On 10/18/2010 4:48 PM, David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 10/18/2010 11:32 AM John Grabowski spake thus:

[O.P. posted:]

I'm a do-it-yourself newbie who's trying to clean the stained grout
(used to be white) between the tiles over the bathtub in my
bathroom.

The stains appear to be a combination of soap scum and rust stain.

I've tried several products that claim to be "grout cleaners," but
they haven't worked.

Is there any alternative at this point to stripping all the grout
and regrouting (quite a long job)?

Even some way of staining the grout white again?

*Comet or Ajax cleanser with a toothbrush. The bleach in the cleansers
help with the whitening.

Amen to that. Exactly the ingredients I was going to suggest: abrasive
cleanser and elbow grease.



Elbow grease? My supply has been depleted for several years, so I like
Scrubbing Bubbles for normal cleaning....it gets rid of normal soap scum
without strenuous scrubbing. Rust stains my not be removable, but a
rust remover (test inconspicuously) with phosphoric acid may do the
trick. I've replaced grout in a shower and it is a fairly big project,
but well worth it. In the process I discovered our old shower had a lot
more soap scum than was apparent....tile is light taupe, matte, so it
didn't show. I could only smell soap while working on the grout until I
took a razor blade scraper to the tile. Whew! When all done, sealed
the grout and keep the shower open so it ventilates.