How to make a solution for cleaning upholstered furniture. How to clean upholstered furniture at home and return it to a fresh look?

Every home has fabric-upholstered furniture. No matter how you care for it, over time the question arises of how to clean upholstered furniture at home. You can, of course, contact special services that deal with such maintenance and cleaning, but dry cleaning can be quite expensive. And it is not a fact that the result will be satisfactory, while cheap upholstery material may suffer from such an impact.

1

You need to start cleaning upholstered furniture with your own hands by getting rid of dust. At first glance, dry cleaning is simple, but there are some nuances.

Do-it-yourself cleaning of upholstered furniture

First, you should try just going over the upholstery with a vacuum cleaner. If you thoroughly vacuum all the folds and surfaces using different attachments, you can quite successfully get rid of the dust that has been absorbed into the furniture material for many months.

Sometimes this method is not enough. To get rid of dust in upholstered furniture, if it is not possible to take it outside, you need to use a blanket or sheet. To do this, the desired item should be wet. Cover the surface to be treated with it and carefully walk over it with a beater. Accuracy is very important, because a strong enough impact can damage the upholstery, seams and filling material. If there is increased dust, this method must be repeated.

2

Do-it-yourself cleaning of upholstered furniture can be done without the use of special powders and gels. Often, such products can cause allergies, be expensive, or simply not fit the upholstery.

The first replacement for such products is ordinary soap solution. It is made from laundry or liquid soap. The main thing is that the result is high foam, which is used for cleaning. Why foam? Because it contains greatest number cleaning components than in liquid.

3

Cleaning furniture at home often involves getting rid of stains rather than washing the entire piece. It is important to know how to clean various types of dirt.

If wine is spilled on a sofa or armchair, there is no need to panic. Immediately after the drink gets on the fabric, you need to cover the problem area with salt and wait a little. Salt tends to absorb liquid, and its prompt use will not allow this liquid to be absorbed into the upholstery. After drying, you should simply wipe the treated area with an alcohol solution or regular vodka.

Ways to remove dirty stains from a sofa

Wax or paraffin stains, new or old, can be easily removed with a hot iron and a paper towel. To do this, you just need to iron the dirt through a napkin. If necessary, the procedure should be repeated.

If you drop chewing gum on your sofa, you should use a piece of ice. Sticky gum is wiped or covered with an ice cube, and after freezing, scraped off with a knife or any other hard object.

Cleaning Tough Stains from Home Furniture

If there are children in the house, one day the question will definitely arise about how to clean upholstered furniture from stains of berries and fruits. The answer is quite simple: you need to use ammonia and vinegar mixed in equal proportions. Apply this product to the stains, let it sit for 10 minutes, and then clean water wash off excess cleaning product. Upon completion, the surface of the furniture is vacuumed, having first placed gauze soaked in water on the nozzle.

If you need to know how to clean coffee stains, vinegar and dishwashing gel can help. These components are mixed with a small amount of water and allowed to brew. Dry cleaning using such a solution is carried out by applying the finished liquid to the stain. Then wait about half an hour, wipe the problem area with a toothbrush or the hard side of a foam sponge. The remaining product is washed off with water and allowed to dry. If white traces from the soapy part of the solution remain on the surface, remove them with a vacuum cleaner.

Any household dry cleaning method is great for any fabric, but it is still recommended to apply a small amount of the product to an invisible area before use to check.

Every housewife regularly cleans her apartment, cleans contaminated surfaces, and wipes off dust. The furniture in the home also needs to be cleaned. If you don't know how to properly clean furniture at home, read this article.

Polished furniture

Polished furniture looks presentable and beautiful. In order for it to maintain its attractive appearance for as long as possible, it must be looked after regularly. Cleaning polished furniture from dirt and stains is not easy. Do not use scouring powders or other abrasives as this may leave scratches on the surface. Let's list some ways you can clean furniture at home.

