Cleaning Mildew From Grout

In My Humble Opinion
1

A friend has a rental property and we have been talking about me buying half of it as an investment. Before committing, or even considering it, I wanted to see what it might be like since he just had a tenant leave after two years.

It’s really not too bad. The back yard is kind of a dump, but it’s just a bunch of junk to be hauled away. The inside is OK, except for one thing - it appears they never once cleaned the tub. The tub itself is not a problem - it is mostly soap scum, but the grout between the tub and the walls, and between the tile on the walls is black with mildew. Scrubbing is extremely slow and difficult, even with a tool designed for the job.

Is there a cleaning solution that you know of that will loosen the mildew to make it easier to remove? I just can’t seem to make much progress with elbow grease alone.

2

Hot vinegar is a good green solution. Apply, let it sit for a while, then scrub.

3

Have you tried a bathroom cleaner, or something like Clorox Clean-up or Tilex?

4

10% bleach solution, spray on, let sit and scrub. Seems to do a pretty good job on mildew.

5

Another thing, there shouldn’t be grout between the tub and the tiles, there should be caulk. That’ll come right out and you can put a new bead down.

6

Bowl of bleahc and a paint brush. Paint it on, leave it, re-paint any obvious areas.

Be sure that the fan is going, and open a window if possible.

7

Hydrogen peroxide works pretty well instead of bleach and you don’t have to worry about gassing yourself.

I’d use that first, then if there is staining, use a small amount of bleach to whiten things up.

I can’t use bleach at all, so I looked up various ways of cleaning mildew from grout online and found the peroxide thing.

8

WARNING: DO NOT COMBINE VINEGAR & BLEACH.

It’s the same as combinnig ammonia and bleach.

9

One of the things I started doing is trying to stay on top of it. Now, I don’t have any tiles in my house, but every once in a while I’ll notice a little mildew forming on the ceiling or the caulk so every few months I just get a cap full of bleach and go around with a q-tip and catch all the little spots. I’ve found that doing that really keeps it from getting out of control.