Risks That Come With DIY Sofa Cleaning
Homemade cleaners and DIY jobs are all the rage right now- especially with the numerous videos and blogs done on how to take care of the chores. From the desire to pick up a skill or two, save some bucks, and even challenge yourself, DIYers are quite upbeat about it. While this is usually not an issue for other items and surfaces, when it comes to the sofa, there is plenty of room to go wrong. In fact, the common result is the DIY enthusiast calling it quits midway, and dialling up the professionals to come in and rectify the situation. Sometimes the sofa cleaning will simply need to be redone with high-powered machinery, in other cases it may be already too late due to permanent damage being made to the furniture. It’s an intricate balancing act, involving everything from the type of upholstery being attended to, the sofa covers and the material type of the fibres themselves, the finish treatments that were used on it and the dyes applied, to the additional materials like the metallic and wooden sections. The type of stain being removed and the level of soiling also come into the picture.
- The cleaners used
Just because a specific solution was effective in getting rid of the food and drink stains on the dinner table or kitchen countertop, doesn’t mean that it can be used when cleaning the sofa. First, the difference in the materials, with there being natural and synthetic fabric sofas, plus the various leather alternatives, means that they require their unique cleaning products. Applying harsh cleaners can corrode the fibres of the sofa, putting its structural integrity at risk. There are those which will even cause the stains to get more ingrained into the upholstery, worsening the situation. The effectiveness of the formulation also comes into focus. The homemade cleaners usually rely on simpler compositions. For instance, the DIYer may have prepared a solution containing an acid like vinegar for dissolving the hard water stains on surfaces, but it won’t have the surfactants or builders that are required when dealing with oily soils. When the same product is used on the gunk that is on the sofa, most of the work done is actually mechanical, with all that elbow grease being required for the scrubbing. You may even end up using increasingly abrasive scrubbing tools in order to get things clean, causing wear and tear to the upholstery. The recipes are also unstable. For instance, mixing vinegar and baking soda results in a product that doesn’t last for long after being prepared.
Quality sofa cleaning formulations are prepared using complex chemistry, including the surfactants to make the dirt and oil to mix in water, the chelating agents used when trapping the minerals that come in the water supply to prevent them from affecting the soap’s chemistry, the builders which help in emulsification, to solvents that are designed to dissolve specific soiling, oxidizers that deal with the colour aspect of the dirt, and preservatives which prevent the formulation from degrading before usage. These elements are further selected based on the specific cleaning requirements of the particular sofa being attended to. After all, there are elements that can react with the upholstery, bleach out the dye, or ruin the finish treatments that had been applied. You don’t need to burden yourself with all this. Simply let the professional sofa cleaning team take care of the task, to protect your unit and ensure you get professional results each time.
- User mistakes
There can also be blunders made in the process of the sofa cleaning. One common one is using too much water. Firstly, just because water is referred to as the “universal cleaning solvent” does not mean that it will automatically be appropriate for your sofa. There are some fabrics where the material will shrink and you end up with wrinkled upholstery, and for some like leather sofas, the imbalance that will be caused by the increased moisture levels will put the structural integrity of the unit at risk. Then there is the case of prolonged drying times. These can be occasioned by simply having a sofa that is too soggy, or the machinery used for the wet vacuuming did not have enough suction power. Throughout the time that the sofa will remain wet, it will be out of commission, making it an inconvenience in your home. You don’t want to be unable to use your living room furniture for days. That disrupts your own personal comfort. What’s more, with the sofa being wet for too long, then fungi gets a chance to develop. Mould and mildew growths on your set are a health risk due to the spores they produce- with some fungal species even releasing mycotoxins into the indoor air space.
- Chemical residue
The DIY sofa cleaning process can result in traces of cleaning agents being left behind. These can form stains themselves, making the next cleaning process more cumbersome, Excessive residue is also a dirt magnet, trapping more soiling within the sofa, which increases the frequency of the cleaning operations that will need to be carried out.
Quality services at affordable prices
You want to give your furniture a thorough wash without breaking the bank. We hear you. Our sofa cleaning services have been priced affordably, taking into account factors that are particular to your home or business needs. These are the likes of the type and size of sofas that you have to be cleaned, the level of soiling involved and those situations where there are particularly troublesome stains that you want to be removed, such as pet urine stains, all through to cases of restoration after water damage. There are no hidden charges, and you will receive the entire cost breakdown beforehand. Our personnel will arrive at your premises at the agreed-upon time, and get to the task. They will carry themselves with industry standards of professionalism, and are also a friendly lot. Any questions that you have about the sofa cleaning process, and the measures being carried out, will be answered, ensuring that you are well versed every step of the way.
