How to Professionally Clean Upholstery
- 1). Remove all dirt and soil from surface areas, crevices, under pillows and from the underside of your upholstered furniture using a vacuum with a HEPA filter.
- 2). Check upholstery tags and paperwork that came with your furniture to ascertain the makeup of the fabric. Look specifically for "S" and "W" codes for soluble and water. As a rule of thumb, 100% cotton, rayon or silk should never be subjected to water. Around 80% of all upholstery fabric coded "S" can stand up to water. Be particularly cautious when making your cleaning agent selection.
- 3). Test a small area of each piece of furniture to see how it reacts to the shampooing and spotting solutions you plan to use. Select the underside of a couch, underside of a cushion or a small section near the bottom of the furniture that abuts a leg. Bottom line is that upholstery cleaning is a chemical process. When in doubt, don't proceed if the test area looks questionable.
- 4). Remove inserts from cushions and seats if your upholstered furniture offers the option of unzipping the slipcovers and cleaning them without subjecting the foam or other fill to the solutions you've chosen.
- 5). Spot stains using your choice of commercial spotting agents. Follow the directions on the bottle's label to the letter. If it says, "use a white cotton cloth" or "use a soft upholstery brush" to work the stain, don't substitute or your upholstery could become damaged or discolored.
- 6). Experiment with enzyme-based upholstery cleaning formulations. Enzymes tackle the hardest cleaning challenges, including grease, crayons and bodily fluids. They are considered safe and effective on most upholstery fabric and professionals agree that it's worth spending the extra money to try one.
- 7). Fill your cleaning machine with your choice of agents per the unit's directions and thoroughly scrub all surfaces of your upholstered furniture. Steam clean pillows and cushions. Dry everything thoroughly. Leaving even a little moisture behind invites mold, mildew and odor to take up residence in the furniture you worked hard to clean.
- 8). Consider using Scotchgard® or another brand of fabric protectant to make it harder for soil to adhere to your newly-cleaned furnishings and to make future spotting and cleaning jobs easier. Continue to calendar annual upholstery cleaning duties to keep all of your upholstered furniture looking terrific while protecting your loved ones from a variety of bugs and germs.
Source...