If you're looking to clean your bathroom grout, you'll need a few good tips to get the job done without damaging your tile or the grout itself – making the entire situation worse!

When cleaning, keep in mind that grout is pretty delicate. Using harsh chemicals, like vinegar, bleach or ammonia can do more damage than good. Even a hard-bristled brush, or metal brush, can work against you by scratching tiles and removing the grout altogether.

You'll also want to regularly rinse your sponge and brush so you're not pushing dirt back into the grout when cleaning. Grout is porous, so it has a greater likelihood of absorbing surface liquids, which can cause dinginess, discoloration, or worse.

Restoring dingy tile grout to like-new brightness doesn't require harsh chemicals like bleach, ammonia or vinegar, which can damage your grout and create more problems than they solve. Even a steel bristle scrub brush can work against you, scratching and damaging surfaces. This will invite stains and dullness, and lead to the diminished appeal of your flooring.

Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner's formula reaches deep into the tiny pores of your grout between tiles, dislodging and lifting soils without damaging the grout itself.

Directions for Cleaning Bathroom Tile Grout:

1. Wet surface. Spray the grout with water. This helps the cleaner to penetrate soils.
2. Prepare cleaning solution. Mix 1 oz. Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner to 1 cup of water in a spray bottle and spray the area down. Allow a few seconds for it to penetrate the pores of your grout.
3. Scrub. Use a toothbrush or soft-bristle brush to scrub the dirty grout areas.
4. Make a paste (optional). For heavy-duty grout cleaning jobs, you can use a homemade paste mix of baking soda and Simple Green to pull deeply embedded soils to the surface. The mix is an easy blend of three parts baking soda to one part Simple Green, which will form a loose paste that you can apply directly to the grout to lift dirt. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for the mixture to penetrate.
5. Rinse. Rinse with clean water. Wipe away any remaining residue with a clean, non-abrasive cloth.

Tip: You may want to consider sealing your grout to make it less porous. After cleaning, apply sealant to dry grout according to the sealant's instructions. Annual resealing of the grout may be necessary.