How To: Clean Kitchen and Bathtub Grout the Non-Toxic Way

Kitchen and bath tile and grout cleaners are notoriously toxic and full of chemicals that you don't want near food or your body, which is hard to avoid in a kitchen and bath. Green cleaning solutions are becoming more plentiful and many homeowners swear by baking soda and vinegar, but if that was effective, you'd no longer have shelves full of chemical cleaners. Chlorine bleach is another alternative but it is corrosive even in diluted forms.

Oxygen bleach may sound kind of nasty, but it's actually environmentally safe and breaks down mold and mildew from an organic level without corroding the tile and grout underneath. It often comes in a powder form that should be mixed with water according to the manufacturers suggestions.

Here's how I clean my bathroom and kitchen:

Apply the oxygen bleach/water mix to dry tile and let sit for 10 minutes. Then take a stiff toothbrush and scrub away. Re-apply the solution as you are scrubbing to work on loosening tougher stains and dirt. Stay away from metal or stiff plastic brushes as they can harm the tile and scrape out the grout.

When you are finished, wipe the floor thoroughly so the dirty water isn't absorbed back into the grout. Enjoy your clean "green" kitchen or bath!