Keep it sealed – your grout, that is

If you have tile in your home, then you likely have grout too. And if you have grout, you likely have some degree of challenge keeping it clean. Whether dirt gets ground into it on the floor, cooking grime on tiled kitchen counters, or the inevitable mold/mildew in the shower grout – the commonality is that it can be comically hard to clean it and keep it that way.

There are numerous cleaning solutions and potions you can research on the internet – take your pick of baking soda/vinegar, lemons, peroxide, or fancy brand-name products. But I just discovered an indispensable tool that will make any of them work 10x harder – THE DRILL BRUSH! How am I this old and have never tried this until now?! I used to scrub endlessly, and still be disappointed with the results… but this worked like a charm on my shower walls and floor – this is definitely the cleanest I’ve seen this grout in years.

The Drill Brush attachments!

OK, now that your grout is clean, you want to keep it that way – and since grout is porous, you also want to keep moisture from seeping in. Here comes the grout sealant. For high traffic areas like your main shower, you really do need to seal the grout at least annually (yep, go do a catch-up now – and don’t worry, you’re not alone if you haven’t done this in ages). Less-used areas like a guest bath can go longer. Here are some other grout sealing tips that I appreciated reading.

Water beads off properly sealed grout (or is absorbed into unsealed grout).

While you’re at it, this is a great time to re-caulk your tub, shower doors, or any other old caulk connections.

And seriously… get yourself a drill brush…