brown. I use a gentle product called Quick n Brite. It comes as a solid in a tub. Just scoop some out, melt it in hot water and slop on the floor and let it sit for a few minutes. Then mop off with a sponge or string mop. It's amazing how the stuff just comes up. It even removed the metal stains from the chair leg protectors that scrape on the floor.

I have a Hover FloorMate and about 500 square feet of light beige tile with off white grout. I like the way the machine cleans the floors. The way I keep the grout clean is to use a little homemade liquid soap in the grout lines before cleaning, just squirt a little in the dirty looking places let sit for at least 5 minutes, then run the machine as usual. Done and back to quilting in less than 30 minutes.

I have a Hoover Floormate I bought at a thrift shop actually for $20!My initial thought was if it didnt work ,Id only be out the 20 bucks.WELL!!!!It worked SO GOOD that I also bought a brand new one for my daughter for mother's day from Taget and then had gotten my 70 year old mother one (because she was still mopping her floors "Cinderella" style);and they both LOVE thiers as well! Definitely worth the money for one.Hope this helps you out! Have a great day and good luck

I have tile floors thru most of my house. I live in the country and have a large dog, enough said. The best product for cleaning the grout in tile floors is Kaboom. Spray it on and leave it for several minutes, brush and rinse. I do that several times a year. You will be surprised at the color change in your tile and grout. The rest of the time, I use the Swiffer mop, cleans well and dries quickly. Tried the steam mop, didn't work, left water on the floor. Kaboom is the best cleaner that I have found and I have tried a number of them. Smells decent, don't need to wear gloves, works quickly and does the best job.

Check Pinterest under tile cleaning. it will give you some great cleaning tips

I have old and very "used" limoleum in my kitchen..in a light tan..I have tried bleach, swiffer cleaner..and just about everything I could think of..then a friend said ammonia..the lemon sented kind..and I spray it on the floor, let it stand about five minutes and then mop...beautiful...the scratches of course are still there, but the grime and stains are gone..with the lemon scent it is very nice..give it a try..it worked on my tired floors.

I have a whole house full of tile, around 2500 sq ft. Keeping the floors de-sanded and de-haired is a chore in its self. With 2 dogs, 3 cats and one husband (who doesn't like to take shoes off) I am constantly having to try and keep floors clean. My kitchen floor was sealed after it was laid, and just like waxing vinyl floors the sealer sucks up the dirt specially the grout. Try getting that sealer off!! Easier said then done. I have also thought about the Hoover Floor Mate, but everytime I look at one I feel that the brushes aren't long or stiff enough to do a good job. I have used ammonia, 409, other so called good floor cleaners, and of course the wet swifter. I haven't tried the Kaboom, so maybe will give it a try. I don't think there is anything (besides mopping daily) that can get the floors as clean as I would like. So guess I live with them.

I have recently ran into this same problem....I have over 1000 sqft of tile in our home. My daughter bought me a steam mop for Christmas last year it only pushes the dirt around. I have tried just about everything. I tried my oover carpet cleaner but the brushes aren't stiff or long enough. The other day I had a thought of spraying Windex (Original) on the floor and using a long handle scrub brush....Amazing results after you let it sit a few minutes, use the scrub brush and rinse with really hot water with your good old mop and couldn't believe hour it cleaned the grooves and the grout....I will continue to use this method until I have it all looking the same...We had recently moved into our home and the tile is beautiful but needed to be deep cleaned....Smells good while doing it....

I have ceramic tile in a lot of rooms. The grout was the hardest part to get clean as it was lower then the tile squares. The grout always looked darker in spots. I had the tile guy come and regrout until the grout was just shy of being level with the tile. Now it's a lot easier to clean when mopping. It's been over 5 years and the grout looks fine. I had to do a lot of explaining to the guy what I wanted, he wanted paid so he did it. LOL

I run a mop over my tile floors with some kind of cleaner, then when it is dry, I use the Shark Steamer. After the third time I did this I am no longer looking at a dirty paper towel when I'm done. Takes that one extra step of mopping, but I don't really scrup with the mop. It just seems to loosen the grime.

I have been using the Shark steam mop on my porcelain tile kitchen floor since 2008 & love it. I think the trick is to vacumn 1st & to use multiple mop heads if necessary.

Use Krud Kutter full strength with white terry cloth rags on a Swiffer mop.

I have over 2200 sq ft of off white tile and very light gout. I had it sealed when it was put down and use a commercial cleaner yearly on the gout, then re-seal. I have a Hoover floor mate and like it, but I do get strikes once in awhile. I use the liquid cleaner that you purchases for the Hoover floor mate, then about every 3 months, I rinse with vinegar & water and a string mop. I also have the Shark steamer that I use on the smaller bathrooms, but I don't like it on larger areas. Seems it doesn't put enough steam out to get things really clean.
I find getting down on my hands and knee cleaning grouts is still better than what I have to do to the wood floors.

