How to clean the sofa upholstery at home?

A soft sofa with light fabric or leather upholstery is a bold decision: such furniture will decorate the house, in return requiring attention and care. Cleaning from stains and stains at home is a laborious, but doable business. Knowing the safety precautions and safe cleaning agents, you can keep the sofa in good condition for a long time, while saving on dry cleaning and buying expensive stain removers.

Can I clean the sofa myself

Once clean, new and tidy, and now inaccurate with divorce upholstery, you can at home. To do this, you can use a special stain remover for upholstered furniture. Many housewives do this: having planted a stain of tea or coffee, they panic to the nearest supermarket for an expensive and aggressive chemical. This is not necessary for a number of reasons.

Firstly, if the stain is fresh, it is not so difficult to wipe it off. Such an improvised means as ordinary baking soda will cope with the task. Secondly, chemical products can damage upholstered furniture. If dirty spots can be removed by gentle methods, then upholstered with chemistry upholstery can no longer return to its original form. Thirdly, products with an aggressive composition are unsafe for children and pets.

Prevention

Why are there stains? Moisture, even in small quantities, getting on the surface of the upholstery, dries, leaving imperceptible traces. If you do not remove dust from the sofa, then the stains will become more apparent, and the white sofa will get a dirty shade.

To avoid difficulties with cleaning and to avoid calling cleaning services, follow the preventive rules:

1. Clean the dust periodically with a vacuum cleaner. Use narrow nozzles to get to each speck of dust in the creases between the back and the seat of the sofa. An un dusty sofa is easier to wash, less dirty stains will form during cleaning, and the appearance of the furniture will be neat and clean.
2. You can knock out dust from the sofa in the following way: wet the sheet, cover it with furniture and slap it. Knocking out dust eliminates the appearance of dust mites in the furniture that cause allergies.
3. Wear special covers on the sofa. They are easy to remove and wash separately. Using different covers, you can update the interior or create the illusion of new furniture. The cover is also useful in that it does not allow spilled liquid to soak into the upholstery of the sofa, taking part of it onto itself.
4. Some housewives cover the sofas with bedspreads or rugs for protective purposes.
5. Be careful in operation: do not place food and drinks on an open surface, use stands. You should be especially careful with highly coloring products: vegetable and fruit juices, wine, etc.

When to clean the sofa

Stains can occur even if you use the furniture very carefully. Sooner or later, traces of sebum will be found on it. Dust from the open window and from the clothes of the owners constantly settles on the surface of the sofas. If furniture owners like to eat comfortably on a sofa, stains from drinks and food are inevitable. And if there is a feast, and guests are seated on the sofa due to a lack of chairs, then be sure to wait for stains from salads, juices and desserts, because in the festive bustle no one cares about the cleanliness of the sofa.If the house has a child with advanced artistic abilities, then your furniture may suffer because of the young artist: traces of paint, felt-tip pens, pens, plasticine will often have to be washed.

As soon as you notice a stain, you must immediately proceed to remove it. The longer you pull, the harder it will be to remove the pollution. Old spots are rarely amenable, especially on such an uncomfortable item as a sofa. It is recommended to vacuum or exhaust furniture at least once every six months, and preferably once a month or more often.

Cleaning rules

Before you clean your sofa, study the properties of its upholstery. Textiles have their own characteristics, like leather with suede. The type of material depends on how you will remove stains from the sofa and remove stains. And for each pollution there is a method, because some spots can be easily removed with a tool that will aggravate the situation in another case.

1. Suede, plush, velvet - fabrics that are cleaned in a dry way.
2. Leather surfaces can be wiped with a damp cloth.
3. Before cleaning, test the product in an inconspicuous area of ​​the upholstery. If the fabric does not fade, then you can use the tool.
4. When cleaning, the direction of movement should be from the edge of the spot to its center so that the dirt does not creep away.
5. Cleaning is done in the direction of the fabric fibers.
6. Keep the cleaning agent on the cloth for no more than half an hour.
7. Shaggy types of upholstery should be more thoroughly and often cleaned of dust, as it is more attracted to such a fabric due to static electricity.

Ways to get rid of food stains

Tea and coffee are the most popular spots. It’s better to start removing them right away. Old coffee traces are almost impossible to remove. To wash the sofa, prepare a solution: 1 liter of water + 2 tbsp. vinegar + 2-3 drops of detergent. Moisten a rag in the solution and wipe the stain, then remove the remaining liquid with a dry rag.