Removing dust and fingerprints:

Mix 1 part antistatic agent, 1 part shampoo and 8 parts water. Soak a cloth or flannel cloth in the solution, wring it out, and wipe the surface.
Pour wine vinegar and olive oil into a container in equal proportions. Mix thoroughly. Soak a soft cloth in the solution. Polish the surface until it shines.
Apply a little burdock oil to a piece of cotton wool. Wrap the cotton wool in cotton cloth. Wipe the furniture with it. Then use a piece of flannel to polish the surface.
Heat the beer (200 ml). Throw a piece of wax into it and bring to a boil. Once the mixture has cooled, pour it onto the polished surface. Wipe the furniture with a woolen or cloth rag.
Squeeze out the used tea leaves. Wrap it in cotton cloth. Wipe the polished surface with this parcel. Then polish with a flannel cloth.
Mix 2 parts linseed oil, 1 part vinegar, 2 parts turpentine. Soak a cotton pad in the mixture and wipe it on the previously cleaned polished surface.

Removing stains:

Soak a cotton pad in vegetable oil. Gently rub it over stains on the surface. Use a damp cloth to remove the oil. Wipe the furniture with a dry cloth.
Wrap some salt in a thin cotton cloth. Soak the “knot” in vegetable oil. Work the stain in a circular motion. Use a piece of flannel to polish the surface.
Heat table vinegar 9%. Dip a cotton pad into it and wipe the stain. Dry the area. Polish with clear shoe polish or wax.
Soak a piece of soft skin in the cabbage brine. Wipe stains with it. Then wipe the area with a dry cloth and polish with flannel.

Wax stain can be removed in the following way. Dip the knife into boiling water. Using the blunt end of a knife, carefully remove the wax from the polished surface. Then soak a soft rag in gasoline and wipe the wax mark with it. Polish the surface with flannel.

Ink stain removed with beer. Heat up some intoxicating drink. Soak a cotton pad in it and wipe the ink stain. Leave the beer to dry on the surface. Lubricate the area with wax and polish with a piece of woolen cloth.

Cushioned furniture

It is quite difficult to remove stains and dirt from sofas and armchairs at home, but it is quite possible. Next we will tell you how to do this:

Wrap the vacuum cleaner nozzle with gauze soaked in a saline solution (1 tablespoon of rock salt per 1 liter of water). This will help to better clean the soft surface and renew its color.
You cannot clean upholstered velor furniture with a vacuum cleaner. This will ruin the lint on the fabric.
Dilute 1 tsp in a liter of water. vinegar and 2 tsp. salt. Soak a piece of cotton cloth in this solution. Unscrew the fabric and spread it over the surface of the upholstered furniture. Take a beater in your hands and “walk” it over the fabric. When the fabric becomes dirty, rinse it under running water, soak it in the solution, and repeat the procedure again. You need to beat until the fabric remains clean.
Dissolve a small piece of soap in water. Soak a cotton cloth in soapy water and wipe the upholstered furniture with it. When cleaning, all movements should be in the same direction.

You can also use household chemicals sold in stores to clean upholstered furniture. They are applied to the furniture and, after drying, removed with a vacuum cleaner. Before using a new stain remover, test it on an inconspicuous small area of upholstery. This will help prevent any unpleasant surprises. Do not mix different chemicals for cleaning furniture, as this may cause chemical reaction, which will ruin the surface of the furniture. Experts in cleaning upholstered furniture recommend using the second product no earlier than 2-3 hours after the first has dried.

Features of cleaning upholstered furniture, depending on the type of surface:

Furniture made of leather or leatherette. To clean a contaminated surface, you can use special chemicals, or you can use folk recipe. Whisk the egg white and rub it on your skin. This will help hide the surface scuffs and return it to its former shine. You can also use egg white instead of homemade milk. Stains from felt-tip pens and pens can be removed using ethyl alcohol or tape. Wine stains can be wiped off with a regular alcohol wipe.
Velor furniture. This surface is cleaned with a microfiber cloth. The fabric is soaked in a solution of vinegar (1 tsp of vinegar per 1 liter of water) or a soap solution. Movements with the rag should be without pressure and in one direction, so as not to spoil the pile. Animal hair and fluff are removed from the velor surface using a soft brush or vacuum cleaner.
Nubuck and suede surface. Dust and light stains are removed using a soft suede brush. To get rid of grease stains, use a soft eraser, salt or a 10% alcohol solution.
Tapestry surface. This type of upholstery can only be cleaned with a vacuum cleaner. Otherwise, the surface may quickly wear out or change color.

If you are unable to clean the furniture yourself at home using the recommendations suggested above, you will have to contact a specialized company. Its specialists will chemically clean the furniture surface at home.

