Cleaning grouted tiled floors
January 1st 2006

As any Cleaning Manager or indeed cleaner, will tell you, cleaning and maintaining the appearance of grouted tiled floors can be a real challenge. In entrance halls, kitchens, bath and shower rooms, grout, a highly porous material, absorbs dirt and grease at an alarmingly fast rate as Michael Egerton, managing director of Host Von Schrader explains:

Grout maintenance is a very labour intensive task. The very nature of the material is highly absorbent, not only absorbing both dirt and grease from everyday wear and tear but also the liquids used for cleaning floors, which makes the removal of any dirt absorbed by the grout very difficult.

Also, after cleaning with liquid detergents the dissolved dirt will often wick back to the surface of the grout making it look dirty again".

"However, working on the same principle and using the same range of machines as used in our Host Dry Extraction Carpet Cleaning System, grouting can be quickly and successfully cleaned and most importantly, for high public access environments such as hotel entrances, toilets and restrooms, can be ready for use again minutes after cleaning".

The Host, Liberator, Freestyle and Reliant Machines, can all be fitted with specially designed Host Red Grout Brushes, (please note that these brushes are for grout cleaning only and should not be used on carpeted surfaces). Apply the Host Dry carpet cleaning sponges to an area of no more than 500 sq ft at one time, about a handful per square yard. Brush with the host machine of your choice as you would on a carpet moving the machine "north and south" and then "east and west" - the more brushing you do the better the results. Next simply vacuum up the dirty Host sponges - the grout will be clean and virtually dry.

Any residual moisture will quickly have evaporated and the grouting will be dry, clean and ready for use.

Compared to other and more traditional methods of cleaning grout, the Host System has a number of important advantages.

The first and most obvious being that efficient dry cleaning of tiled or slippery surfaces is always better than wet cleaning, from a safety point of view as well as a health and environmental point of view.

Dry not wet cleaning is the mantra now for cleaning in hospitals, schools or in any environment with sensitive or heavy public access - hotels, public toilets, kitchens, schools, offices and retail outlets.

Alternative methods involve the use of chemicals, strippers degreasers mild acidic detergents and a lot of hand scrubbing but by simply using the Host system, time and effort spent can be cut dramatically, health issues are adhered too, floors can be used again in minutes and your cleaning staff are a happier bunch of employees!

Mike Egerton, " Like many other solutions to everyday cleaning problems it is simply a matter of using the right product for the right job.

Tiles are slippery and dangerous when wet, in environments such as hospitals and schools the wet floors can often harbour bacteria - dry extraction cleaning can help eliminate these problems as well as through the use of these new specially designed Host brushes help cleaners tackle what as, for years been a very labour intensive and often impossible task".

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