Stain Removal Tips And Advice For Upholstery
10 September 2014
Upholstery is bound to get a little grubby overtime, no matter how much effort we put into maintaining the appearance of our furnishings at home, sometimes it is still unavoidable.It is not always possible for us to replace an old sofa for a brand new one; sofas certainly do not come cheap. For landlords who rent out fully furnished accommodation it’s certainly not the cost effective approach to take, therefore there has to be other ways and methods that are more affordable for people to take.Thankfully there are things that you can do at home and it doesn’t have to cost the earth to do it.Let’s explore our options.Slight surface stains.Most sofas will get the slight surface stain even when they are given the best possible care, the good things is, these stains are not that difficult to address.Surface stains are generally a stain that affect the out layer of the fabric and is not soaked and settled deep within, general cleaning methods using ordinary upholstery shampoo is usually all that is required to help remove these stains and it doesn’t take much effort to achieve successful results.The key to tackling these stains is to address the problem as soon as an accident strikes. Blot away excess moisture and apply the upholstery cleaner straight away.Settled, stubborn and hard to shift stains!Usually stains that have been left to settle deep into the fabric and which have never been cleaned properly usually make it much more difficult. Settle stains become stubborn stains and although a clean can reduce the look of these unsightly stains, the results are not going to be as dramatic as it would have been had the problem been addressed intermittently.To tackle these stains will require an element of patience, allow the fabric cleaner to soak through for at least 30 minutes prior to cleaning and apply more cleaner if need be. You may need to use an abrasive tool such as a soft bristle brush to work the cleaner into the stain and to help lift it to the surface.Once an area is thoroughly cleaned, rinsed and excess moisture is blotted away, allow it to dry out completely before assessing the results, the sofa may appear a little grubby until thoroughly dry as damp fabric will appear a shade darker. If you are still not happy with the results at the end you can always repeat the process until a desired look is achieved.What to use?Ordinary upholstery shampoo is effective and can offer satisfactory results; depending on the original condition this may be excellent or fair.For a quick fix and when nothing else is available, try making up a solution using general laundry powder and water. This can offer impressive results as a temporary measure and is better used than nothing at all when an accidental spillage occurs and you want to address it immediately.Steam cleaning is an effective way of upholstery cleaning, not everybody has access to one but some people swear by this method so much so they actually invest in these fabulous cleaning devices. It can be very cost effective in the long run and they do exactly what they say on the tin.However if you want that steam cleaned look but do not want to buy a steam cleaner you can still get a sofa steam cleaned professionally. Professional upholstery cleaners offer various methods for cleaning sofas but the steam cleaning method is growing in popularity due to how incredibly easy and effective it is, also the drying time is reduced, which is always an added bonus!