Alina Borisova Author of the website “Moem-clean.ru”

It is difficult to imagine a living space without upholstered furniture. The sofa and armchairs are symbols of home comfort and family warmth. Due to active use, upholstered furniture easily becomes dirty, which creates additional difficulties when cleaning.

Not all housewives know how to clean upholstered furniture at home. There are several secrets that help make caring for her easier.

General rules

Before using any cleaning product, test a small amount on an inconspicuous area of the furniture.

If after drying there are no traces left on the surface, then you can safely clean all the upholstery.

During cleaning, it is advisable to gradually increase the concentration of the cleaning agent, starting with minimal doses. It is not recommended to mix different kinds detergents or use them to clean the same stain.

Many people prefer to clean sofa upholstery with a vacuum cleaner. Unfortunately, there is little point in such cleaning, and velor and velvet upholstery can be easily damaged in this way.

There is a more effective and gentle way to clean the surface of upholstered furniture. To do this, you need to prepare a special solution consisting of a liter of water and two tablespoons of salt and vinegar.

A thick sheet or towel must be soaked in the resulting solution and spread on the surface of a chair or sofa. After this, the furniture should be carefully treated with a carpet beater.

As the sheet becomes dirty, rinse it again in a vinegar-salt solution.

Another way to clean upholstered furniture from dirt at home is to wipe the stained areas with a cloth soaked in a warm soapy solution. It is very important to rub the solution in the direction against the pile.

If there is a possibility of damage by cleaning appearance upholstery, it is better to entrust furniture cleaning to cleaning specialists.

How to make care easier

Decide most Problems with cleaning upholstered furniture will be helped by using a removable cover.

So, to clean the surface of the sofa, you just need to remove the cover and put it in the wash. You can wash it either in a machine on a delicate cycle or by hand.

At this time, the surface of the furniture can be vacuumed with special attachments.

The washed cover should not be completely dry; it should be pulled slightly damp onto the surface of the furniture and left until completely dry.

The most difficult problem is how to clean upholstered furniture at home from smell. You can eliminate the unpleasant odor emanating from furniture using special carpet cleaners.

There are dry granular odor absorbers, cleaning solutions and fragrance sprays. You can also try wiping furniture with a solution of fabric softener.

Various upholstery

The easiest way to care for furniture upholstered in linen or cotton fabric. You can give them a fresh look using a washing vacuum cleaner with special attachments.

The silk surface of the sofa is the worst to clean. You can remove dust and dirt from such furniture using a soft clothes brush, previously wrapped in a white cotton napkin.

Only dry cleaning can handle more complex stains.

Under no circumstances should you wet clean upholstered furniture covered with viscose. All types of dirt should be removed only with a dry clothes brush.

There are a lot of ways to clean upholstered furniture made of flock or velor at home. You can keep these sofas and armchairs clean using a sponge, clothes brush or vacuum cleaner.

The best time to remove stains is when they are still fresh. A microfiber cloth soaked in soapy water will help remove grease stains. After cleaning, the wet area must be blotted with a cotton napkin.

(wine, coffee or tea) should be thoroughly blotted with a paper towel and only then washed.

Or you can use cosmetics using alcohol diluted in water (4 tablespoons per glass of water). The sponge must be moistened in the resulting solution and treated the stain in a circular motion, moving from the outer edges to the center.

Furniture covered with suede or nubuck is cleaned using a clothes brush or vacuum cleaner. After cleaning, shiny areas of the upholstery should be treated with a brush with rubber bristles.

It is strictly forbidden to use cleaning products based on petroleum products to clean nubuck or suede upholstery - this can easily damage it.

Leather furniture

It is extremely easy to care for leather furniture. There are many ways to clean upholstered furniture at home using folk remedies.

Since furniture upholstered in leather does not accumulate a lot of dust, it is enough to wipe the sofa or chair with a flannel cloth soaked in detergents or water.

To add shine to leather furniture, you can wipe its surface with milk or beaten egg white. Afterwards, clean the surface of the furniture with a damp cloth.

To make it easier to care for upholstered furniture, it is necessary to pay attention to the material and color of the upholstery even at the stage of choosing a sofa or armchair. A special case made of thick fabric will help simplify the situation.

