Popular Post Jingthing Posted January 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) Well things got bad enough so that I finally have to deal with it. So I just wanted to share my experience doing so as it may be useful to others, and of course other people will vehemently disagree and say their solution is much better. Anyway my problem is fairly limited in area so that makes a big difference. If I needed to clean the grout in my entire condo I would seek a more hard core solution or maybe pay for help. In any case, as I haven't done this before, I did what people do these days to find out about such things -- youtube. Ideally of course you won't need to get down on the floor and scrub so the answer many people had for that was bleach based toilet cleaner gels. Apply to grout without getting down on the floor, wait a certain amount of time, and then just wet mop up. But these sorts of bleach based toilet cleaner gels don't seem to exist in Thailand although you can order very expensively to have them shipped in from the U.S. via China. But bleach is very toxic and best avoided if you can anyway. There are also custom products that supposedly work the same way without scrubbing such as something like Grout-eez which doesn't appear to be sold in Thailand. Perhaps there are equivalents to that at the hardware stores here. I didn't even check. Maybe someone can suggest a locally sold product for that. So then I looked into some more expensive methods. Buy an electric drill (which I don't have) and attach a scrubbing brush to it. Buy a steamer tool, big or small, ideally with an attachment not requiring bending on the floor. With steam you don't need any cleaner, only water, and with the mechanized scrubbing brush you need to decide on a cleaning product. I think either one of those ideas might make sense for bigger area jobs. But I decided to at least try out a low tech cheap method. I noticed many videos mentioned the use of hydrogen peroxide (not toxic like beach) mixed with baking soda. You can either mix into a paste or apply the baking soda and spray the peroxide (must be a dark bottle or the chemical becomes inactive). As I had shower walls to deal the paste method was the obvious choice. So I made the paste and applied it to the dirty grout and also some larger mold patches with an old toothbrush. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes and then scrubbed (not very hard needed) with a custom grout brush. Then wiped away residue with a rag, and then water rinse. For the floor parts which I haven't done much of yet, I will let the baking soda get dry, then sweep, then sponge or mop. This is working very well. Easy enough. For the floor part I can use a small stool. Not a problem for the small area I'm dealing with. One thing that surprised me is that this worked well enough for some minor mold on the tile adhesive areas. The videos all said it wouldn't and that would need to be removed and replaced or cleaned by using rolled up toilet paper or salon coils soaked in bleach. As an old boss of mine used to say, there are many ways to skin a chicken (it wasn't a kitchen job), well you know the rest ... Edited January 30, 2021 by Jingthing 3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onebir Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 The paste stayed in place ok? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Swiss1960 Posted January 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 30, 2021 Another option (my preferred one): Clean regularly, enable air flow in bath room (with fan if no windows) and you don't get mold.. How somebody can wait with cleaning his appartment until mold shows up or grout turns black evades me. 5 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post moose7117 Posted January 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 30, 2021 you are doing it all wrong and my way is much better. it is really simple. 1. sell the house 2. move in to a brand new one with new bathroom. 3. tiles get dirty. 4. return to step one. 2 2 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ezzra Posted January 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 30, 2021 So all that story is about removing some grime from tiles grouting, good read for the morning...I can hardly wait for a blow by blow tell of how to successfully remove skid marks for well worn undies mate... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post gunderhill Posted January 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 30, 2021 There is a very simple cheap way, every single time you use the shower dry the walls and floors with squeegee and cloth preferably cotton, this way the grouting never goes black. 10 years doing this and no dirty grouting. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sirineou Posted January 30, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 30, 2021 (edited) every time after I take a shower I spray the whole shower with water to wash away the soap from the tiles. Soap is food for the mold. Every couple of weeks I spray the whole shower with a bleach and water solution. I usually do it in the morning if I will be away most of the day or a couple of days , because the shower is by my bedroom and I hate the smell. But it works like a charm. Edited January 30, 2021 by sirineou 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChipButty Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 If it's that bad maybe scrap it out and start again and dont let it get that bad again, I think you need to have a word with whoever does the cleaning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokesaat Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 I've used a 50/50 mix of bleach and water made into a paste with liberal amounts of baking soda. I apply with a 1/2" paint brush. Once cleaned, I agree that drying or using a squeegee is the best way to prevent a recurrence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFMills Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 5 hours ago, Jingthing said: Well things got bad enough