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Best Grout Cleaners

If you struggle to remove stubborn stains from grout, some of these products could make a difference

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Seven grout cleaners on a white tiled surface
CR staffers evaluated seven grout cleaners at home to see how effective and easy they were to use.
Photo: Pang-Chieh Ho/Consumer Reports

I’ve come to a point in my relationship with my bathroom grout where we just don’t talk about our problems anymore. And the problems are bad. The grout on my walls is alternatively pink or dark black. (The original color was white.) It’s so dirty that when my landlord came to fix my faucet recently, she suggested a grout cleaner to help. That’s how you know you’ve hit an all-time low: when people are offering you advice on how to fix your issues unprompted.

Grout seems to be one of those things that people often neglect until it gets to a sorry state. The hassle of cleaning it is also compounded by the fact that not every grout cleaner is effective. A few months ago, I tried a grout cleaner I had randomly plucked off the shelf of Home Depot and it did next to nothing. After several rounds of scrubbing, the grout still remained as pink as ever.

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For those looking to clean grout, it’s important to know which products will actually remove dirt and grime and which ones will hardly make a dent. To find the best grout cleaners out there, we evaluated seven products, including recommendations from our social media users.

It should be noted that among the grout cleaners we evaluated, two are Safer Choice products. Safer Choice labels from the Environmental Protection Agency certify that a product was made with chemical ingredients that are safer than others for human health and the environment.

We tried all of the cleaners on the grout in our homes, following the instructions on the labels and judging each product on its cleaning performance and how easy it was to use. We also considered additional factors, such as how strong any odor was and whether the material caused any damage with its abrasiveness. Most importantly, we risked our feelings of shame toward the state of our grout. Here are the cleaners we think are the best.

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Pang-Chieh Ho

Pang-Chieh Ho is a senior content creator at Consumer Reports who writes about the intersections of home products and health. She has been working in the media industry for almost 10 years. Books are her first love, but movies come a close second. You can send tips to her at pangchieh.ho@consumer.org.