Upholstered furniture is an important element in everyone’s living room and bedroom. Because of its different variations, colours, designs, patterns, fabric, and textures, it can add a touch of elegance and sophistication according to the interior design of the room.
However, with time, it is bound to experience normal wear and tear because of dust, spills, and other dirt. Its appearance can be damaged if it is kept dirty. On the other hand, once it is thoroughly cleaned, it will return to its previous glory and continue to enhance the visual appearance of your room.
Because upholstered furniture can differ widely depending on various factors, the process of cleaning it also varies. In this article, we will describe the importance of why upholstery cleaning is very important and what you can do to clean it thoroughly.
We will also describe the benefits of hiring professional upholstery and sofa cleaning services and what you can expect from them. Lastly, we will briefly describe the things you should look for in a sofa cleaning service before choosing them for the job.
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Is Upholstery Cleaning Worth it?
Many people may ask this question when it comes to maintaining upholstered furniture. While occasional vacuuming or wiping down your upholstered furniture seems enough, giving your upholstery a deep clean can actually provide you with a multitude of benefits that will make the whole process worth it.
Importance of Upholstery Cleaning
Apart from the apparent dust and dirt on the upholstered furniture, you would be amazed at how dirty and unhealthy upholstery can become with use over time. It becomes home to bacteria, dead skin, dust, dirt, and mould spores.
Cleaning the upholstery, therefore, becomes an important task. The reasons why you should regularly get your upholstery cleaned are discussed below:
Better Appearance
One of the most important reasons for cleaning your upholstery is for a better appearance. With time, the upholstery becomes stained and dusted, which negatively affects its appearance.
If you have kids or pets at home, that increases the chances of the upholstery getting spoiled frequently. So cleaning them regularly ensures better appearance for not only the furniture but also for the complete room.
Upholstery cleaning is usually done with window cleaning. Here is a list of professional window cleaners in Singapore.
Ensures Long Life For The Furniture
When the upholstery is not cleaned, it can become the cause for mould and fungus growth which can, in turn, affect the life of the furniture. Apart from that, any greasy or oily spills will also damage the furniture. When cleaned thoroughly, it ensures a long life for the furniture as well.
Good Air Quality
When you sit on a dirty sofa, it releases dust, dirt, allergens, mould, spores, and bacteria into the air. This reduces the air quality in your home, which can be especially troublesome for people with allergies or respiratory problems.
When you thoroughly clean a sofa, you ensure that all the allergens and bacteria are removed, resulting in better air quality for your home.
Better Health For All
When the sofas are clean from all kinds of dirt, mould, bacteria, mildew, and fungus, it results in better air quality for everyone to breathe in. This means better health for everyone who breathes this healthy air.
Removes Bad Odours
The negative visual appearance of dirty upholstery is also accompanied by bad odors which can be a huge turn off for anyone who visits your home. Such odour can sometimes only be removed by odour removal professionals.
Cleaning the upholstery regularly ensures that these bad odours are kept at bay and may even be replaced with refreshing odours.
Saves You Money
When you regularly clean your upholstery, you save on the money which you otherwise would have to spend in replacing or repairing the damage caused by dirt and mould buildup. Therefore, by spending some amount on upholstery cleaning, you save more money in the long run.
Helpful read: Home Cleaning Cost Guide In Singapore
How Often should Upholstered Furniture be Cleaned?
Generally, professional upholstery cleaning should take place around once or twice every two years so that your upholstered furniture can receive some deep cleaning. In the case where you realise that your upholstered furniture has a distinctly musty smell, or if it is often damaged by your pets and children, you may want to increase the frequency of the cleanings.
In addition, how often should your upholstered furniture be cleaned does depend on other factors? For instance, if your upholstered furniture is arranged in a room that is often used by your family members, it can accumulate dust and dirt and become dirtier more quickly. In this scenario, you may also want to get your upholstered furniture cleaned more often.
However, when it comes to more surface-level cleaning, such as vacuuming, it is ideal to clean your upholstered furniture once every week. Surface cleaning can boost the lifespan of your upholstered furniture drastically and is an essential step to take before deep cleaning comes into play.
How to do Upholstery Cleaning Yourself
If you want your upholstery cleaned, you can either do it yourself or hire professionals to carry out this task.
If you plan on doing it yourself, there are some basic equipment and supplies which you would need. These are listed below:
- Clean clothes
- Stiff and soft bristles brush according to the type of fabric
- Bicarbonate soda
- Antibacterial fabric spray
- Stain and odour removal spray
- Vacuum cleaner
- Sponge
- Handheld fabric steamer (optional)
- Portable cleaner (optional)
Whether or not you have all the accessories mentioned above, there are ways you can clean your upholstery with minimum supplies also. All these methods are discussed below:
If you do not have any sophisticated equipment to clean your sofas, you can use simple detergent and a washcloth to clean it.