so that I finally have to deal with it. So I just wanted to share my experience doing so as it may be useful to others, and of course other people will vehemently disagree and say their solution is much better. Anyway my problem is fairly limited in area so that makes a big difference. If I needed to clean the grout in my entire condo I would seek a more hard core solution or maybe pay for help. In any case, as I haven't done this before, I did what people do these days to find out about such things -- youtube. Ideally of course you won't need to get down on the floor and scrub so the answer many people had for that was bleach based toilet cleaner gels. Apply to grout without getting down on the floor, wait a certain amount of time, and then just wet mop up. But these sorts of bleach based toilet cleaner gels don't seem to exist in Thailand although you can order very expensively to have them shipped in from the U.S. via China. But bleach is very toxic and best avoided if you can anyway. There are also custom products that supposedly work the same way without scrubbing such as something like Grout-eez which doesn't appear to be sold in Thailand. Perhaps there are equivalents to that at the hardware stores here. I didn't even check. Maybe someone can suggest a locally sold product for that. So then I looked into some more expensive methods. Buy an electric drill (which I don't have) and attach a scrubbing brush to it. Buy a steamer tool, big or small, ideally with an attachment not requiring bending on the floor. With steam you don't need any cleaner, only water, and with the mechanized scrubbing brush you need to decide on a cleaning product. I think either one of those ideas might make sense for bigger area jobs. But I decided to at least try out a low tech cheap method. I noticed many videos mentioned the use of hydrogen peroxide (not toxic like beach) mixed with baking soda. You can either mix into a paste or apply the baking soda and spray the peroxide (must be a dark bottle or the chemical becomes inactive). As I had shower walls to deal the paste method was the obvious choice. So I made the paste and applied it to the dirty grout and also some larger mold patches with an old toothbrush. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes and then scrubbed (not very hard needed) with a custom grout brush. Then wiped away residue with a rag, and then water rinse. For the floor parts which I haven't done much of yet, I will let the baking soda get dry, then sweep, then sponge or mop. This is working very well. Easy enough. For the floor part I can use a small stool. Not a problem for the small area I'm dealing with. One thing that surprised me is that this worked well enough for some minor mold on the tile adhesive areas. The videos all said it wouldn't and that would need to be removed and replaced or cleaned by using rolled up toilet paper or salon coils soaked in bleach. As an old boss of mine used to say, there are many ways to skin a chicken (it wasn't a kitchen job), well you know the rest ... Straight to the point of Jing....when’s the novel coming out LOL 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 2 hours ago, Swiss1960 said: Another option (my preferred one): Clean regularly, enable air flow in bath room (with fan if no windows) and you don't get mold.. How somebody can wait with cleaning his appartment until mold shows up or grout turns black evades me. Agree airflow almost eliminates problem. I never have to scrub just lightly spray with bleach every 3 months. Leave it overnight and wash off with morning shower. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatOngo Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 How adventurous! What will your next adventure be, spraying ants on the back porch? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canopy Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Jingthing said: There are also custom products that supposedly work the same way without scrubbing...which doesn't appear to be sold in Thailand It is sold in Thailand. It's called bleach. That's right, plain, simple, cheap, old bleach you can find anywhere. Bleach is the simplest, easiest choice ideal for lazy people that removes 100% of mold with no scrubbing and no tools whatsoever and is so long lasting that I find only needs performed once a year. Edited January 31, 2021 by canopy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowtail Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) That "Duck" brand bathroom cleaner works great for me. Also great is the 3M Scotchbrite floor scrubber. No getting on your knees, it's fast and it gets in the corners great. Seems to last forever as well. Edited January 31, 2021 by Yellowtail clarity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Andrew Dwyer Posted January 31, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted January 31, 2021 Sold everywhere, Haiter bleach. You can dilute it with water in a spray bottle, give the affected area a good spray, vacate the room for a couple of hours, use one of those Scotchbrite pads ( or scrubbing blocks ) and give it hell, wear a mask and glasses. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canopy Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Unbelievable, why on earth are you guys still talking about scrubbing with brushes??? It's stupid. It's a waste of time, waste of effort, and a waste of money. Watch the video I posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dwyer Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 2 hours ago, canopy said: Unbelievable, why on earth are you guys still talking about scrubbing with brushes??? It's stupid. It's a waste of time, waste of effort, and a waste of money. Watch the video I posted. Unbelievable, why are you posting a video about removing mould from silicone sealant round a bath when the op is clearly talking about grout !! Did you watch the video you posted ?