What to Look for in a Grout and Tile Cleaning Company

What to Look for in a Grout and Tile Cleaning Company

No matter how much you love your home, dirty grout and tile can feel frustrating. Hiring a professional grout cleaning company to freshen your tiled spaces is the perfect solution. It provides many benefits to your home— that is, when you hire the right company.

At Houston Groutsmith, we’ve provided homeowners with professionals who know how to assess and resolve grout and tile issues for homes in the Sugarland, TX area for years. Due to our experience, we know what to look for in a professional so you can be sure you will get the cleaning you desire.

Here are 10 traits a grout and tile cleaning company should have to ensure your cleaning is completed to your standards.

1. Experience in Your Project Area

The overall experience of a company will give you an indication of its skill level. However, it is also important to ensure a professional grout cleaning company has experience in your specific project area. You can even ask about the training or experience of the exact employee coming to work on your home. Do they have training certifications or can you see some of their work?

2. Professional Equipment and Solutions

One of the biggest benefits to a professional grout and tile cleaning is that companies can get a much deeper clean with their equipment than you can with store-bought or homemade products and elbow grease. But if a company is not up-to-date on cleaning technology or professional cleaning solutions, you won’t be getting the thorough clean you desire.
You should also watch out for products and equipment that can be potentially damaging to your grout and tile, such as harsh steam or carpet cleaners.

3. Good Communication

Any contractor or company you allow to work on your home needs to have good communication skills. This will keep you on top of your project and will make scheduling easier. They should be clear in what their processes will look like and the products they will be using. They should also be available to answer your questions.

If you find that scheduling with the company is a difficult process, they likely are not effective communicators.

4. Trustworthiness/Reliability

When you let any professional into your home, you want to feel secure that they are trustworthy and reliable. Will they show up on time? Will the project be completed in the time frame they have laid out? If issues arise during the cleaning process, will they make you aware? Reliability is key.

Referrals are one of the best ways to diagnose if reliability and trustworthiness are traits a company possesses. Look for reviews indicating the company’s team arrived on time and was respectful of previous clients’ homes.

5. Knowledgeability

Every type of tile from porcelain to natural stone needs different care. The cleaning process should never be one size fits all. Different types of grout will also require different types of care. Look for a professional grout cleaner with a vast array of knowledge who doesn’t offer only one type of cleaning service.

6. Affordable Yet Fair Pricing

It’s nice to get a good deal on any home maintenance project, but pricing alone shouldn’t be your deciding factor. Look for a company that is affordable yet fair in its pricing. If pricing is too cheap, it often means cheap products, processes, or lackluster work. Fair pricing will look out for you as a homeowner while still offering the highest level of care and attention to your grout and tile.

7. Insured and Bonded

Insurance does two things. It protects your home in the event of an accident, and it also protects you as the homeowner from liability if an injury occurs on your property. Before allowing anyone into your home, check that they are properly insured to keep you out of trouble.

8. Positive Reviews

A good rapport with past clients can go a long way in indicating that a professional grout cleaning company holds high standards for itself. You don’t want a company that simply works to complete a project and cash your check. Look for a company that values your home the way you do. If previous clients felt valued and loved the worked completed, you know that company will provide you with most of the traits we have already mentioned.

9. Aligned Values

What do you value most in your grout and tile cleaning? Is it the use of green or acid-free products? Is it an effective clean regardless of the products used? Is it the protection of the rest of your home? Is it innovation in technology?

Whatever you want, not just from a cleaning but from the company in your home, should align with the traits and values of the company you hire for your cleaning. Such aligned traits will help determine if a company is a good fit for your home. Don’t be afraid to ask questions regarding the detailed processes and products that company will use in your space.

10. A You-Based Mission and Vision

It’s not wrong to believe that when a company works in your home, the service should be about you. After all, it’s your home they are dealing with. If you can find a mission statement on a company’s website, what does it say? Is it about enabling you as a homeowner and meeting your needs?

Get Clean Grout and Tile with a Trusted Professional

You shouldn’t have to worry about the appearance of your Sugarland grout and tile. The Houston Groutsmith team is licensed and bonded to help protect your home. We utilize the newest cleaning technology and avoid harsh carpet cleaners or acid-based cleaning solutions. We treat your home as our own and seek to empower you with the right knowledge to properly care for your tile.

Our team of professionals can give you the highest level of clean while protecting the integrity of your grout and tile, leaving you with tile you can be proud of. Get a free estimate today!