At home it is not much more difficult than clothes. The composition of the fabrics in both cases is the same, and the nature of the upholstery’s contamination is often lighter than that of outerwear. Therefore, the cleaning products are the same, and the differences are only in the features of the process.

Features of professional dry cleaning

On the main page of any cleaning company, the main advantages are indicated: the experience of the staff, the use of professional detergents and equipment.

But the average housewife is no less experienced in dealing with dirt, plus an interest in a good result and careful attitude to personal property.

Household cleaning products differ from professional ones only in concentration and the order of preparation for use. Otherwise, the active substances are the same, with similar “specialization” and order of use. The main thing is to correctly determine the composition upholstery fabric and choose the right product for a specific type of contamination.

Professional equipment for dry cleaning furniture at home is an extractor vacuum cleaner, which can easily be replaced by manual cleaning using improvised household appliances. Moreover, the extractor method is just one of three types dry cleaning of furniture at home. The second is wet cleaning using detergents, and the third is foam cleaning, and both methods are easy to reproduce at home.

Zinner cycle

Before we describe cleaning furniture, we will talk about the Zinner cycle.

In the late 50s of the last century, chemical technologist Dr. Zinner, who worked at Henkel, formulated the principles of effective cleaning. He linked together four factors that together provide effective surface cleaning: Chemical properties detergent, exposure, temperature and mechanical stress. And the essence of his theory is that a decrease in the impact of one factor should be compensated by an increase in another. So schematically it looks like this:

Any housewife intuitively knows the practical application of this principle. In our case, for upholstery, this means that if the fabric cannot be exposed to high temperatures, then the intensity of the mechanical effect must be increased. Or if the tissue is “delicate” and is afraid of “friction”, then increasing the concentration or exposure time will help detergent.

Furniture preparation

Before cleaning, the furniture must be moved away from the walls, the floor must be dry and wet cleaned (there will definitely be dust and debris under the sofa), and plastic film must be laid around the perimeter so that drops of detergent do not fall on the floor covering.

Then you need to prepare the upholstery for cleaning - remove dust, hair, and pet hair. A regular vacuum cleaner will do for this, but you can enhance the effect by covering the upholstery with a damp cloth and walking over it with a regular carpet beater.

Dry cleaning

Cleaning companies usually do not practice this type of cleaning, but at the household level, when carpets and upholstery are lightly soiled, it is used.

For example, there are dry cleaning powders Dyson Zorb or Bork V1 Duo Powder.

The essence of the cleaning technology is as follows:

using a brush, spread the powder over the surface;
withstand certain time, during which the active substances of the powder “bind” dirt and grease stains;
remove dirty powder with a regular (non-washing!) vacuum cleaner.

Selection of detergents

There are quite a lot of detergents available for regular cleaning of general stains. Most of them belong to universal type and are suitable for most types of fabrics - the only difference is in the release form and method of application.

If the area and degree of contamination are small, then aerosol cans or compact containers (usually 0.5 l) with a manual sprayer (spray) are considered the most convenient to use.

For larger volumes, more “economical” types of packaging with the same properties of detergents are produced - gels (concentrates) and powders. They require preliminary preparation for manual use - dilution in a certain amount of water. And for the “mechanized” method (for a washing vacuum cleaner), their own types of concentrates are produced, the method of laying which is determined by the manufacturer of this type of equipment.

Important! Before using any product for the first time, it must be tested in an inconspicuous place to determine the color fastness of the upholstery.

Foam cleaning

This type of cleaning to some extent refers to the “dry” method, so it is used when the upholstery is slightly dirty. And it is considered this way due to the fact that the foam is applied to a dry surface.

It is for this method that aerosols and sprays are produced, although there are also concentrates that require dilution in water until foam forms.

Mode of application:

spray the product or apply foam to the surface;
rub it into the upholstery with a brush or napkin (depending on the type of fabric);
maintain the time specified in the instructions;
treat the surface with a regular vacuum cleaner;
rinse the upholstery with water;
repeat the procedure if necessary;
leave to dry naturally.

Extractor method at home

If you have a washing vacuum cleaner, then cleaning the upholstery will not be difficult. Its operating principle is the same as that of professional extractor vacuum cleaners for dry cleaning of upholstered furniture and carpets, but the difficulty is only in selecting a detergent.

There are no less effective way cleaning furniture, but this requires a steam generator.

