Tips for cleaning tile with Jill of All Trades

(FOX 2) - If cleaning tile is your least favorite activity, you need to see how Jill Washburn, our Jill of All Trades does it. She's got three great tips for getting the job done and they're fast, and easy.

First, if you have tiles with natural pits or low spots that stain, or grout that tends to hang onto grime, a trip down memory lane back to grade school will give you the solution to your problem. 

Tear up little pieces of tissue (like the spitwads you remember from elementary school), soak them in bleach and stick them to the tiles or grout where needed and let them set for a while. The tissue will hold the bleach in place so it can do its thing. You'll be shocked at how well this works.

For great overall cleaning, you might want to try scrubbing with OxyClean powder. Yep! The laundry stuff!  It's great for tiles and grout, too. Jill  recommends making a gritty paste with it, lightly scrubbing the surface you're cleaning, and then letting it sit for a bit. Come back after a while, and scrub it around again. Let it sit for a while longer. After that, just rinse.  Jill says this got her tough-to-clean fiberglass tub cleaner than it's been in a long time.

If you want to go hard-core, this last step is for you. Jill took a kitchen dish brush, disassembled it, ran a 3-inch machine screw through the center and fastened it together with a couple of nuts and some glue. Hers had a jagged edge so she put a protective strip of duct tape around that. Once the glue was dry, she inserted it like a bit into a battery-powered drill. Boom! Cleaning tool on steroids. Jill says that this will cut through the tough stuff and make your tile cleaning way faster and way easier. Jill admits that it makes it more fun, too.

A few tips…

Jill used a scrubby pad with the OxyClean powder for a little extra oomph.

The glue that Jill used in making the scrub brush attachment for the drill was Gorilla Glue. It takes a while to dry (a few hours at least), but it holds really well. There are probably many other glues that will get the job done, though.

To watch Jill take you through the tile cleaning tips, click on the video player above.

PROJECT RATING:  Easy