Cleaning of upholstered furniture: varieties and subtleties of
Each home has upholstered furniture that creates comfort and coziness in the house. Due to heavy use, sofas and armchairs often get dirty. Stains can occur due to children's pranks, the use of food, animal activities. To restore cleanliness and attractiveness to upholstered furniture, you can use the services of professionals or clean it yourself.
Self-cleaning features
Maintaining cleanliness in rooms is important not only for aesthetic purposes, but also for the health of residents. This rule also applies to interior items. Housewives are often worried about how to effectively clean upholstered furniture at home so as not to spoil the upholstery.
The advantages of cleaning sofas and armchairs on your own include the following points:
- no need to transport large interior items to a cleaning company;
- furniture is not damaged;
- sofas and armchairs are cleaned with substances that are extremely safe for health, which is especially important in families with small children;
- if there is a lot of work, then it can be done gradually and slowly.
The disadvantages of such cleaning are the following:
- with an illiterate selection of detergent, the upholstery can be damaged;
- the formation of streaks in the case of poor-quality washing.
Views
As you know, cleaning upholstered furniture is much cheaper than buying a new one. In addition, there is not always a desire to get rid of your favorite sofas or armchairs. If for any reason the upholstered furniture has lost its original appearance, has worn out, stains and stains have appeared on it, then you can try to clean it yourself or contact a professional.
Self
As you know, dust and stains make upholstered furniture unkempt and unattractive, so every housewife wants to clean it herself. The first important rule for cleaning a sofa at home is speed, that is, stains should be removed immediately. These interior items need regular wiping with a damp cloth or cleaning with a vacuum cleaner.
The hostess needs to remember that each type of upholstery requires compliance with certain rules for cleaning and care.
To eliminate unpleasant odors, stains, dust and dirt from upholstered furniture on your own, you can use store-bought chemicals, folk methods, as well as household appliances such as a vacuum cleaner and a steam cleaner.
Professional
When contacting a cleaning company, you can be sure of the positive result of the process of cleaning upholstered furniture. Masters of their craft use special tools and units for this or that upholstery. Cleaning sofas and armchairs is accompanied by the removal of various types of dirt and stains from the surface. With the help of deep cleaning and special equipment, professionals in their field will remove not only dirt from furniture, but also harmful particles.
People who work for a cleaning company go to their destination, be it an office or an apartment, and do their job there. Owners do not have to transport bulky items around the city.
Often, specialists provide the following types of services:
- preliminary cleaning of sofas, armchairs, poufs;
- manual stain treatment;
- purification using the extractor method;
- elimination of dirty solution;
- deodorization, which involves the elimination of any unpleasant odor;
- treatment of upholstered furniture with antistatic agents.
Despite the many advantages, the owners of sofas and armchairs rarely use the services of cleaning companies due to the high cost of services. However, it is worth remembering that these costs are considered quite justified, since you can be completely confident in the ideal result of cleaning furniture.
The ways
Cleaning of upholstered furniture at home can be done with wet and dry methods. These procedures can be carried out both with improvised means, chemicals, and special equipment.
Chemical
In the case when traditional methods do not cope with stains and odors that have settled on upholstered furniture, you can use special substances that are sold in the store. They should be chosen based on the type of upholstery on the sofa, the use of a wet or dry cleaning method, as well as the characteristics of pollution. You can buy both a universal product that can cope with any stains, and designed for stubborn dirt.
Before you start cleaning a sofa or chair with chemicals, you need to make sure that the product will do its job and will not harm the upholstery.
When cleaning upholstered furniture, it is worth adhering to the recommendations of specialists.
- If the covers are removed on a sofa or armchair, then this is worth doing. Once removed, the covers can be sent to the washing machine, where a special cleaning agent can be added. However, do not forget that before washing, you should look at the label on the product, which will indicate whether automatic washing is permissible.
- Covers that cannot be washed with a washing machine, can be cleaned by hand with a chemical store cleaner. You can make sure that it does not harm the furniture by trying it on a piece of material.
- By applying a special substanceDo not use a large amount of water, as this can cause streaks on the fabric and complicate the drying process.
- After the furniture is dry, chemical residues can be removed with a vacuum cleaner.
Wet
The most effective cleaning of upholstered furniture is considered to be damp. But at the same time, do not forget that if you wash a sofa or an armchair and at the same time dry it poorly, then you can get a new problem in the form of mold.
Some housewives use washing vacuum cleaners, but if one is not available, then you can replace it with a cloth napkin and soap solution.
Staged wet cleaning of upholstered furniture:
- the surface is vacuumed;
- a solution is made based on water, dishwashing liquid, washing powder;
- the napkin is dipped in the prepared detergent, after which it is wrung out;
- the upholstery of the sofa is carefully rubbed with a napkin, which should be periodically moistened;
- after the surface of the sofa has completely dried, it is worth treating it with a vacuum cleaner.
Dry
Experts say that wet cleaning is not suitable for any kind of upholstery fabric. In some cases, dry cleaning is indispensable. In this situation, you can use foams, vacuum cleaners and powders. For example, for too capricious fabric, it is better to use a steam cleaner.
Vanish has proven itself well from foams, due to the density of the structure of which the material to be cleaned remains practically dry. The finished powder can be bought at the store. And also for dry cleaning of furniture, soda, salt and chalk are used, which are applied to slightly damp upholstery. It is better to remove dust from sofas and armchairs with a vacuum cleaner.
Mechanical
When using a special technique, cleaning furniture can be called an easy and quick process. The use of a vacuum cleaner is quite effective with a small amount of dirt. With the help of this unit, you can eliminate pet hair.To freshen up the upholstery, you can walk over the furniture with a damp cloth after cleaning.
