Bathrooms are naturally messy spaces, and someone who isn’t carefully using the bathroom can make it worse. When it comes to urine, its smell and its ability to cause discoloration in our bathrooms can be a nuisance. Knowing how to get urine out of grout around toilets can be a handy way to revitalize the look of your bathroom.
There are some household products you likely already have that can effectively get urine stains out of the grout around your toilet while also helping to get rid of the smell. A grout cleaner is also a good place to start, especially if the stains are older. It might take a couple of attempts before you get stains out completely, as urine is a very difficult substance to remove.
You want to try and tackle these stains when they arise to avoid having them become unbeatable or having them impact your bathroom’s overall cleanliness.
How To Get Urine Out Of Grout Around Toilet
When you notice a urine stain in your grout, it’s possible you can simply wash it away with some warm water and a good scrub. If it’s a fairly new stain, you might not need to pull out any cleaners. However, it’s unlikely you won’t need the assistance of a cleaner unless you clean up the urine as soon as the stain occurs.
Either way, scrubbing at the stain with warm water before you use cleaning products can help loosen up the stain, making sure your cleaning products of choice are able to get the job done more efficiently. Powder-based cleaners also seem to be much better at cleaning away urine stains in grout than liquid products.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is one of the very few things that can successfully get rid of that very pungent urine smell. It’s also gentle on your grout, so you don’t have to be concerned about any peeling or degradation after cleaning with baking soda.
To use your baking soda effectively, mix it with some warm water to make a paste. Spread the mixture generously over the grout containing the urine stains. It’s a good idea to let the paste sit inside the grout for at least half an hour to maximize its cleaning potential. You can then take a brush and scrub the baking soda into the grout before rinsing it away.
Vinegar
Vinegar is effective at cleaning and freshening up just about every surface in your home, and that includes the grout in your bathroom. You can even use baking soda with vinegar to maximize its cleaning potential, especially as you’re trying to get rid of the smell and the discoloration that urine stains lead to.
One option you have is to mix vinegar with some warm water and pour the mixture over the grout. Use a hand towel or a cloth to gently rub the vinegar into the stain before rinsing it off with warm water. You can use a dry towel to pat the area dry.
If you want to clean your grout with both baking soda and vinegar, you can start by sprinkling baking soda over the stained grout. You can then mix some vinegar with a bit of warm water in a spray bottle and spray around where you’ve sprinkled your baking soda. Let the mixture sit for a while before using a scrub brush to rub away the stains.
Dish Soap
Dish soap is another gentle product you can try on stains of this nature that won’t damage the grout. Dish soap has concentrated ingredients that are able to tackle tough stains unlike regular soap, which is mainly meant to wash away surface-level substances and germs.
Add some dish soap to a bucket of warm water and mix it around until it turns into a lather. You’ll then want to either pour the mixture in the appropriate area or put it in a spray bottle and spray the area very generously. The more you soak the stains in this mixture the better.
Once your stains are soaked very well, take your scrub brush and scrub away at the stained spots until you see them starting to dissipate. As a bonus, your bathroom will smell fresh and clean without the scent being too overwhelming.
Grout Cleaner
There are products designed specifically for cleaning grout. A grout cleaner with deep cleaning power may be able to penetrate those urine stains and get rid of them for good. All you need to do is mix your cleaner with a little bit of warm water, pour it onto the area, and scrub away unless the product description instructs otherwise.
Once you’ve finished scrubbing your urine stains, you’ll want to thoroughly wash the grout cleaner away. You can do this with a mop or a spray bottle full of water, or by any other means you can come up with. It’s also recommended that you make sure the floor is completely dry after you rinse it very well after using these products.
The thing to consider about grout cleaner is that it’s going to have quite the chemical makeup. It may not be toxic to your health depending on the product you choose but it’s something to be aware of. If none of the gentler products above work for your stains, grout cleaner may be the best option.
Why Urine Stains Should Be Cleaned As Soon As Possible
Urine contains things like ammonia and minerals that, if allowed to sit inside of your grout for some time, can cause staining that is extremely difficult to completely eliminate. Urine also has a very strong smell that is hard to mask. It can end up attracting bugs to your bathroom as well which is especially unpleasant.
While it’s not likely that urine around your toilet will make you sick, you don’t want to risk it. Consistent exposure to ammonia in urine can cause people some skin irritation and respiratory distress. The ammonia can also end up breaking down your grout over time, which you’ll then have to replace.