Extend the life of your Fabric sofa: Cleaning and care

The comfort and beauty that give us the sofa fabric have made them favorites to decorate the main hall, and any other environment that we want to dress in beautiful and comfortable furniture. Unfortunately, one of the main disadvantages of fabric upholstery is that they are very prone to stains and dirt accumulate from continuous use, problems that affect the impeccable original appearance of our furniture.

Although furniture manufacturers have increasingly chosen to use fabrics of high strength and durability, some even with special anti-stain treatments that extend their life and beauty, a fabric sofa will always need regular care and cleaning on which it will depend in much we can enjoy our favorite armchair for much longer.

Therefore, it is convenient to know the most important aspects related to cleaning a fabric upholstery, as well as those simple but valuable tricks that will help us keep our furniture with a perfect and pleasant presence for many years.

Before cleaning

First of all before we risk improvising or testing cleaning products and techniques that may be counterproductive for upholstery, it is important to know some fundamental characteristics of our sofa:

Type of fabric: it is always recommended to investigate the type of fabric used in our furniture, in general, synthetic fabrics such as microfiber are the most used for their qualities of softness and resistance, which makes them easier to clean; however, we can also find cotton, wool, canvas, velvet or other covers , with differentiated characteristics that are worth knowing so as not to make irremediable mistakes when cleaning them.

In general, it should be known that cotton, linen, and wool, are natural, fresh, resistant and light fibers, quickly absorb any substance that could stain them and therefore require greater care, but they tolerate machine wash very well and are stained with ease. While the chenille and velvet should move away from the application of heat, such as the dryer or the iron, for them it is always preferable to dry clean. For its part, the canvas is very strong and supports both washing with hot water and brushing.

Manufacturer Recommendations:

In addition to knowing the type of fabric it is relevant to know the specific recommendations that the manufacturers of the sofa give us for cleaning the upholstery, we can usually find a label that informs us about the most precise cleaning instructions that we should try to respect at all times.

Removable fabrics:

If we have a piece of furniture that we can undress to place the covers in the automatic washing machine or wash them by hand, this will be a great advantage in cleaning, otherwise we know that we must stick to dry cleaning and cleaning in situ , and we probably should Use a professional cleaning service when stains are very difficult to remove with these methods.

Daily cleaning:

Once the characteristics of the sofa that we will take into account at the time of cleaning are known, we must also consider that the care of our furniture is a task that must be performed regularly, such as the general cleaning of the home, and should include care such as the following:

Vacuuming and brushing:

A fabric sofa is usually the perfect magnet to attract dust, dirt, pet hair, and other waste that when accumulated between the cushions and on the surface they come to represent a difficult hygiene problem that in addition to causing allergy problems and bad odors that disturb the rest of the people, deteriorate the aesthetics of the upholstery and the furniture is opaque, unpleasant and unappealing; Therefore, the recommendation is to vacuum the entire piece of furniture every two weeks or at least once a month.

For vacuuming it is preferable to use a handheld vacuum cleaner with the appropriate upholstery head and with a gentle vacuum cycle, especially if the sofa fabric is delicate. We must also take care to vacuum very well in all parts of the furniture, including the back and preferably follow a crisscrossed movement to cover everything, not forgetting the folds and grooves between the cushions.

After vacuuming we can brush with a very soft bristle brush or a special one for fabrics, in this way we will prevent the surface from being crushed and remove any lint or peeling that has formed on the fabric.

Simple cleaning:

A superficial cleaning and with a frequency of at least once every two weeks can be done without removing the sofa, directly cleaning the fabrics on the furniture. To do this, simply use a mild detergent diluted in a little warm water, soak a clean cloth in the mixture, squeeze lightly so that the upholstery does not get too wet, and gently rub the entire surface making slight circular movements. Then rinse the cloth in clean water, squeeze and pass it all over the furniture again. Let the cushions dry very well then enjoy again our completely dry and clean sofa.

A deeper cleaning:

Although we regularly do a simple cleaning of the upholstery, it will also be advisable to perform a little more intense less frequently, at least once a month we can remove all the fabrics to sanitize them in the washing machine or do a hand wash. If our fabrics are very dirty, it will be appropriate to soak them for a few hours with mild soap and warm water, then place them in the washing machine in a cycle of delicate garments. It is not advisable to add bleach, softener or any very abrasive product. For drying It is important not to apply temperatures above 40 ° C or expose the fabrics directly to the sun, in any case, it is preferable to let dry in the shade outdoors.

Dry cleaning:

If it is not possible to unsheathe the fabrics of the sofa we can do what is known as a "dry cleaning", cleaning the fabrics directly on the furniture; For this, there are numerous commercial products of very good quality with which excellent results are obtained, among these the spray foams stand out, preferred by many people for their practicality and effectiveness, these foams contain active ingredients that achieve a good cleaning and help remove slight spots, just spray on the surface and leave for a few minutes and then pass a damp towel, the fabric will look a little wet but it will dry quickly to let us enjoy an impeccable sofa.

The magic of homemade tricks:

If you do not have the budget for special cleaning products like sofa, then you can do Sofa Cleaning at Home, then there are many very economical alternatives with ingredients that we usually have at home and with which you get a good toilet.

Alcohol:

For example, common alcohol can be placed in a spray bottle to spray the cloth and then pass a soft bristle brush and finally pass a clean cloth, we will notice that the dirt remains on the cloth and the alcohol evaporates quickly leaving a sanitized surface and nice.

Lemon juice:

Another alternative is to mix in a bowl with sprayer ½ cup of water, 1 glass of alcohol, ½ glass of lemon juice and 1 large spoon of liquid detergent or dishwasher, mix very well and spray by sections on the fabric, we will brush each part and bypassing a slightly damp cloth to remove dirt, we can distinguish between clean areas and those that have not yet been worked as we move forward, the difference is remarkable and the final result is great.

When to clean the stains:

To prevent our sofa from being shaved by those undesirable upholstery stains, the ideal is to act very quickly in case of any accidental spillage. When any substance falls on fabrics, the first thing to do is try to absorb it quickly with a clean, dry cloth, to prevent the tissue from penetrating. After that, we can act depending on the type of stain that we are going to treat, but always trying as a first option to simply clean with water and mild soap, or rub the area with a cloth dampened with alcohol or vinegar.