Cleaning Upholstery - Dos and Don'ts

Softness

When compared to the hard wooden structure of furniture, the softness of including an upholstered seat is unmatched. It is uncomfortable to sit on a hard sofa without cushions for more than 10 minutes.

Similarly, a bed without an upholstered headboard forces people to create makeshift modern headboard designs using pillows. A headboard reduces back pain while sitting for long hours on the bed. Also, the task of cleaning upholstery becomes easy if comfortable fabrics like cotton are used.

Style

Undoubtedly, upholstery with luxurious stitching patterns like the pin-tucked design increases the visual appeal of any room while adding an element of soft beauty. This visual comfort entices people of all ages to seek the comfort offered by soft cushions and warm fabrics.

Had there been hard wooden furniture without upholstery, people would have used it only when required the most.

Luxury

The upholstery fabric is responsible for adding the element of luxury in simple furniture like sofas or headboards. If the foam, padding, and coils of any furniture were left exposed, it would create an unpleasant design.

Spaces with such furniture would look unattractive. This makes upholstery fabric and designs important to enhance furniture style.

Adaptability

Depending on the purpose of a furniture piece, the upholstery can be tailored in different shapes and sizes. By increasing the number of foams, it is possible to increase the bounciness of the couch. Now, calling it a sofa upholstery. Similarly, the design of the upholstery can be changed based on the interiors of any space.

How Does the Couch Get Dirty?

The couch is the hotspot of any space. The warmth and comfort that a sofa upholstery offers, attracts everyone who enters the room. By the end of the day, the soft fibres on the surface of the furniture trap bacteria and dirt in large numbers.

Slowly and gradually, the fibres are filled with these contaminants, resulting in unclean air. This becomes a health hazard for people using couches or upholstered furniture in the long run.

The risk of infections and diseases increases if animals live in the same house. Over time, animal hair, dirt, urine, and dandruff degrade the quality of the upholstery fabrics. This decreases the attractiveness of the furniture while posing health risks for people and animals.

How to Clean Your Sofa Correctly

Sofa cover wash must be done frequently to avoid these complications. The frequency of cleaning upholstery depends on the number of people using it and the time spent by each person on the couch.

The body oils, dust, spill, and dirt result in the accumulation of contaminants on fabric that ultimately get deposited on the foam beneath its surface. Due to this, mites start infecting the wooden furniture under the upholstery reducing the lifespan of the furniture. Mites on bed and couch can be avoided by using a vacuum cleaner for sofa and beds.

However, before using an alcohol disinfectant for cleaning upholstery, people must check the upholstery quality as explained in the following sections. Plus, it’s important that you choose a good upholstery cleaner to maintain the firmness and longevity.

Dust Mites and Bed Bugs- How Could They Affect You?

As people have started spending a major part of their lives indoors, dust and bed bugs have become an increasing hygiene nuisance. A project named 360 Dust Analysis studied the generation and effect of indoor dust on human health. Approximately one-third of the total dust inside any house is created right inside the house.
The frequency of cleaning upholstery in houses plays a vital role in the quantity of dust retained.

People frequently complain of bedbugs in their beds and sofas. They move around the mattress or foam of the sofa throughout their lifetime. In their adult stage, bedbugs are just about the size of an apple seed, which makes them hard to notice.

They live inside unclean sofa upholstery and are harmful to humans. A female bed bug carries the potential to lay hundreds of eggs during her lifetime. These eggs are deposited in secluded places on any furniture.

Their small size makes them impossible to detect. Normally, these eggs hatch within a week after which the female attempts to reproduce again. These bed bugs have an average lifespan of approximately ten months. They sleep during the day and remain active throughout the night to feed on their hosts (humans).

Consequences of Unclean Upholstery

Commonly, dust is generated inside the house by human and animal skin cells that are regularly shed by bodies. The dust mites feeding off animals can also stick to the couch fabric, making the occupants prone to diseases. These mites and dirt are also present on any upholstered dining chair.

For people sleeping on the couch, directly coming in contact with dust and bed bugs can result in skin diseases like hives and eczema. Bedbugs have an elongated beak through which they pierce the skin of their human hosts and withdraw blood.

As the bites are painless, people don’t realise being bitten by a bedbug. The bugs leave their hosts after feeding and go to isolated locations to complete their digestion.

On the next day of being bitten by a bedbug, many people notice an itchy red welt. This reaction can sometimes take days or weeks to show. Few people observe no reaction at all. However, the ones who do are bothered by inflammation and itching for a long time. Sofa cleaning at home is the solution to this problem.

Despite the delicate fabric, lace curtains in any room must also be cleaned frequently to avoid health complications.

Watermarks

Cleaning upholstery helps discover hidden problems with upholstery fabric. Watermarks are one such problem. These watermarks carry the shape of a ring, and they start becoming evident when the size of the upholstery reduces over time. Usually, these watermarks are brown when the fabric is not sufficiently dried. Otherwise, they are clear in nature.