Deep vacuum cleaning is as follows:
- covering furniture with a wet sheet;
- knocking out the surface with a cracker;
- careful removal of the sheet with the subsequent removal of the collected dust with a vacuum cleaner.
A vacuum cleaner is a great option to help remove tough types of dirt. This device can carry out both preparatory and wet cleaning.
Experts do not recommend using a washing vacuum cleaner for delicate, fluffy fabrics.
Cleaning with a special brush, such as an electric brush attachment for a separator vacuum cleaner, is quite effective. This device has in its design a roller with brushes, which rotates, making impact movements. Such mechanical tools for cleaning upholstered furniture not only eliminate dust, but also comb the pile, thereby destroying harmful microorganisms.
Cleaning with a steam generator was recognized as the most perfect way. This device is able to remove a large number of stains, among other things, it renews the structure of the material, eliminates dust mites, moth larvae, makes the upholstery soft and shiny. When using a steam generator, do not forget about the following points:
- use dry steam;
- apply a high temperature regime;
- keep pressure under control.
After the processing of furniture with this modern type of technology is over, it is worth taking a dry napkin and wiping the surface with it. Steam tends to soften stains, so they can be easily removed with a napkin.
How to choose a product?
To wash a sofa or chair with fabric upholstery, it is worth choosing an effective product that can be presented in the form of foam, spray, powder. The spray must be sprayed onto the contaminated area of the furniture, and then wiped with a sponge. The foam is applied to the surface, cured to dry, and then removed with a vacuum cleaner.
A cleaning powder can be used to remove stains that have just formed. The substance is applied to the stain, left until the color change, and then vacuumed.
Special detergents have been developed by manufacturers to clean all kinds of stains on carpets and upholstered furniture. Therefore, many in-store products can remove almost any contamination. A number of formulations can be attributed to the demanded cleaning agents.
- Shampoo "Sun Wedge". This versatile tool tidies up carpets, sofas, armchairs and car seat covers. It is sprayed onto the contaminated surface and then wiped off with a sponge.
- Grass Universal Cleaner Is a universal product that not only eliminates all kinds of stains on upholstered furniture, carpets, car seat covers, but also removes stubborn unpleasant odors. The advantage of this composition is that it does not need to be washed off after application.
- Karcher Spray-EX Tabs RM 760. The product is presented in the form of water-soluble tablets, with which you can professionally clean both furniture and carpet. The solution easily returns the former clean and fresh appearance of the surface. This product needs to be washed off with water.
If there were no professional chemicals in the house, then you can clean the upholstered furniture with the help of available tools.
- Soda, vinegar, washing powder. This homemade remedy, consisting of a spoonful of soda, the same amount of powder and a third of a glass of vinegar, is diluted with hot water to end up with 500 ml of solution. Once the substance has foamed, it can be applied to stains using a spray bottle. You can clean off dirt with a soft sponge.
- Hydrogen peroxide. To eliminate contamination from the upholstery surface, as well as an unpleasant odor, it is worth dropping 15 drops of hydrogen peroxide in 1 liter of warm water.Then there is added a detergent in the amount of 1 tablespoon, shaken and sent to a spray bottle. The surface of upholstered furniture is treated with a solution and cleaned with a soft sponge.
- Vinegar Is a powerful oxidizing agent that dissolves dirt on the surface of the upholstery, eliminates grease, and also removes unpleasant odors. To prepare the cleaner, dilute 0.25 liters of vinegar with warm water. There you need to add a tablespoon of detergent, mix everything thoroughly and pour into a container with a spray bottle. After spraying, the surface should be washed with a sponge.
- Lemon juice is as strong a type of oxidizing agent as vinegar. However, its main difference from the previous version is that after processing the furniture acquires a pleasant citrus aroma. To prepare the solution, squeeze 120 ml of lemon juice into 500 ml of water. Using a spray bottle, this agent is sprayed onto dirt. The last step in cleaning furniture is to wipe the stains with a soft sponge.
- Ammonia. To eliminate grease on upholstered furniture, you can use ammonia. To cleanse dirt in half a liter of water, add 50 ml of ammonia and a spoonful of vinegar. This solution should be mixed and applied to the contaminated area. After that, the furniture is wiped with a rag or sponge and washed with clean water.
Subtleties of cleaning different materials
At home, it is not difficult to clean upholstered furniture from stains, dirt and odor with your own hands without streaks. You can wash the armrests or the back of the sofa from grease, blood, chocolate with soda and vinegar, salt and other improvised means. You can also use a steam generator (steamer) to clean light-colored furniture or in case of serious contamination and clean it right at home.
Experts recommend avoiding wet cleaning of velvet, silk, tapestry upholstery.
In this case, it is better to remove dirt with sprays or powders. Despite the fact that tapestry is quite sensitive to water, it can withstand mechanical cleaning. Velor and flock are inherent in the possibility of losing their attractive appearance if the direction of the pile is damaged. It is better to treat such fabrics with a steam generator.
Using a steamer, it is recommended to clean suede, nubuck. And also these fabrics are well cleaned with brushes with rubber teeth. Sofas and armchairs, which have a long pile, are best cleaned with a vacuum cleaner that has a hose with wound gauze. The latter should be soaked in a solution with salt. It is recommended to clean upholstered furniture with light upholstery with vinegar.
Review overview
Reviews of the owners of upholstered furniture indicate that these interior items can be cleaned from contamination both independently and by contacting professionals. Many people are satisfied with the result of using popular chemicals in the form of sprays, powders, shampoos. However, there are also fans of removing stains with folk remedies that are safe for health.
In the next video you can watch the stages of professional dry cleaning of upholstered furniture.
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