I had the same problem until I read "The Lost Art of House Cleaning" by Jan M. Dougherty. She is a professional house cleaner and this is one of my favorite all-time books. This is her method which I use after having tried various expensive machines.

1. Vacuum the edges where the floor meets the baseboard, then vacuum the rest of the floor.

2. Spray Krud Kutter on the edge and corners. (Gallon size bottles sold at paint dept. in Home Depot, etc.) Wipe with a white terry cloth rag. Use a detail brush if wiping with the rag doesn't get it clean.

3. Mop the rest of the floor by spraying with Krud Kutter and mopping with a white terry cloth rag on a Swiffer mop. You can buy white terry cloth rags in large packages at Sams, Target, etc. usually found in the auto dept. Use the rags with abandon and change them whenever they get dirty. Keep spraying and mopping until the rag comes up clean. You will need to use Krud Kutter full strength the first time you clean the floor, then you can use it diluted at a 5:1 ratio.

4. After the floor is clean, finish by spraying the tile with vinegar, and mopping with a white terry cloth rag on a Swiffer.

We have the tile cleaner, but my husband vacuums and then steam cleans with the Shark. It works pretty well. We are considering a professional to a real heavy duty job. Our only concern is the tile area over the crack in the foundation. The tile is pushed up there - we had it repaired, but not evened out (money considerations). When the carpet cleaners came, we asked them about it (they also do tile) and they said the cleaning machines would pull out the grout, so we may just stick to our current methods, until we can retile.

We are getting new tile in our kitchen and have been told to use nothing on it but white vinegar and water.

I just heard from a friend the other day that Resolve carpet cleaner works well on grout. In the past, I've used a bleach pen from time to time but it is a pain to do. My DH mentioned that the carpet cleaners are now offering grout cleaning services...if we had more space to do, I'd probably go that route. For now, it's just in our bathrooms. Vinegar & baking soda paste is another way if you have a firm brush.

I have a Hoover hard floor cleaner and love it. My kitchen and entry are ceramic, but are textured like real stone, so could not find a mop that wouldn't shred. I use to use a broom and Mr. Clean to scrub the floor and then would suck up the left over water with my shop vac and then dry with towels. Needless to say, my back paid the price.

The thing I love best about the Hoover, is that I can go over an area as many times as I want and squirt as much cleaning solution as I want, then the Hoover sucks up the dirty water. I am shocked every time I use it as to how much dirt is on the floor. Prior to buying the machine, I had started to notice a musty odor when I came into the house. After using the Hoover, that smell has gone away. I figure it was the nasty kitchen flloor. I knew I didn't scrub it as often as needed, because it was such a job. No big deal now. My friend had one for several years and kept telling me I needed to buy one, but I didn't want to spend the money. Now I could kick myself for waiting.

we had creame marbled ceramic tiles in our kitchens (we had 2) when we lived in the high desert of ca. just used hot water and vinegar. the other parts of the house where there was linoleum the same. when i was in a real hurry when company was coming at the last minute took a dry towel that fit my swifer mop and sprayed with windex for a quick fix. the gout was brown so the floor was real easy to take care of.

Dow bathroom cleaner(scrubbing bubbles) is what I use in all the homes I clean.This stuff is great on tile floors. I also use it at my home for the grout ,I scrub with a small brush and rinse well.Then use the shark steam mop.

Thanks for all the replies. Lots to try. I'm not really worried about the grout, it's the same color as the tile, brownish. It's the tile I can't seem to get clean enough. On my hands and knees is out of the question. (back surgery) Still kicking around getting the Hoover.

Thanks again

When all else fails......If it's more than you can stand to look at you can always cut away the grout ( no you don't have to get all the way to the subfloor but you do have to remove all the grout from the top edges of the tile ) and regrout. I would suggest you do it a shade darker than what is already there. Its a lengthy job but well worth it to not have to look at someone else's dirt.

My husband and I installed tile/ wood for about 10 years. He still does it but my body won't take the work anymore. Therefore I quilt. ;)

I do have one of the Hoover hard floor cleaners that I use on my ceramic tile floors. It works pretty good, but I carry a rag along with me and stop and spot clean some of the grout lines (those that aren't getting clean with the cleaner) as I go. It does a good job on the floor, just not all of the grout lines. They make a special cleaning solution for it, but I just use Mr. Clean or something like that. I also have one of those steam cleaners, but it just doesn't seem to get the grout lines very well.

I went through the Swifter, the steamer, the mop. Now back to the mop and Mr. Clean--reviews say this is the best of the cleaners out there. I have heard mention of Quick & Shine so if Mr. Clean doesn't work, will try that one.

What do you refer to as brown vinegar?

I also use Shark Steam Mop. It works great.

I don't remember the name and at the moment I am out of it. I am sure it is in the isle with the pledge and swifters and other cleaners and if I remember it says right on it Tile Cleaner.