Cleaning grout around marble tile in shower

8 years ago

I was wondering how hard it is to clean the grout around marble tile in a shower. We live in FL where we have a real battle with mold and mildew. We planning to remodel the bath and I'd like to use a marble subway tile in the shower, but I'm concerned about how to clean the grout in the event of mildew. Is it safe to use bleach on marble? Somehow, I think not.

Featured Answer

nicole___

8 years ago

I have a marble floor in my master bath. Water stains it until it drys. It has to be sealed....often. It's now got a honed look after 15 years....and I like it. I wouldn't use it in a high water zone. I have a BIG bath mat and an oriental rug on my marble floor....don't really deal with it. I'd hate to try scrubbing dead skin off of it in a shower.....

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Comments (12)

PRO
Cabot & Rowe
8 years ago
We make every effort to talk customers out of a natural stone shower. While they are very pretty, the maintenance is much higher than a porcelain or ceramic tile shower. A relative decided to be helpful and clean her sister's shower. This is the permanent result;
lolainthecola thanked Cabot & Rowe
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Maybe it depends on where you live and how humid it is inside and how good the ventilation is in your bathroom. I am in the Pacific NW which is not exactly the desert, and I have never in 30 years had mildew on any surface in the bathroom. I'm not Susie Homemaker either, and I wait to see stuff rather than do "pre-emptive" cleaning, if you know what I mean. I have seen the pink stuff (bacteria, not mold) that grows on grout and behind caulk before, though! On the epoxy grout, it shows up only down near the bottom row of tiles and it comes right off without serious scrubbing. We always use liquid soap and spritz with an after shower spray once in a while. I agree a yellowing of white grout with those tiles would not be good, but I bet you could get away with a gray.
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lolainthecola
Original Author
8 years ago
Wowwwwww..... okay, I believe you! I think we'll just go with ceramic subway tile for the walls, but I'm still hoping for a nice accent tile for the floor and inset area. I was looking at marble hex tile, but now I don't know....
PRO
Cabot & Rowe
8 years ago
Tile manufacturers have learned the same lesson and make ceramic tiles that look EXACTLY like marble, travertine, onyx......
kats737
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Not in the shower floor either. My polished marble basketweave bathroom floor was etched by overspray from my scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner used adjacent.

I would not have been able to clean the shower walls at all if I had marble on the shower floor. And I also needed serious bathroom cleaner - our vent setup isn't perfect and we were getting mold at points.

What at about dal tile hexagons?
lolainthecola thanked kats737
leemiller
8 years ago
Sigh. I have yet to see a tile that matches the look of real stone, but this is exactly the issue we are debating right now.
PRO
Avanti Tile & Stone / Stonetech
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
If they're porcelain...no problem aside from being trickier to cut & install. See above advice from Cabot & Rowe. I've worked with him and he knows wherove he speaks...........
zellycat2
8 years ago
I am considering a mosaic accent strip with natural stone (package doesn't say what type) and mother of pearl, would this also be a problem or ok since the pieces have a random pattern and are so small? They seem so common, is everyone going to have destroyed accent strips?
PRO
Cabot & Rowe
8 years ago
Small pieces won't show any etching as easily as large pieces. MOP is virtually indestructible.
zellycat2
8 years ago
Phew, thank you! What about metal? I had returned some mosaics for fear of rusting but now I'm curious. Especially since, well, our shower trim is metal and that seems to be ok in the shower.
PRO
colorlover
5 years ago
I have marble tiles in my shower and there isn't a vent or fan. However there is a window and after a shower I quickly squeegee the walls and floor to remove excess water and then leave the door open. It only takes a minute to do because its a small shower. My tiles are light gray, matte finish with a lot of veining so the dirt doesn't show right away, but I try to look for it and scrub it with a brush as soon as I see dirt. Then I am careful to use only baking soda/hydrogen peroxide. If the grout needs a deeper cleaning, I steam it with a Bissel home steamer maybe 2x per year. So far, the tiles/grout look great and its been 2 years. I think the trick is to catch it early and don't let water sit. So its a little extra effort when getting out of the shower but it eliminates having to scrub a lot longer once a week and it always looks clean. And I will reseal every year. That makes it a lot easier to clean the grout too.
Nancy in Mich
5 years ago
I don't know if it will work on marble without etching, but I have found that the e-water product Force of Nature kills mold and mildew without any chemicals. Force of Nature

I have used it to get the green growth off of a shady part of my porch boards, and after letting it sit for 15 minutes after saturating the composite boards with the spray, it brushed right off. I hosed off the porch, and it looks like new now. I used it for mopping my floors after my incontinent dog died. When my new dog came, she never even sniffed around. It got blueberry stains off my sports bra, too. It really will revolutionize bathroom grout care. Whether you can use it with stone or not, you have to test for yourself.