Oreck Orbiter: The Best Tool for Cleaning Tile and Grout

It’s springtime, which means spring cleaning is probably on your mind, like it is mine.  We’re getting ready for another graduation party, which always means getting the house into party-shape.  After all, nothing sends me into a home improvement tailspin like a party!  That said, after a long winter, your floors definitely take a beating, whether you have carpet, tile, vinyl or hardwoods.  That’s where the Oreck Orbiter comes to the rescue.  This post contains some affiliate links.

This is not a sponsored post.  I just really love this product.

Oreck Orbiter – A Great Tile Cleaner

I bought the Oreck Orbiter specifically for my tile floors and cleaning the grout, but it has proven to be an amazing multi-surface floor cleaner as well, which has been an added bonus.  We have travertine tile in our home, and while it’s pretty, it is very porous, and very prone to dirt and grime getting into all of the nooks and crannies over time.  It’s not something you can clean well with your normal cleaning tools, and from the research I did on the Oreck Orbiter, I figured it was going to be a lot cheaper than paying someone to come out and clean my tile.  Plus, it’s a tool that I’ll have and use as I need it, in other parts of my home.

Fair warning, this tile is a wee bit embarrassing to share, and I promise you that we clean regularly.  This tile is just super-porous (and I feel compelled to say that I did not choose this tile), and is a dirt magnet with all of the cracks and crevices.  This area is normally covered with a rug, and if you look closely, you can see the dirt outline of the rug on the tile floor.

If you can’t see it, let me give you a close up…  This is to give you an idea of what our floor should look like.

Ewwwww, right?  I know.  It’s disgusting!  And we have a lot of this tile in our house – especially on the main floor.  The high traffic areas, definitely get the worst of it.

Oreck Orbiter Tile Cleaning – The Process

The great thing about the Oreck Orbiter is that it takes the muscle work out of the whole process.  There’s no hard scrubbing involved here, the machine does the work.  Despite the fact that the Orbiter is a bit heavy, it’s very easy to operate once you get started.  All you have to do is steer it.  Seriously.  

There are different brushes and pad attachments for different types of flooring, but for the sake of this discussion, I’m going to focus on the ones I used for the travertine tile cleaning.

• Oreck Orbiter
• Oreck Orbiter Natural Fiber Union Mix Polishing and Light Scrubbing Brush
• Sheiner’s Stone and Tile Cleaner
• Multi-purpose Garden Sprayer (used to spray the tile cleaner)
• Old towels
• Tile Sealer

The key to tackling this project is to take it in small parts.  Mix the dilute the Sheiner’s Stone and Tile Cleaner according to the directions and mix them in your garden sprayer.  I worked by spraying small sections at a time, and then going over the area with the Oreck Orbiter.  Fair warning, if your tile is dirty, you might want to tape off the walls/trim/cabinets so that the dirty water doesn’t splatter everywhere.  But, if you’re quick, you can wipe things down as you go.

It’s worth noting that the Oreck Orbiter doesn’t come with any attachments.  You need to buy them separately for your own flooring needs.  For my travertine tile, I bought the Natural Fiber Union Mix Brush, and it seems to have just enough give to get into the nooks and crannies that our floor has.  The brush attaches directly to the base of the Oreck Orbiter.

This photo gives you an idea of how well it’s able to get in there and get the dirt out.  The only issue with the kitchen is that the Orbiter doesn’t get all the way underneath the cabinets, so you’ll have to do a little hand scrubbing to reach those areas.

As you work your way through an area, I recommend having some old towels around to mop up the mess.  And there will be a mess – especially if you have porous tile like I do.  I know – I can’t believe I’m airing my dirty tile to all of you.  I only do this because I know I’m not the only one who has dirty tile or dirty grout.  It’s a game changer when you’re able to clean it without killing yourself in the process, and even better that you don’t have to completely replace your floor to give it a new look.

But look at the difference!  Let me again refresh your memory…

Before:

After:

It is a game changer!  When you’re done cleaning, I recommend sealing the tile to keep the stains out.  Ironically, that will probably be more work than the cleaning of the tile, but it will give the tile a barrier to stains moving forward.

I tested the Orbiter out on our bathroom tile as well.  It’s not porous like the travertine, but you can see that the grout isn’t looking its best.  For this type of tile, you’ll want to use a different brush attachment.  This blue brush attachment is the one that is recommended.

Our bathroom area is more of a grout problem than an overall tile problem, but we all know what a difference clean grout makes! If you’re interested in cleaning grout, you’ll want to seal it too with a grout sealer.

I have used the Oreck Orbiter on other areas of our home as well, but will save that for another post.  I bought it with the intention of cleaning my tile, and it has exceeded my expectations.  The fact that I have tackled other areas in our home just makes me love it even more.

Do you have dirty tile in your house?

Jenny