No matter how clean you keep your house or your bathrooms, chances are that you will have to pay special attention to your tile grout. Grout gets dirty even when the other parts of your tile whether it be in the shower, on a wall, or on the floor do not. The reason for that is that grout is porous. The dirt, bacteria, and water get trapped in this porous material and a surface wipe down is not going to get rid of these problems. But why do you need to worry about it? So what if your grout gets dirty, right? The truth is that there are many reasons for you to want to keep your grout as clean as possible.
First, when grout starts to turn black then part of the problem is going to be the growth of mold and/or mildew that can cause health problems. The wet and warm conditions left behind a shower curtain or shower door every day are the perfect breeding grounds for both mold and mildew. If anyone in your home suffers from allergies, you might find that cleaning the grout around the house could help alleviate some of their difficulties. Mold allergies can be quite annoying and debilitating. Often people think they are suffering from other common indoor allergies, but when you remove the mold spores, they feel better.
Another reason you may want to keep your grout clean is for the aesthetic appeal. When interior designers choose the grout for a particular tile, the choice is not arbitrary or inconsequential. The color of the grout is often chosen to compliment the color of the tile, a subtle design in the tile, or some other design element in the room. As the grout gets dirty, the color fades and the reason for the selection goes out the window. If you are interested in interior design and you want every room in your house to look its best then you need to make sure that your grout stays clean enough to appreciate the beauty it brings.
A third reason to keep up on your grout cleaning is for the resale value of your home. When a prospective buyer is touring your home and thinking about buying it, the condition and cleanliness of the home is a major factor in their decision making process. It might be unconscious, but if a house is dirty or not well kept, people think less of it. If they notice that the grout in your shower is black with mold, they might assume that other areas of the house are not well kept up either. If something that is so obvious is poorly taken care of, what is the condition of parts of the house they cannot see? In addition, if someone toured two homes that were identical accept that one was clean and the other was not, there would be a significant difference in the offered price for that home.
If you value your home and your health, then keeping your grout clean is extremely important. It may seem like a lot of work, but just a few minutes every day could mean the difference between a deep breath and struggling to breath or the difference between selling your house or not.