Advice! If you don't have a steam generator, we recommend purchasing one. A clothes steamer with a container, a hose and a stainless steel nozzle costs from 3,000 rubles. A steam generator for the home with a container and a nozzle on a hose in the form of an iron starts from 4,000 rubles. They perfectly iron items made from delicate fabrics and are indispensable for ironing outerwear with a complex cut.

The procedure for cleaning upholstered furniture with a steamer looks like this:

bring the steam generator into working condition;
treat the prepared surface with hot steam;
apply detergent (foam, emulsion, liquid solution) and rub it in with a brush or cloth;
give time for the remedy to work;
remove most of the detergent and dirt with a regular vacuum cleaner;
wash off the remaining detergent using napkins and changing the water as it becomes dirty;
dry the upholstery at room temperature;
If streaks appear, wash them again with warm water.

In conclusion, if in addition to general contamination there are local stains (oil, ink, juice, sauce, etc.), then stain removers are needed to remove them. And it's better not to use folk remedies, which may include alcohol (ethyl or ammonia), acetic or citric acid, turpentine, refined gasoline and even kerosene - since the appearance of these recipes, both the composition of upholstery fabrics and the nature of the dyes have changed. And such compositions themselves can leave a stain. There are many modern means of organic origin based on surfactants that are gentle on new materials.

Upholstered furniture in the house does not perform decorative functions at all: they sit on it, lie on it, and if there are children in the house, they also jump and play: raising naughty dolls and bears or testing cars. It is not surprising that it gets dirty, even if it is non-staining and even under a blanket. Few people can afford to buy new furniture every time the old one gets dirty. And even changing the upholstery is not a quick or cheap task. In order for armchairs and sofas to last longer and maintain an excellent appearance, they need to be periodically put in order, and for this there is no need to take them somewhere or call specialists: you can clean upholstered furniture at home. If the furniture is light, this should be done more often, but dark furniture also needs to be washed at least once every few months.

Vacuuming
A vacuum cleaner is one of the most common and popular ways to tidy up chairs and sofas: after all, it’s not so difficult to “walk” through upholstered furniture while removing dust from carpets. However, this method is not very effective: it is completely unsuitable for removing stains and dirt, and a vacuum cleaner can completely ruin the velor upholstery.

To make cleaning with a vacuum cleaner better, you can attach gauze to its nozzle, soaked in a solution of salt and vinegar, and then wrung out. This way, not only will the furniture become cleaner, but also dull paints will become brighter.

Wet cleaning
If the furniture has more serious dirt, you can clean it soap suds. In order not to spoil the upholstery, you need to act carefully and follow certain rules. The scheme of work is extremely simple:

Foam a cap of detergent in water (it is better to choose special products for cleaning upholstered furniture and act according to the instructions, but in the absence of such, you can even use regular shampoo).
Apply foam with a sponge to contaminated areas of furniture and rub them vigorously with a soft clothes brush.
Carefully remove any remaining foam with a dry sponge.
Apply foam to the entire surface of the furniture (this is necessary so that there are no lighter spots or streaks left). There is no need to rub the entire surface of the furniture with a brush; just remove the soft foam foam sponge, and then wash the sponge and wipe the surface again so that no foam remains.
If the room is warm enough (midsummer or excellent heating in winter), hygiene procedures for sofas can be completed. If the house is cool and damp, it is better to take a vacuum cleaner in your hand and remove excess moisture to avoid rotting.

From what?..
The cleaning method used will also depend on the upholstery material. Experts who work with furniture recommend:

Suede or nubuck should only be cleaned with a special suede brush. The methods described above are not suitable here.
Leather and leatherette are very easy to clean. But this material “does not like” excess moisture, so you can clean leather furniture by wiping it with a damp cloth. It’s even better to use special leather cleaning products and a special napkin for this; all this is sold in household chemical stores.
Velor and flock must first be cleaned of dust with a dry cloth, and then applied with a very weak soap solution. This should only be done in the direction of the pile. Complete cleaning by blotting the furniture upholstery with a dry towel.

To avoid having to clean furniture too often, you should take care to prevent stains: choose darker furniture, especially if there are children or pets in the house. If you already have light-colored furniture, bedspreads, capes or specially sewn covers will help out - washing all this will be much easier than cleaning upholstered furniture.