How to clean oily stains? The most budgetary way is salt. Just sprinkle it on the stain and leave it. It absorbs fat, and it remains only to vacuum the surface of the furniture. In order for salt to better absorb a greasy trace, you can gently rub it with gentle movements. If necessary, salt can be replaced with a new one. If the method does not help, mix the salt with soap shavings, add a little water and wipe the sofa with the mixture applied to the brush. A dishwashing detergent may also help - however, remember that plenty of water will harm upholstered furniture.

The stain of fruit and vegetable juice clings tightly to the fabric. The drink contains organic dyes that are not so easy to remove. However, you can do without special stain removers if you "take the bull by the horns." Immediately after getting juice on the sofa, prepare a mixture of ammonia and vinegar (in equal proportions). Apply the product on a stain, wait until it disappears, then wipe with a cloth dampened with clean water. Dry the upholstery with a hairdryer. The method is suitable for removing stains from baby puree, ketchup, berries.

Wine stains can also be removed at home yourself. Quickly blot the stain of the drink with a napkin so that it does not creep away. Then sprinkle with salt so that it absorbs excess moisture. After 10-15 minutes, wipe the stain with a cloth soaked in alcohol. To avoid stains, after half an hour, wipe the place of contamination with soap and water.

How to remove a stain from chocolate, condensed milk, jam? There is no rush here. First, wait until the sticky product dries, then carefully peel the crust from the fabric. Wipe the remaining stain with soapy water.

The chewing gum is easy to remove by putting a piece of ice wrapped in a bag in place of contamination. When chewing gum freezes, it can easily be separated without damaging the surface.

Paints, Inks and Other Contaminants

If you wrote with a ballpoint pen and inadvertently led her on the sofa, do not be discouraged! First, try to wipe such a stain with an eraser.If that doesn’t help, try wetting the cotton pad with nail polish remover and gently wipe the mark from the handle. It’s easy to remove ink from the fabric upholstery, but there will be problems with the leather sofa. Better entrust the cleaning of such a product to a special service.

Paints are a joy for a young artist and a problem for his parents. It's not only the cost, but also the complexity of removing stains from furniture. Acrylic paints are cleaned with a special solvent with a pungent odor. If the stain is small, try rubbing a little butter in it, then wipe thoroughly with a soapy solution.

Important
purity.bigbadmole.com/en/ magazine warns: you need to immediately clean the sofa from watercolors! Do not wait for the stain to dry. Old watercolor stains are almost impossible to deduce. Watercolor is well cleaned with laundry soap. Wipe the stain with a bar of soap, then with a damp cloth.

Gouache is also well washed with soap. However, it is easier to remove from synthetic fabric than from natural. Wipe a fresh stain with soapy water, and scrape off the old stain.

Tip
DO NOT use hot water, it only fixes the coloring pigment of gouache.

The greasy stains appearing from the old age of the furniture can be easily removed from the leather surfaces simply by running a soapy rag over them. With fabric surfaces, the situation is more complicated. Tapestry upholstery can be cleaned with soapy water. Put it on a dirty place, leave it for 15 minutes, then carefully remove it with a clean wet cloth. To clean fabrics with fleecy surfaces, use a dishwashing sponge.

Traces of cosmetics are eliminated with a solution of alcohol: for 0.5 cups of water - 2 tbsp. alcohol. Do not wash blood stains with hot water. The affected surface can be rubbed with laundry soap or shampoo, and then gently rinse with cold water. Traces of animal activity can be removed with the help of products sold at the pet store. Such products will effectively remove stains and relieve odors from furniture; it absorbs soda smell from improvised products, and detergents based on it are slightly worse.

Of particular note is a leather product. If the spots on the dark surface are not so noticeable, and it is easy to remove them, then the white leather sofa needs special care. To maintain whiteness, periodically wipe the sofa with cow's milk. In cases of contamination of such upholstery, give preference to special stain removers or cleaning services.

Get rid of the smell

A completely clean sofa can smell bad. The easiest way to eliminate odors is to ventilate the room where the furniture is located. If the smell does not disappear, try using cat litter for the toilet. Just sprinkle the balls on the surface of the furniture. After half an hour, remove the filler and vacuum the sofa. If the odor is full, try cleaning the sofa with lemon juice or fabric softener. In a pinch, dry cleaning will help you out.

Now you know how to clean the sofa from stains at home. If folk methods did not work, do not despair. In hardware stores there are always funds to solve your problem!