Tile and grout cleaning in District 2 — riverside apartments and Thao Dien villas

People still say District 2, but since 1 July 2025 the area has been three wards, the units that replaced districts: An Khanh, Binh Trung and Cat Lai, under Resolution 1685/NQ-UBTVQH15. A project or street name is enough for us to place your address.

Our office is at 72 Nguyen Co Thach in the Sala urban area, An Khanh ward. Surveys and working visits in An Khanh and Binh Trung are scheduled regularly, between 07:00 and 20:00 every day; for Cat Lai, arrange a time with us first.

An Khanh ward

Thao Dien, Thu Thiem, An Loi Dong, the old An Khanh and part of An Phu: apartments in Sala, Empire City, The Metropole Thu Thiem, Masteri Thao Dien and Xi Riverview Palace; garden villas along Nguyen Van Huong and Quoc Huong; Saroma and SariTown.

Binh Trung ward

Binh Trung Dong, Binh Trung Tay and the rest of An Phu: Diamond Island, Estella Heights, Lakeview City, Palm City and The Global City with its SOHO townhouses.

Cat Lai ward

The old Thanh My Loi and Cat Lai wards, including Vista Verde and Feliz en Vista; bookings follow once a slot is confirmed.

Most grout is cement-based and porous, so it takes in water, grease and dirt; epoxy grout absorbs less but still holds residue on its surface. The city government portal records average relative humidity of about 79.5%, and about 80% in the rainy season from May to November. In apartments facing the Saigon River, damp air, closed windows and long hours of aircon make bathroom grout the first to darken.

Buildings are also still being finished in Thu Thiem, Sala and The Global City; their fine dust slips through door gaps and, where rain blows onto a balcony, sticks to the grout. Each part of the home discolours in its own way:

Bathrooms and shower walls

Black mould spots in corners and along the base of the wall, with old soap residue. Treat them early, before the mould works deep into the grout.

Kitchen and dining area

Grease reaches grout here sooner than anywhere else. When the lines around the hob are clearly darker, it is time for deep scrubbing.

Balconies and entrances

Grit and rainwater darken the grout and dull the tiles.

A quick test

Wipe a length of grout with a damp cloth. If the cloth stays clean and the line stays dark, the dirt is inside the grout and needs deep scrubbing or recolouring.

Your specialist identifies the tile, the grout and the cause of the discolouration, proposes only the steps the surface needs and shows them on a small test area.

Deep scrubbing

Dedicated brushes and a handheld machine follow each line with a product suited to the grout, and the dirty water is extracted. Grout greyed by surface residue usually brightens clearly.

Whitening and mould treatment

Mould-spotted shower grout is treated with a product permitted for mould, left for its contact time and rinsed off. Products are never mixed, and the room is kept ventilated throughout.

Recolouring

Where dirt has soaked into the grout, scrubbing lightens it but rarely returns the original shade. You can choose a new colour coat over clean, dry grout; the colour is tried on a sample first.

Sealing

In bathrooms, kitchens and balconies a sealer over clean, dry grout limits how much water and grease gets in. It wears with time and needs renewing.

What we do not do

Replacing broken tiles, raking out and regrouting, or treating leaks from the floor above. We photograph those spots so that you can call the right trade.

Garden villas in Thao Dien have verandas open to the river, and their yards are often damp because the ground is low: Tuoi Tre (June 2025) reports water standing 0.15–0.3 m deep on Quoc Huong and Nguyen Van Huong streets when heavy rain meets a high tide. Many villas have natural stone floors, as do Saroma and the Sala townhouses; marble, granite and terrazzo go to our Stone floor polishing service. Identifying the material comes first, because each surface gets its shine from a different source.

Glazed ceramic tiles

The shine is the factory glaze, which we never grind. The floor is deep-cleaned to lift the film of residue, then polished with soft pads and a glaze-safe solution. Worn or deeply scratched glaze cannot be restored.

