Grout cleaning in Adelaide

Why grout needs its own clean

Most grout is cement. Under a magnifier it is a sponge: full of pores that drink mop water, soap, skin oils and cooking grease. The lines also sit a fraction below the tile surface, so everything you wash off the tiles drains into them and dries there. That is why a kitchen floor goes darker the more you mop, why the bottom rows of a shower go black first, and why a spray-and-wipe looks good for a week. Cleaning the tiles is easy; cleaning the grout is the job.

What professional grout cleaning involves

1. A look and an honest read. Is it dirt, grease, mould, hard-water scale or a mix? Is the grout sound? Where the tile or grout is unusual we test a small patch first.
2. Pre-treatment matched to the problem. An alkaline degreaser on kitchen and living-room floors, a scale and soap-scum remover in showers, a mould treatment where growth is present. Neutral products only on terrazzo, slate and natural stone.
3. Dwell time, then agitation. The product is given time to work, then every grout line is scrubbed: machine agitation on open floors, grout brushes along edges, corners and wall lines.
4. Rinse and extract. The dirty solution is rinsed and pulled out with a wet-vacuum. This is the step a hired machine, a steam cleaner or a mop cannot do, and it is what stops the grime drying straight back into the lines.
5. Check, dry, and seal if booked. We walk it with you, tell you what to expect as it dries, and apply clear or colour sealer once the grout is dry if you have added it.

Shower and bathroom grout

Showers combine all three enemies of grout: mould in the corners and bottom rows, soap scum, and the chalky limescale film that Adelaide's hard mains water leaves on tiles and grout alike. A shower recess clean ($149) covers the walls to tiled height and the floor including the niche; a bathroom or ensuite ($229) adds the floor and any tiled walls outside the recess, with a second bathroom $179 at the same visit. Pink film near the drain comes off; black mould that has rooted into old grout usually lifts, sometimes leaving a shadow that colour sealing evens out. Mould growing inside silicone cannot be cleaned and is replaced as part of a regrout. Want to try it yourself first? Read how to get mould out of shower grout.

Kitchen and floor grout

Floor grout rarely goes black from mould. It goes brown, then grey-black, from years of mopping, with the darkest lines along the kitchen bench where airborne cooking grease acts as glue. Floor grout is cleaned at $8 per square metre, so a 20 m² kitchen and dining floor is $160; grout that has never been deep-cleaned is $11/m², and we confirm which with you before starting. A tiled splashback is $69 and a toilet or laundry floor $69 when added to another job. Large porcelain with pale grout in a newer home comes back almost completely; 1970s and 80s cement grout comes up several shades and often suits a clear seal afterwards. More on floors on the floor tile cleaning page.

Grout cleaning prices in Adelaide

Minimum booking $149. No call-out fee. Sealing is added to a clean: clear from $5/m² (shower $69, bathroom $99), colour from $16/m². Full price list. How we compare with other Adelaide operators is in the cost guide.

Cement, epoxy and coloured grout

Almost every Adelaide home has cement grout, which is what this page is about. Epoxy grout (common in newer builds and renovated bathrooms) is non-porous: it needs a wipe rather than a deep clean, and it never needs sealing. Coloured cement grout cleans the same way as white but is faded by chlorine bleach, which is one reason we don't use bleach as the main cleaner. Tell us in the quote form if your tiler mentioned epoxy, or send a photo and we'll tell you.

When cleaning isn't the answer

Grout that is cracked, powdery, soft or missing cannot be cleaned back to health; it needs replacing, which is a regrouting job quoted after an inspection and carried out by a licensed tiler. Grout that cleans up but stays patchy is a colour sealing candidate: one even colour, sealed in the same visit. We will tell you which you need before anyone comes out if you send photos with your request.

Tile and grout cleaning and sealing are not building work, so no licence is needed for them in South Australia. Regrouting and grout repair are treated as building work, so they are quoted separately and carried out by a licensed tiler.