7 Ways to Prevent Mold Growth on Your Houston Grout and Tile

7 Ways to Prevent Mold Growth on Your Houston Grout and Tile

Since the beginning of time, mold has been a nuisance for homeowners, so you’re not alone in dealing with its appearance. Our South Houston Groutsmith team has found that while homeowners know mold growth is or can be a real problem in their spaces, they do not know how to effectively combat it.

Here are some of the ways we recommend caring for your South Houston tiled spaces to keep mold from overtaking their surfaces.

What Stimulates Mold Growth?

Unlike most plants, mold does not require sunlight to grow, which is why it is often found in dark areas. But there are three essential elements required for the production and spread of mold:

  1. Warmth
  2. Moisture
  3. Organic materials

Where all three of these materials are present, you can be sure to experience mold growth. So, the best way to reduce mold spreading is to cut off one or all of these sources.

Here are some ways to help inhibit mold growth in your home.

1. Proper Ventilation

Rooms that experience excessive moisture should be properly ventilated. This can be done through a vent or by opening a window. The most important room to ventilate is the bathroom.

Due to steam from hot water running in your shower, bathrooms are extremely humid rooms. That humidity plays into mold’s development, growth, and spreading. Be sure to run your bathroom vent through the entirety of your shower and leave it running for up to twenty minutes after your shower has ended.

If you are lucky enough to have a window in your bathroom, consider cracking it open during your shower to allow steam and water vapor to escape. Homes that lack sufficient air movement provide the perfect conditions for mold development, which is another reason why cracking a window can keep your bathroom (or any room) mold-free.

2. Squeegee

This tip is specifically designed to help keep mold out of your bathroom shower. After each shower, use a squeegee to remove excess water, running it from the top of your shower to the bottom. If you have glass shower doors, make sure to do this on the glass as well.

3. Wipe It Up (Right Away)

It’s tempting to tell yourself that you’ll clean up a spill later. But one of the best ways to protect your tile and grout from mold growth is to clean up spills and splatters right away (and it’s free too).

Moisture, grease splatters, food particles, and other organic materials that fall to your floor and are left for any period of time have the opportunity to penetrate into your tiled surfaces. But cleaning up a spill right after it occurs eliminates these mold growth stimulants from garnering this opportunity and will keep your tile much cleaner and mold-free.

If your home has a pool, make sure to dry the tiled areas after family and guests have returned inside from the fun.

4. Keep Damp Cloths Off the Floor

The fibers in cloth materials are just the kind of organic substances that mold feeds off of. You may have noticed that damp clothes and towels quickly garner a mildew smell—because they give mold and mildew everything they need to thrive.

Throw those clothes on the ground, and you give mold the chance to move from cloth to tile.

After a shower, be sure to properly hang your towel to dry, keeping it off the floor and keeping it from accumulating mold. Don’t throw wet clothes, cloths, or blankets onto the tile in your bedroom or laundry room. Ensure they go into a basket, but allow them the opportunity to dry out beforehand if possible.

And an often-forgotten source of wet material is area rugs. Entryway rugs, shower mats, even kitchen mats can get wet from spilled water, not fully dried-off kids, or tracked in rainwater. Check your rugs periodically to ensure you are not allowing wet mats to sit on your floor and produce mold.

5. Store Soaps and Creams Elsewhere

Mold has to eat, just like any other living organism. Therefore, water is not the only factor contributing to mold growth. Soap scum provides it with food too. Keep soap scum out of your bathroom by removing, drying, and storing your soaps and creams outside of your shower.

Wipe up any soap residue that is left on the wall or floor tile.

6. Routine Cleanings

Cleaning your floors plays a large role in reducing mold’s ability to grow and thrive. Establishing a schedule for daily cleanings, weekly deep cleans, and annual professional services can go a long way in protecting your grout and tile surfaces.

Your daily cleanings should be removing any soap, grease, dirt, water, and food buildup on the tile. Weekly cleanings should utilize a safe and effective cleaning agent to more thoroughly and deeply scrub your grout and tile, ridding the pores of any bacteria they may be harboring and thoroughly cleaning the surfaces.

But to really keep your tile and grout in top shape and mold-free, hire a professional tile cleaning company for an annual cleaning.

7. Regular Sealing

To keep water and soap residue from penetrating the pores of your bathroom tile and grout, have them professionally sealed. By applying a sealer, you create a protective barrier over the surface of your tile. This inhibits mold growth by keeping moisture and the organic materials needed to feed mold from collecting. And where mold does not have moisture or food, it cannot thrive.

Defeat Mold in Your Home

Don’t give mold a leg to stand on in your home. By utilizing these tips, you can help keep mold at bay. And when you are ready for a professional to give you the edge on mold, we are ready to help. If you live in the South Houston area, our team is ready to tackle your grout and tile needs. Get a free estimate.