Porcelain

Usually polished in manufacture; dullness comes mainly from residue in the surface micropores, so it is deep-cleaned, polished with soft pads and given a protective coat where suitable.

Encaustic cement tiles

The colour layer is pigmented cement, which absorbs water and stains easily. The tiles are cleaned with a mild solution, lightly polished if needed and sealed to hold the pattern; acidic cleaners can fade it and are not used.

Cement screed in older townhouses and cafes

Many Thao Dien townhouses have become cafes, showrooms or small offices. Screed floors are cleaned, lightly polished and sealed against soiling; deep grinding or levelling belongs to our Concrete floor polishing service.

Tuoi Tre (2020) counted nearly 6,000 foreign residents of 102 nationalities in Thao Dien, and most homes let to them come furnished and change occupants with each lease. Mould-spotted shower grout is what a new tenant notices first. The gap between leases suits the work: the home is empty, and recoloured or sealed grout has time to dry before anyone moves in.

• Landlords: ask for the survey as soon as the tenant gives a leaving date, so that the work falls while the home is empty.
• If you are away: leave a key with building management or family and follow the result in the Up Report, our photo record of the visit. Only the assigned specialist handles the key, and it is never copied.
• English: the proposal, the quote and the Up Report can all be in English. Ask when booking for an English-speaking specialist at the home; we tell you in advance if that cannot be arranged.

We name no figure here: the steps and the time are known only after the surface has been seen and a test area treated. A Thu Thiem bathroom that needs deep scrubbing alone and the ground floor of a Thao Dien villa that needs whitening, polishing and sealing are different amounts of work. The home survey is free, a small area can be quoted from photos and video, and the written fixed quote lists the areas, steps and timing; it changes only with your written agreement. Payment follows the walk-through, our joint check of the result, by bank transfer or cash.

Area and tile size

Small-format tiles and mosaics have more grout per square metre than large tiles and take longer.

Grout type and soiling

Cement or epoxy; surface dirt only, stained through, or mouldy.

Steps chosen

Scrubbing alone, or with whitening, recolouring, tile polishing, a protective coat or sealing.

Position

Flat floor, wall tiles, shower walls, stair treads or a balcony; tight areas with many corners go more slowly.

Access and protection

Furniture to move, timber floors or kitchen cabinets to cover alongside, and the building's permitted working hours.

Most District 2 apartment buildings set rules for service staff: registration with building management, ID at the lobby, the service lift and fixed working hours. We ask in advance, schedule within those hours and send your identity-verified specialist's name and photo for you to register. Inside, skirting, kitchen cabinets, timber floors and nearby furniture are covered, and the work moves area by area so that you keep a way through.

• Products are permitted for sale, diluted as the manufacturer directs, never mixed, and tried on a hidden corner first.
• The area being treated is ventilated; young children, older family members and pets should stay in another room meanwhile.
• A scrubbed floor can be walked on lightly once dry. Newly recoloured or sealed grout and newly sealed encaustic tiles must be kept dry for a period your specialist states at handover and notes in the Up Report.
• Polished tiles can be more slippery when wet: wipe spills at once and put a mat at the bathroom door.

Send wide and close-up photos of the grout and tiles to +84 968 726 135 on WhatsApp or Zalo and we will arrange the free survey. The result is checked with you in daylight against the test area you approved, and anything short of it is redone free within 48 hours of your Up Report.

Tile & grout cleaning (this page)

Handheld machines and hand work on each grout line and each kind of tile, walls included. Choose it for mouldy or stained grout, a dull film on glazed tiles, or faded encaustic tiles and screed.

Machine floor scrubbing

A scrubbing machine cleans the whole floor over a wide area and darkened grout is hand-scrubbed in passing. Choose it when the floors of an apartment, office or showroom are evenly dull; it has a published rate per m².

Stone floor polishing

For natural marble, granite and terrazzo, as found in Thao Dien villas and Sala homes.