New Techniques In Furniture Cleaning Allow For Faster Drying

The next step, fiber identification, is the part where you really need to be experienced because your fiber type will dictate if your cleaning solution is going to be alkaline or acid-based. In many cases, the furniture tag will give a description of the material composition. If you can't find the tag and you're unsure of the fiber type then a quick burn test will suffice.  In this case, a small fiber clipped from underneath the furniture will work. A trained technician will know what he is dealing with based on the odor from the smoke.

Once you know what the fiber type is then you'll know what solution to use to clean the furniture. The pH scale plays a very simple role in the process. Natural fibers should be cleaned on the acid side and synthetic fibers get the best results with an alkaline cleaner. The inexperienced technician should just stay with synthetic-based fibers if they do not understand the pH scale (this is most common). To keep it simple, we'll focus on synthetic fibers here. Don't forget to test for colorfastness so that you don't end up with a bleeder!

The easiest way to remove dry soil is to vacuum.  With any fabric, including carpets, it's always easiest to remove the dirt before it gets wet and turns to mud. Many homeowners, and especially businesses, rarely vacuum their upholstery. Let's face it; it's just not on the priority list. Yes, you will have the exception but in most cases, this is what I see in the field every day so pre-vacuuming is mandatory.

Pre-conditioning is the next step. When employing the wet cleaning method, you want to take advantage of a pre-conditioner. The pre-conditioner when allowed to dwell properly, will yield a superior result compared to no pre-treatment. Dwell time is part of the cleaning pie which consists of Heat, Chemical, Time, and Agitation. If you take away or reduce, a piece of the pie, you must increase one of the others. 

After five to ten minutes of dwell time, the soil is now suspended and it's time for extraction. This is another one of those critical steps that will make the rookie fear all furniture and make the pro stand out. I just love it when the client tells me that the last guy they had said the furniture wasn't cleanable. In my profession, you can't force anyone to do anything or you won't be in business for long but this is clearly an opportunity. If the piece has some sentimental value to it and it could benefit from a good cleaning, then, by all means, offer to do a test area on it. 

The extraction process is also very critical because this is where many pieces get ruined. With today's powerful machines, the pressure coming out of the tool must not be too high. I've seen material just spit because of the high pressure, a large volume of H20, and high heat. This is very common in a heavily soiled area where the material has oxidized (weakened) and the technician overworks it. The other common error is over wetting the fabric to the point where it takes 24 hours or more to dry. You will definitely have a sour mold odor and your client won't think much of you.

Now that you have removed the dust from the upholstered furniture, you now will need to actually clean the item. To do this, you need to use a cleaning solution of upholstery shampoo with warm water. You want to use upholstery shampoo instead of laundry detergent or dish detergent because some detergents have very harsh cleaning agents that will affect the color and appearance of your furniture. Thus, always test the solution on a small piece of the back- or underside of the item. Most upholstery shampoos are safe with most pieces of upholstered furniture. If your solution does affect the upholstery, then you may have to have the item professionally cleaned. This is common for antique pieces of upholstered furniture.

You will now want to rub the detergent solution into the fabric. You can use a washcloth or an old piece of clothing or fabric. In time, you will see dirt appear. Once you see dirt, you will want to scrape this away. The best way to do this is to scrape the dirt and the suds into another container. This way, you can be sure to scrape away all of the dirt. Once an area no longer has dirt coming up, be sure to rinse the fabric with a different damp cloth and begin work on another piece of the furniture.