10 Tips to Clean Floors Faster with a Heavy Duty Tile & Grout Cleaner

10 Tips to Clean Floors Faster with a Heavy Duty Tile & Grout Cleaner

Tiles cover many spaces inside your home or commercial property – restroom, stockroom, hallway walking spaces, etc. That said, tiles tend to get dirty and degrade over time. Dirt and grease can easily make their way onto the tiles and grout, and effective cleaning becomes imperative.

Such cleaning requires expertise and the use of industry-grade floor tile and grout cleaning machines. Such machines would ensure proper removal of grime and stubborn stains.

This article explains 10 tips on how to clean your flooring using a tile grout cleaner machine effectively.

Tip#1: Thorough Inspection before using the machine

It’s always advisable to do a thorough inspection of the floor before starting the cleaning process. There can be cracked tiles or missing grout. A proper inspection helps you identify problems like these. Once you identify such issues, you must inform the client or mention it in the invoice. You can also take a picture for future reference.

The customers usually don’t notice such issues before cleaning. Post cleaning, most of them check their floor, and if they find such pre-existing issues, they’d think the cleaning machines cracked open the tiles, and then it will be a problem. So, pay full attention to the initial inspection and report any problems that you come across.

Tip#2: Chemical Preparation

Keep the dilution ratio of one to four – meaning, mix four parts of the cleaning chemical, and one part of the water in a separate container. Shake it properly, preferably in warm water before putting it inside the machine’s container.

This water-chemical combination will give you enough pre-spray material to begin the cleaning process. You can use any suitable cleaning chemical, Shore Best 2790 can be one example.

Tip#3: Use the machine on the Edges first

Start spraying in the corners, go back and forth, and pull the solution line out. The idea is to begin with the farthest points inside the room and make your way inwards. This will ensure proper cleaning of the grout and ensure that you’re not dragging your hose through the muck and the pre-spray. This would also mean that the carpet isn’t coming in the way of grout cleaning.

Note: be wary of the MDF of wooden furniture that stands on the tile. You don’t want to get them wet. Doing so will swell up the wood and damage your furniture – the last thing you want during floor cleaning.

Tip#4: Machine speed and distance

Fix the speed to moderate in your machine and try to be four-six inches away from the wall in the process. You don’t want to overspray the chemical on the walls or the adjacent carpet (if any). Moreover, if you had pre-sprayed earlier, you will notice some of the dirt coming out already.

Tip#5: Brushing & Effective scrubbing with the machine

After the pre-spray has shown the effect, you can start scrubbing with the cleaning brush on the floor edges. The correct technique is to push the brush back and forth against the wall for ease of use. You will notice that the grout will look new even though you’ve started the rinsing process.

If there are any vent covers on the floor, it’s advisable to remove them during the cleaning process. Remember, don’t push the chemical into any floor vent and to the carpet. You have to limit it to the grout and tiles strictly.

Tip#6: Using CRBs

For an in-depth grout-cleaning, you can also use a CRB. They consist of brown commercial carpet brushes (8-10 inches). However, you have to be precautious because some CRBs do not have a sealed casing in the motor.

So, if you do get water that splashes up inside, it could damage the motor. Although using CRBs isn’t an absolute necessity for hard surface cleaning, but for the sake of cleaning the grout and tiles effectively, we recommend you use one. Higher-end models of CRBs come with sealed housing to withstand the flashing water while cleaning.

Tip#7: Angular Grout Scrubbing

While scrubbing, it’s always advisable to keep the scrubber at an angle to the grout. You can do it along the straight grout lines, but you will have to shift the scrubber orientation for every grout line. Angular scrubbing helps clean multiple grouts at once. Also, make sure the hoses are on the clean area (tiles) and not dragging around on the carpet, damaging it.

Tip#8: Loose Grout

Loose grout is a common issue in several flooring. You may want to have an eye on them before putting the high power vacuum on them. If done so, the high power vacuum can pull out all the remaining grout and disorient the tile.

Not only should you have to be careful about this, but you must ensure your customer knows this as well so that you do not get to face the blame afterward.

Tip#9: Rinsing the central flooring with Tile and Grout Machine

After scrubbing the floor edges, it’s time to rinse the central area of your floor with a turbo spinner. Start from the entrance door and make your way to the center. Keep the pressure of the turbo to 850 psi.

The turbo needs to be close to the floor, but high enough to spin. If you find any stubborn grout, hit that area twice with the turbo. But do not go all over, pushing the turbo back and forth aggressively. It will only leave more residue on the floor.

The correct technique is to keep it slow and steady and move the turbo back and forth along the same path to ensure proper rinsing. If you notice any bubbles or soapy residue on the floor, rinse it again till they are gone.

Tip#10: Tiger Stripes

If you go too fast with the turbo, it will create tiger stripes on the floor. They are usually long spots that are created by a fast spinning jet. To counter this, roll over the affected area with the turbo again, only a lot steadier this time till the spots are gone.

Conclusion

Cleaning the tile and grout is easier said than done. However, without a tile and grout cleaner equipment, there will be stubborn dirt left that will require additional cleaning. If you have recently invested in a floor tile cleaner machine, use the tips mentioned in this article to clean the floor with the machine properly.