How To Clean Your Upholstery At Home – Top Tips From The Professionals
Whether it’s a splash of soy sauce, spilt hot chocolate or mud tracked in on shoes, it’s frustrating when your furniture doesn’t look spotless. Well we are here to tell you that it is fairly easy to get rid of those annoying stains and marks!
Read on to discover some of our top upholstery cleaning tips to have your furniture looking as good as new.
1. Clean off Surface Dirt
Start by removing throws, cushions and anything on the sofa, don’t forget to check down the sides and back for any loose change, sweets wrappers and so on. For fabric sofas, fix the upholstery attachment to your vacuum cleaner and give it a quick once over. As for leather upholstery, use the brush attachment to avoid scratching it.
Once you have gone over the surface of the sofa, switch over to the crevice tool to get anything from the edges that your fingers couldn’t quite reach, as well as cleaning the seams. Make sure to repeat on the cushions.
2. ALWAYS Check The Label…
If your upholstery still has its label or a sticker attached to the underside, check it first before using any cleaning products.
W means you can only use a water-based cleaner.
S or P means it can only be cleaned with solvents (dry-clean only).
SW or WS means that you can use either a water-based detergent or solvent cleaner. Steam cleaners are also okay to use.
X means that you can’t use any water or detergent on the surface – it will have to be professionally cleaned instead.
3. Spot Cleaning With Vinegar
We’re often asked if you can clean a fabric sofa with vinegar, and the answer is yes. In fact, white vinegar is a great natural stain remover for most types of upholstery. Start by blotting the stain with an equal parts water and vinegar solution, then wipe the stain away gently using a microfibre cloth (make sure to use a clean cloth or even a new one).
After this, use a mixture of mild detergent and tepid water to remove any lingering vinegar smell and leave it to dry naturally. If you can, you should always tackle stains as soon as they happen to have the best chance to get rid of them.
4. How To Remove Odours From Upholstery
From pets climbing all over the sofa to smoke and odours drifting in through the window, your upholstery may look good on the outside, but it could still be harbouring a whole host of smells. Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda all over the surface and leave it overnight to let the powder absorb the smells. Vacuum it all off in the morning, et voila!
Let The Professionals Give You a Hand
If for whatever reason our tips aren’t doing the trick, feel free to get in contact with one of our specialist cleaners to discuss your requirements today, or head to our branch finder. Rainbow International is happy to help, no matter how small or big the job is! We have a wide range of professional equipment that is cut out to remove stains from any surface, you can trust that your upholstery will be gleaming when the job is done.