Browning

When any material, like the Indian upholstery fabric, takes longer than usual for drying, the surface appears brown or extra wet. This is called browning, and it can happen even on implementing the best way to wash linen. Browning is an indicator of high contamination, and the fabric must be washed multiple times to get the colour off. Immediately after cleaning, the water must be extracted entirely, allowing the fabric to dry.

Lingering Odours

Despite frequent cleaning, the problem of lingering odour can remain persistent. This complaint is frequently observed in houses with pets. When dirt-causing elements penetrate the foam and coils of upholstery, it becomes harder to eliminate the odour caused by them with surface cleaning agents. Deep cleaning using a strong sofa cleaning shampoo is the solution to this persistent challenge.

Dullness

After washing curtains or sofas frequently, people notice the colour fade. If the new-like shine is lost after cleaning, the chemicals in the alcohol disinfectant or cleaners might not have worked well with the upholstery.

The method of cleaning also plays an important factor in this case. Milder materials and gentle procedures must be implemented for maintaining upholstery sheen. With proper care, they will stand out as some stylish modern sofa designs.

Allowing dust to settle

People using a vacuum cleaner for sofa once in six months provide ample time for contaminants to settle. Irregular cleaning helps bacteria and germs to penetrate inside the upholstery deeper, damaging the foams and coils. Just like sofas and beds, washing curtains especially lace curtains regularly is vital to maintain freshness.

Rubbing tough stains vigorously

While thinking of how to remove ink stains from bed sheets, people impulsively start rubbing the stains vigorously with a rough cloth. This can permanently ruin the fibres of any Indian upholstery fabric and push the stain to seep into the fabric and foam. So, make sure that you’re using a reliable and safe upholstery cleaner. Cleaning the fabric gently using a sponge in a blotting fashion can remove tough stains like that of ink, easily.

Cleaning in the washing machine

Cleaning upholstery fabric or other linens in the washing machine is another common mistake observed while performing sofa cleaning at home. Regardless of the different types of upholstery fabric, the process is safe and effective for all. The water in the washing machines is not temperature controlled, and the fabrics might be sensitive to room temperature water. This action could result in permanent discolouration. So instead, you can use a good washing detergent and hand wash with a safe brush to get stains out.

Spills that might not come off the Indian upholstery fabric

An Indian print fabric is hard to clean. For lighter stains, a homemade sofa cleaner made with baking soda and distilled water can help. However, people must read the instructions of the upholstery fabric to check if the water-based cleaners are safe to use on the fabric.

Don’t use bleach

Bleach is a strong cleaning agent that leaves stains on the couch when used in the wrong quantities. Dark-coloured sofas will start turning whiter or colour-fade because the bleach tends to stick to the fabric of the upholstery. Many times, a bleach and water solution will leave blotchy stains on different areas of the couch.

Don’t start cleaning from the centre of your seating

Cleaning the spill from the centre is initially tempting. However, the stain is the most concentrated towards the centre. When the cleaning shampoo or solution is applied to the centre, the stain starts spreading in other directions.

Don’t use hard chemicals

Unknowingly, people use hard cleaners for their couch that aggravates the presence of contaminants. And most of the types of upholstery fabric don’t react well to those chemicals. In fact, they lose their longevity quickly. The label of the cleaner must be read before use to prevent skin rashes, irritation, dullness of the upholstery fabric, or breathing problems.

Don’t use heat

Different materials of upholstery fabric react differently to heat. Blends containing silk will get damaged on exposure to excessive heat. This is why using steam to disinfect certain upholsteries is not recommended.

Understand the couch fabric

The best way to wash linen or upholstery fabric is to first take some time to understand the fabric. Using the right cleaning upholstery shampoo or solution on the upholstery will leave a new-like shine.

Test out the cleaner on the fabric

After reading the tips on how to wash mattress protector, perform a patch test of the spotter or cleaner on the couch or mattress protector. Observe the results for 24 hours before using the cleaner on the furniture or any other fabric.

Act quickly

A stain on an upholstered dining chair must be acted on quickly to avoid its penetration. One of the tips for sofa cleaning at home is to act quickly. If you wait, some stubborn stains might decode to not leave at all. Start by blotting the stain with a wet cloth until it disappears. Once the stain is gone, the wet surface of the fabric must be dried using a clean cloth.

Vacuum first

To start the process of deep cleaning, use a vacuum to clean the surface debris on the couch. Start from the corners and cover the front and back sides of the couch to complete the process.

Run a dry brush across to loosen dust or debris

Even after vacuuming, persistent smaller particles remain on the couch. These can be removed by running a clean and dry brush across the visible surface of the couch. The process will loosen the dust stuck between the fibres of the fabric, allowing it to be eliminated during the further steps.