Dear Mrs Mop

Some of the white tile grout in my bathrooms is discoloured because my cleaning staff have not bothered to do their job properly

I tried cleaning the grout using a wire brush, but the discolouring seems quite deep

It's best if I remove the old grout and apply new

What is the best way to remove old tile grout? Is there a tool that I can buy??

Thank-you

Concerned housekeeper in Phuket

They have the tools in Pattaya at HomeWorks, dunno if you have that shop there though.

There are two types one is a small triangle scraper and the other is more like a strong knife.

They cost very little, maybe 150 baht.

Try using a spray bottle full of bleach once a day. It should begin to disappear in the matter of days and then stay white with regular bleach applications. That's some moldy mildew microscopic organism causing things to look discolored or black.

Heck, you won't have to risk blowing an arm servo motor nor exhaust your battery doing real hard scrubbing, becuase the bleach does all the work given a few days to a week. All you got to do is operate a spray bottle.

Just another example of how important it is to train staff properly (almost impossible I know and not knocking you Simon) but in the end I found the best two solutions were the sack and even better, paying over the odds. When discounted over the savings of screw ups and your time fixing them, it actually works out cheaper.

The grout scraper and the use of bleach. Two good solutions to the problem.

If the tiles have been laid very close to each other, the scraper may not fit easily between them. This could result in you scraping off the tile gloss or worst still, chipping the tile.

If you choose to scrape, you will need to remove most of the grouting in order for the new grouting to grip properly. This can be quite time consuming unless you use a

I suggest you try the bleach option first.

This might work...

Lay some paper towels on the tile and soak them overnight with white vinegar. In the morning remove the towels and use your usual tile cleaner and hopefully the grime will come up with a little elbow grease. Overnight could be over doing it, so maybe a few hours is enough.

Have fun!

TheWalkingMan