Some tile grout residue has ended up in my kitchen sink and dishwasher. How can I safely remove it? It is making all the wire baskets almost impossible to move along their runners. I am also wondering if the grout will be effecting the inside workings of the dishwasher. My sink plug hole is now grainy and it's difficult to get the plug to go in smoothly. Both are only two years old.
Some tile grout residue has ended up in the kitchen sink and dishwasher. How to safely remove it
dishwasher
Related Solutions
Many disposals have a specific connection for a dishwasher. If yours has one you can use that, or if you haven't bought one yet, look for a model with that feature.
Note: This may no longer be up to code in your area: see Why does my dishwasher back up into the sink, but running the disposal allows it to drain?
That said, many dishwashers have macerators built-in, which is effectively the same thing. I'm not really sure how useful it is to have a disposal downstream anyways. A dishwasher has to pump the waste water up to the drain. If you have anything in there that the disposal would actually chop up, it's probably going to jam the dishwasher pump before getting to the disposal anyways. In fact, this is why dishwashers have strainers and built-in macerators to begin with.
If you're still intent on having the dishwasher go through the disposal, and you don't have a built-in macerator or a dishwasher inlet, then it's just a matter of physical space. Can you fit a connection for the dishwasher between the disposal and sink? (although again, note this may not be up to code anymore).
If I had to choose only one, I would definitely choose sink. Most dishwasher drain hoses are 5/8" -- anything that doesn't clog that isn't going to clog the 1 1/4" sink drain. (I'm not sure if there is some other motivation for doing this besides avoiding clogs, though?)
It's not the interior holes you need to deal with...it's the external ones. They're getting in the house somewhere/somehow and that's what you need to block.
The simplest way to do that is find the holes, and stuff them with stainless steel wool. The rodents will not want to chew through that.
Plugging the interior holes/gaps won't do much. They'll just eventually chew a new hole elsewhere.
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Best Answer
Wipe them off. Grout will not stick to anything any better than cream of wheat. You may need some cleaners (appropriate for the material you are cleaning), and brushes (maybe wire brushes or SOS pads) but it generally will become brittle once dried out and pop off.