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The dirty grouts makes the tiles ugly. I have tried to use the acid based cleaners on the tiles, dirty grouts were cleaned but the polish of the tiles faded after using couple of times. I have tried using detergent soap and also lime juice which were not effective. I am looking for good tricks to clean the floor and walls grouts without any acidic solution, concerned on the polish of the tiles. Color of the tile is white and similar to below image.

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    Why not go buy some commercial tile cleaner?
    – Zach Saucier
    Dec 27, 2014 at 14:20
  • have you tried a toothbrush?
    – CRABOLO
    Dec 27, 2014 at 14:37
  • There are commercially available pH neutral tile and grout cleaners (many likely based on chelating agents like sodium citrate or sodium EDTA, although, alas, the producers seem to treat their ingredients lists as trade secrets). Your local supermarket may well stock some; you might want to give them a try.
    – Ilmari Karonen
    Dec 27, 2014 at 19:18

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Make a paste with bicarbonate of soda and half water, half lemon juice - it needs to be thick enough to stick to the grout on the vertical wall. Leave it for ten minutes, remove some and see if its worked - if not, leave the rest for longer. Its mucky, fiddly and time consuming, but it does work. Or try spray carpet cleaner - spray directly into the grout line and leave several minutes, rinse off. Alternatively, if the grout is more than 10 years old, scrape the top layer out and replace with new grout.

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  • +1 for plausible chemistry: your baking soda and lemon juice will basically produce sodium citrate, which can function as a non-acidic rust and scale remover (by acting as a chelating agent). You could probably make it easier to apply by mixing in some starch and heating it to make it gooey; this would also let you use less soda. Do test it on a less visible patch first, though: even though it's non-acidic, the chelating action might still affect the polish.
    – Ilmari Karonen
    Dec 27, 2014 at 19:11

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