Safe Cleaning For Your Sofa
Sofa cleaning is not exactly a walk in the park. Sure, you can dust off some particles, vacuum the cushions, and wipe away the occasional spills, but more is needed to give your unit a deep clean. Those who choose to go the DIY route end up finding that they have bitten more than they can chew. There are lots of risks involved, and the potential savings that could be made are outweighed by the costs that come in case of damage to the unit, or the resources needed to repeat the process when unsatisfactory results are obtained. Here are some of the mistakes that people made during DIY sofa cleaning:
Using too much water
While water is taken to be the universal cleaning solvent, you can’t just go soaking the sofa in it. This is usually seen when the DIYer is attempting to flush out the soiling, but going overboard with the amount of water used can lead to more harm than good. For instance, you can have a case where the dyes that the upholstery fabric have been treated with get leached out. This colour bleeding causes your furniture to lose its charm, and it’s very difficult to reverse this – with most simply ending up replacing the upholstery material. There’s also the risk of increased drying time. This is more than just an inconvenience. Sure, the wet sofa means that your family members won’t be able to use it for days, but there’s a bigger danger that lies within the material. Spores that are in the unit will get an opportunity to grow into fungi, and you can end up with an all-out infestation in your space. Mould and mildew is that last thing you want growing in your elegant sofa. The fungi releases mores spores and mycotoxins into the room, reducing the indoor air quality, and putting the household members at risk. The fungi also cause different colours of stains to be formed in the furniture, which further compounds the problem. What’s more, the mould and mildew growing in the sofa will feed on the upholstery itself, reducing its structural integrity.
One of the measures that professional sofa cleaning team take is working with high-powered extraction gear, when the suction that is employed is so strong that it removes the bulk of the moisture from the upholstery. This furniture is left just slightly damp to the touch, and will have completely dried within a few hours. In many cases you can resume using the sofas in just three hours after it has been worked on. This is far more convenient compared to the days of drying time that it would take with the DIY route.
Note that there are upholstery materials where using water itself is also a risk. These range from linen sofas where the upholstery can shrink, to leather units wither the water causes there to be a breakdown in the bonds of the oils that were used to treat it, which can make it deteriorate faster. Working with a professional who knows the appropriate amount of water to use, and has been well equipped with the machinery needed to extract the moisture from the unit, will ensure that your furniture and household are protected.
The choice of cleaning chemical to use when working on the dirt spots and stains on the sofa is not an issue to be taken lightly. Here you can’t just grab the conventional laundry detergent, apply it on the upholstery and proceed to scrub away. When dealing with those stubborn stains, one can’t simply use popular DIY reagents like ammonia solutions or vinegar to remedy the situation. The type of material that is being worked on is key. From the natural fabric upholsteries, the synthetic units, to those dealing with aniline and semi-aniline leather sofas, you want to use a solution that will be tough on the dirt and grime, while being gentle of the upholstery itself. Working with potent cleaners that will break down the stain but proceed to corrode the sofa will be a setback, and will increase the damage to your unit. The risks can be avoided by hiring qualified sofa cleaning team for the task.
All-purpose cleaners that are effective when working on other surfaces around the household, bleach-based products that are renowned for their efficacy in getting rid of stubborn stains, to lemon solutions that can be quickly whipped up in the household – these can end up damaging the sensitive upholstery materials. The pH of the solution used is a key factor here, and the need to ensure that the cleaning agent ant the upholstery are compatible with each other.
What of the tools? Scrubbing your sofa with a tough-bristled brush is an attempt to dislodge that stubborn gunk that is caked onto the material can end up fraying the fibres, which is not how you want things playing out. The safety of the cleaner also matters. Cases where solutions used produce toxic fumes are a concern, to those where chemical residue is left hidden in the cushions, which will be a risk to the family members who will use the sofa later on.
Get The Expert Team To Work On Your Sofa
Don’t be hoodwinked by rock-bottom prices. Just like any other service you want to ensure that you’re getting value for your money with the sofa cleaning task. Going for the companies with the lowest rates puts you at risk of receiving sub-par services, and on the other hand you don’t want to overpay for services. Compare different prices from the local sofa cleaning companies to gauge the level that you should expect the services you hire to cost, and go further to look through past reviews and testimonials of persons who hired the firm to work on the furniture in their residence. Factors such as the reputation of the company, how many years it has been in operation, all through to the certification that their employees have received will enable you to determine how much value you should place in the firm, and the quality of services that you can expect from it.
