Harry Walter is here, I'm a passionate writer of home guides, backyard, and garage problems, and have been doing this for a couple of years. I love to share simple solutions for your home and backyard problems.
Grout between the tiles get grime, water stains, oil, and grease particle over time, and discolored and dull grout can be a real eyesore.
So, if you’ve got discolored grout around your toilet, you’ve to try to fix it as soon as possible because discolored grout not only makes your toilet looks bad but it can also be not good for your family’s health.
This is why this article has been written. In this article I’m going to share the following helpful information about discolored grout:
So Without further ado
Let’s get started…
Table of Contents
If you want to know why toilet grout looks dark, brown, or yellowish then I’ve listed some strong reasons behind the discoloring of your toilet grout:
If there is a hard water supply through the pipeline in your area then your toilet grout can easily get a brown stain with time. According to the USGS report, nearly 85% of USA homes got a hard water supply.
Soap scum contains fatty acids that react with minerals present in the water and discolor grout around the toilet or your bathroom tiles. You have to immediately take the necessary steps to clean it.
Oil and grease particles stick to the surface of your toilet grout and tiles and attract dust and grime. In most cases, oil and grease make white grout dark. If you don’t take proper attention to them, it becomes hard to clean them.
There are many reasons grout becomes dark and grimy such as dirt, mildew, etc. The grout is slightly below the surface of the tiles which makes it difficult to clean.
This is the main reason behind the discoloring of grout. Most of us keep our attention on cleaning the tiles but forget about grout. Not Giving importance to the cleaning of grout is also a big reason for discoloring grout.
Also Read: 6 Easy Ways To Remove Shower Drain Cover That Is Grouted In
In this section, I will share some natural and safe ways to keep toilet grout new and fresh, if it turns dull, yellowish, or brown with time.
If you notice the color of the grout turns brownish from white, it means your home has a hard water supply. Manganese and iron components make grout color brown and rusty from white.
Follow these steps to make grout again white from brown or rust color:
If your bathroom has synthetic or ceramic tiles then you can use vinegar to clean it.
Note: Don’t use vinegar on marble, travertine, or limestone because it will damage the grout and its sealant and you will end up with a costly repair process.
Also Read: 5 Effective Ways To Clean Urine Stain Around Base Of Toilet
Apart from using Oxygen bleach on ceramic, and synthetic grout, you can also use it on natural stone tiles.
Required Ingredients:
A steam cleaner is a very effective method to clean dark grout from stubborn dust, dirt, and grime. This is also very easy and convenient to use, just follow these steps:
Step 1: Fill the steam cleaner box with water by removing its top lid. After that press the on button so that it begins to make steam for cleaning.
Step 2: After a few minutes when the button color turns green from red, you are ready to go.
Step 3: Now take a bristle attachment and put it to the mouth of your steamer pipe and down your knee and hand and rub over the surface of the grout.
Step 4: If you want to clean grout standing then a long pipe attachment makes your job much easier.
Step 5: After cleaning the grout around the toilet attach a mop attachment and clean all the dust and dirt from the tiles for thorough cleaning.
You are all done.
I would advise not using toilet bowl cleaner to clean grout because it contains harsh chemicals which may damage the grout sealant and can damage it. You can read out the detailed article to know 5 strong reasons not to use a toilet bowl cleaner for grout cleaning.
You can clean discolored grout using some household items in a very easy manner. Avoid using regular cleaners which contain harsh chemicals. Use vinegar, baking soda, and oxygen bleach instead.
I hope this article can solve your problem and make your bathroom grout white from yellow or brownish dull color.
Ans: I’ve mentioned two effective methods to clean discolored grout around your toilet. You can use white vinegar, oxygen bleach, and steam cleaner to clean pale yellow, brown, rust, and dark color grout to make it white again.
Ans: If your home has a hard water supply then the manganese and iron minerals present in the hard water can turn white grout to brown.
Ans: If the grout becomes damaged and loose sealant due to improper cleaning then it is a better idea to put a new grout layer over the old one.
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