Maintaining and keeping upholstery clean is a daunting task. Everyone enjoys sitting and relaxing on a nice piece of furniture but no one likes cleaning the same. Upholstery can be ruined by spillages, dirt, oil or beauty products, emanating from your hair. Rather than quickly resorting to professionals to clean upholstery, you should also consider trying to do the upholstery cleaning on your own without any help.
You can make your own natural cleaner using cleaner recipes, which you can use to ensure your upholstered furniture is in pristine and perfect condition. This article looks at how you can clean upholstery by yourself.
Vacuum Cleaning
This is done using a vacuum cleaner to get rid of the piled up dirt and debris on the surface of the sofa. Often, there could also be some hair most likely of you own a pet. You ought to make sure that you remove that too using a lint roller in case the vacuum cleaner cannot reach the hair and crumbs. It is also prudent to clean up the cushions by vacuum cleaning them on both sides if they can be easily detached.
Establish the Kind of Upholstery Fabric
A couch consists of a tag that clearly defines the best way to clean the upholstery. You ought to follow these instructions to ensure you do not experience any issues in the process. These instructions could range from the use of a vacuum cleaner only, use of water only, use of a dry cleaner detergent and the use of a very mild detergent.
Cleaning the Varying Types of Upholstery
As highlighted above, there are many types of upholstery. In a bid to remove stains, the recipe used to clean each kind of fabric is different. Having a good understanding of this is crucial because many people use the same kind of recipe to clean different types of upholstery. In order for you to clean the upholstery by yourself, you ought to deal with different types uniquely to ensure you do not ruin them.
For synthetic upholstery, you should mix a single cup of hot water with half a cup of vinegar and a half tablespoon of dish soap respectively. Later on, spray the solution on the dirty area and clean with a very soft piece of clothing until the stains disappear.
For leather upholstery, it is very simple and basic. You should mix a quarter cup of vinegar and half a cup of olive oil. Similarly, you should spray the solution on the dirty areas of the upholstery and rub with a piece of cloth until the stains are gone.
Finally, for fabric upholstery, you should mix a three quarter cup of warm water with a quarter cup of vinegar and a single tablespoon of dish soap. You should add this on a spray bottle and spray on the dirty area. The area should be cleaned with a piece of cloth. Fabric is quite different and you should thus follow up with another piece of cloth to clean up the soap.
After this, you have to dry the upholstery with a dry towel and if the weather is not conducive, you can use a fan simply directed towards the upholstery hence eliminating any chances of mold in case it is not dried accordingly.
Upholstery Preventative Measures
Just as a preventative measure, you ought to vacuum and dust the furniture several times. You should vacuum the fabric using an upholstery attachment. This prevents the embedding of debris or any other kinds of dirt. The rotation of the cushions and pillows help by stopping any wearing on the upholstery’s surface. Any spillage should be cleaned immediately. It is advisable for one to use fabric cleaners rather than the regular and ordinary cleaners. You should also apply a fabric protector and it requires no professional knowledge to do this. It helps to protect the upholstery from any wear and tear.
From the foregoing, you can see that you can do upholstery cleaning by yourself. This classical DIY method is ideal while still offering a wide array of benefits. It is cheap and easy to do and its benefits go way beyond the expensive option of hiring a professional. It is thus advantageous to do upholstery cleaning by yourself. It increases the life of the asset by removing the dirt before it ruins your furniture. However, if this work seems quite overwhelming to you, hiring a professional to clean your upholstery is highly recommended. They possess the needed skills and expertise to do a perfect job that you will love.