Reasons Upholstery Cleaning is Important
What Is Upholstery?
Upholstery is the fabric and padding that covers your furniture—sofas, love seats, arm chairs, ottomans, stools, and more are all covered with upholstery fabric.
What Is Upholstery Cleaning? How Does It Work?
Upholstery cleaning (as you might expect) is the process of cleaning the fabric that upholsters your furniture. But the process is more difficult than it might sound at first.
For one thing, upholstery is often made up of relatively delicate natural fabrics like cotton. For another, most furniture doesn’t let you just remove the upholstery to run it through the washing machine. Upholstery cleaning requires special equipment and know-how.
First, upholstery is inspected to make note of any tears or other damage. Then, the fabric is vacuumed, conditioned, rinsed, and vacuum dried. Another method is with hot-water extraction, also known as “steam cleaning.”
What Are All The Things You Need Before Cleaning the Furniture?
- A vacuum cleaner including upholstery attachment
- Chemical free detergent liquid
- Vinegar
- Absorbent towel
Cleaning codes
- W- Water (you can clean the furniture using ware or water-soluble cleaning products)
- S- Solvent (can use only solvent-based or water-based cleaning products)
- X- Vacuum (should not clean by using any type of cleaning products only vacuuming is advisable)
Here are the reasons it’s important to have regular upholstery cleaning:
- Health
Did you know that the allergens, dust mites, fleas, mold, and bacteria can get into the fibers of your upholstery, and left too long, they all could cause a wide range of allergies and illness? Also, if you have anyone with sensitivities to dust or mold, this will only impact them more. Keeping up on regular upholstery cleaning drastically reduces the presence of these irritants, and in turn, helps to keep your home and family healthy.
- Odors
The family couch or sectional is where a lot of life happens. You’ve engaged in countless movie nights, eaten dozens of TV dinners, fought off illnesses, and watched hundreds of TV shows and cartoons. If you have a baby or toddler, the couch has been a changing table and feeding station. For most families, the living room furniture becomes the favorite spot for homework or running an at-home business, and you can bet it is your pet’s favorite spot to wait for you to come home.
Clearly, a lot happens on your furniture, and sometimes it’s all too obvious because of the odor. Plus, cooking odors from the kitchen have a way of staying on your upholstery, which also contributes to an unpleasant smell. Upholstery cleaning helps remove those odors by removing the source.
- A Longer Life for Your Furniture
Your furniture is an investment, and oftentimes an expensive one. Whether it’s just regular wear and tear, or spilled milk, body oil and grease, cleaning your furniture regularly can extend the life of your investment.
- Appearance
You know those stains couches collect that you’ve tried covering up with a blanket or pillow, and when company comes over you feel embarrassed? Of course, we all do!
Whether they’re from kids and animals, or just being old and experiencing normal wear and tear, we use our furniture on a daily basis. And no matter how clean your house and carpets might be, if the upholstery on your furniture looks dirty and grimy, the rest of the house isn’t going to feel clean.
The easy solution is to have your carpet cleaning professional add in upholstery cleaning while also cleaning your carpets.
- Your House Experienced Water or Smoke Damage
Accidents happen and are sometimes out of our control. A roof leak or a minor stove fire can cause water or smoke damage. Part of that damage is done to the upholstery of your furniture. While you might be inclined to just throw out the furniture and start over, you would be surprised what a good upholstery cleaning can do.
- Durability
You know that faded, thinning look your furniture upholstery can get? That’s caused by dust and dirt, which act like bits of sandpaper rubbing on the fabric. Regular upholstery cleaning removes this dust and improves the durability of the upholstery, making sure your furniture lasts a long time.
Health Benefits of Furniture Upholstery Cleaning
Here are some of the major health advantages to having your upholstery cleaned:
- Removes bacteria
- Reduces allergies
- Eliminates odor
- Creates more sanitary conditions
- Improves air quality
Important Dos’ and Don’ts of Upholstery Cleaning
- If possible, upholstery should be shielded from receiving the direct rays of the sun since it could cause fading and discoloration, thus spoiling the entire look.
- While using candles, you must make it a point to keep them away from your upholstery so as to prevent wax from dripping on to the fabric.
- Spraying your upholstery with a protector would enable you to maintain a clean and fresh look not to mention shield your upholstery from stains.
- It is advisable not to use too much water while cleaning upholstery since it would cause the fabric to remain wet for a prolonged duration and render it susceptible to growth of microbes, mould and mildew.
- After cleaning upholstery, it is important to ventilate the room well by switching on fans and opening windows so that the drying up process is short and efficient.