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canopy Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 15 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said: why are you posting a video about removing mould from silicone I have found bleach works equally well on grout and tiles as it does on silicone and one application a year is sufficient. But you are welcome to waste your money on commercial cleaners and all the scrubbing and for no benefit. Boy has the big chemical companies managed to brainwash so many people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 I posted several weeks ago about using plain white vinegar spray rather than bleach. Does not ruin sprayer and does kill mold - a lot safer than using bleach and when come back in two hours to wash not that much smell remaining. I admit the maid did the chore but it returned plasterboard ceiling to clean white. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowtail Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 29 minutes ago, canopy said: I have found bleach works equally well on grout and tiles as it does on silicone and one application a year is sufficient. But you are welcome to waste your money on commercial cleaners and all the scrubbing and for no benefit. Boy has the big chemical companies managed to brainwash so many people. The Duck brand cleaner costs less than fifty baht a liter, so while it is more expensive than bleach, to say it's wasting money might be a stretch. It cleans most everything in the bathroom quickly and easily, including but not limited to: soap scum, mold, mildew, and hardwater stains. Bleach is fine, but you splash it on one pair of trousers or a nice shirt and there goes a ten year supply of bathroom cleaner... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canopy Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 11 minutes ago, Yellowtail said: The Duck brand cleaner... The thing I hate about Duck is it requires scrubbing. You scrub off mold as long as it takes working all the tiles, grout, corners, and everything until it reaches an acceptable level and call it a day. The mold is not all gone, it's just down to a visually appealing level. Then the mold comes right back and repeat. Bleach is not like this. You pour on the bleach and do no scrubbing whatsoever. Just let it deep penetrate as shown in the video leaving it completely alone and you're done. In my case I only need bleach treatments about once a year. This is cheaper and easier than Duck which furthermore has hydrochloric acid in it and can stain or corrode various materials and is not so friendly going down the drain either. After learning the bleach method, I threw Duck in the garbage and never looked back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 9 hours ago, onebir said: The paste stayed in place ok? Yes, for the most part to get the job done, which is all I care about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) 7 hours ago, Swiss1960 said: Another option (my preferred one): Clean regularly, enable air flow in bath room (with fan if no windows) and you don't get mold.. How somebody can wait with cleaning his appartment until mold shows up or grout turns black evades me. As you inferred, it is not a well ventilated area. That's another reason I wanted to avoid bleach products to avoid toxic fumes. Thanks for trying to shame me. I really don't care. Edited January 31, 2021 by Jingthing 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 6 hours ago, moose7117 said: you are doing it all wrong and my way is much better. it is really simple. 1. sell the house 2. move in to a brand new one with new bathroom. 3. tiles get dirty. 4. return to step one. Funny that you say that! That's been my tactic in the past but given the market for "used" condos in Pattaya, I'm not in the mood to throw big bags of money out the window. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 31, 2021 6 hours ago, ezzra said: So all that story is about removing some grime from tiles grouting, good read for the morning...I can hardly wait for a blow by blow tell of how to successfully remove skid marks for well worn undies mate... No skid marks. Have you heard of bum guns? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 6 hours ago, gunderhill said: There is a very simple cheap way, every single time you use the shower dry the walls and floors with squeegee and cloth preferably cotton, this way the grouting never goes black. 10 years doing this and no dirty grouting. But this topic is about cleaning dirty grout. Did you somehow miss that? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 5 hours ago, PFMills said: Straight to the point of Jing....when’s the novel coming out LOL Perhaps a vlog? Jingthing's Cleaning Disasters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 5 hours ago, PatOngo said: How adventurous! What will your next adventure be, spraying ants on the back porch? What do you have against my pets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 5 hours ago, canopy said: It is sold in Thailand. It's called bleach. That's right, plain, simple, cheap, old bleach you can find anywhere. Bleach is the simplest, easiest choice ideal for lazy people that removes 100% of mold with no scrubbing and no tools whatsoever and is so long lasting that I find only needs performed once a year. Duh. I know bleach is sold in Thailand. I was talking about another product that is a bleach gel sold for cleaning toilet bowls but widely promoted on youtube for grout cleaning. Specifically the Lysol and Clorox brands. Apparently not sold in Thailand. Duck is not the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 1 hour ago, lopburi3 said: I posted several weeks ago about using plain white vinegar spray rather than bleach. Does not ruin sprayer and does kill mold - a lot safer than using bleach and when come back in two hours to wash not that much smell remaining. I admit the maid did the chore but it returned plasterboard ceiling to clean white. Yes vinegar mixed with baking soda is a common suggestion. I already use vinegar for different cleaning things. I just decided for this task to use Hydrogen peroxide. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now