Tile is one of the most versatile finishing materials available, because it’s so well-suited to a wide range of interior designs. Tile is just as appropriate in a rustic country farmhouse as it is in an upscale, ultramodern loft. It is beautiful, practical, and timeless in an ever-contemporary way. And that makes tile an excellent choice in the home, be it flooring, walls, or countertops. But, there is just this one little catch...

The grout. See, the tiles themselves clean up beautifully, almost effortlessly, and pretty much always look fantastic. But the grout in between the tiles? Well that’s a whole different story.

Grout is a mortar made from water, cement, and sand. That means grout is porous, and coarse. This sort of surface is ideal for collecting miniscule flecks of dirt, dust, and grime. And over time, it does. Grout that’s gone too long without being properly, professionally cleaned will appear patchy, dingy, and discolored. Normal mopping and even scrubbing just moves the dirt around, and can actually leave a detergent residue clinging to all those jagged nooks and crannies. Residue just attracts more particles, and after a while, there’s simply aren’t any home cleaning products that can make that grout look like new again.

That’s when it’s time to call a professional. A professional can thoroughly clean your grout and bring it back to its original brilliance, by removing all the stains and restoring it to uniform color. And with a professionally-applied sealant, the grout will be waterproofed and protected from future staining, thus keeping it from fading in the years to come. No amount of elbow grease could come close to achieving what a professional can achieve.

The professional grout cleaning and sealing cost is well worth the payoff. Flooring experts use highly-specialized extraction systems to draw out all that collected dirt and debris. They employ techniques including heat, vacuum, pressure rinse, and various cleaning agents. This is well beyond the scope of home cleaning capabilities, which is why it’s the only way to get your grout looking brand spanking new again.

So now your probably asking yourself: what is the grout cleaning and sealing cost? How much time? How much inconvenience? How much money? Well, a lot of that depends on the procedure and the size and shape of the room. When it comes to time and convenience, on average a standard (200-300 square foot) room takes under an hour to clean, with an additional 2-3 hours to seal. After sealing, the room should remain unused for at least an hour, and should be used judiciously for a full 24 hours while the sealant completely dries.

And as for the actual grout cleaning and sealing cost, well that will vary (sometimes significantly) depending on the company that you hire and the city where you live. Per square foot, cleaning alone will run between $0.70-$1.25, and sealing alone is about the same. But most often these services are coupled, for roughly $1.50-$2.50 per square foot, on average. Remember that these numbers are very rough estimates. Actual grout cleaning and sealing cost will fluctuate according to the region and the service provider.

Store bought cleansers and elbow grease will take you far, but at some point, when it comes to grout, you’re going to have to bite the bullet and hire a professional. When you do, make sure to shop around and compare prices so that you’re guaranteed to get the very best grout cleaning and sealing cost. You won’t regret it!

Sayward Rebhal writes for Networx.com.