- First, dust the sofa to remove any visible dust and dirt.
- Then wipe the sofa with a clean damp cloth.
- For the tough stains on the fabric, use a stain removing product or baking soda and apply it on the stain and leave it for a few minutes. Then take a soft bristles brush and scrub the stain lightly to remove it.
- Then using a cleaning or detergent solution, use a brush to scrub the entire sofa lightly to remove all kinds of stains and dirt.
- Follow this by using a damp sponge and pat the sofa with it to remove all excess water.
- Using the odour removal spray and a deodoriser, apply it over the whole sofa to remove bad odours and replace them with refreshing odours.
- Then using a vacuum cleaner or blower, you can dry the sofa from all the excess moisture.
- If possible, place the sofa in direct sunlight so that it dries thoroughly.
- If you have sophisticated equipment like a fabric steamer or a portable sofa cleaner, you can use them for even better and effective cleaning.
What is the best way to clean an upholstered Chair/Sofa?
As discussed above, it is entirely possible to conduct upholstery cleaning on our own. Things to note is such that we got to prepare the necessary cleaning equipment beforehand. Simple cleaning supplies are such as Dish soap, Microfiber cloths, hydrogen peroxide and steam cleaner (optional). One of the most efficient ways to clean an upholstered chair is as below;
- Fill a large bowl with hot water and add a few drops of dish soap. (NOTE: It is more important to use HOT water if you are not using a steam cleaner) Wet down the microfiber cloth and wet the entire area (for example a whole chair), giving it a quick scrub.
- Next, use hydrogen peroxide and spray it throughout any heavily soiled areas or stains. Leave it as such for at least 10 minutes. This method has been proven safe on several different fabrics, but it is cautious to always spot check on the fabric that you are using.
- Next, steam clean! Use a microfiber cloth (preferably) or a scrub brush to wipe over the entire chair or sofa. Run the steam cleaner over the fabric until all the areas of the chair are covered. Spend extra time on the heavily soiled areas and scrub as needed using either the scrub brush or the microfiber cloth.
If you do not have a steam cleaner, you will need to exert a little more effort and give the chair a good scrub with the microfiber cloth and water/dish soap mixture. If stains remain, try to repeat the above steps once more.
Hiring Professional Upholstery Cleaning: What To Expect?
While doing the upholstery cleaning as a DIY project may seem like an easy task to you, it comes with its challenges, and you do not want something to go wrong during the process which could cost you a lot of money in the event of the furniture getting damaged.
So a good idea is to hire professional upholstery cleaners who will carry out the process with professionalism and effectiveness.
When you hire a professional home cleaning service in Singapore, you can expect the following types of services from them.
- They will reach your doorstep with all their equipment and supplies and carry out the cleaning process at your home or office.
- First, they will read the instructions label about the sofa and other upholstery to determine what kind of cleaning supplies can be used for cleaning them.
- Then they will consult with you whether an overall cleaning is required or only some specific spots are to be cleaned.
- Depending on what type of cleaning you want, initial treatment will be carried out which will loosen all the dirt and soil in the upholstery.
- After the stubborn stains and heavily soiled areas have been treated, an overall deep cleaning will be carried out. This is usually done through steam cleaning using their specialised equipment and tools.
- The furniture may then be put in direct sunlight for drying or may be placed where it was. The drying process will be completed in about a couple of hours after which it will be ready to be used.
Benefits Of Hiring Professional Sofa Cleaning Services
There are many advantages of hiring a professional sofa cleaning service for your upholstery, some of which are listed below:
Professional Service
When you hire a professional upholstery cleaner, you can expect professionalism from them. They will be on time, will carry out the cleaning process effectively, will not take more time than what was agreed upon, and will use all the right tools and supplies. You will not have to worry about anything, and you can just relax and be assured that your upholstery will be cleaned in the best possible way.
Experience
Professional cleaners have years of experience in carrying out their jobs. So they know exactly which tools and methods to use based on the different types of fabric and furniture so that there is no damage to any product during the cleaning process. They will utilise their expertise to provide you with the best possible services.
Equipped with necessary cleaning supplies
Professional sofa cleaners have all the required tools and supplies needed to clean the sofa thoroughly. From different kinds of cleaning solutions to steamers and other supplies, they will carry out the job in a way which would not be possible if you do it yourself.
Saves Your Time And Energy
One of the biggest advantages of hiring professional upholstery service is that it saves you the time as well as energy which you would have used otherwise in cleaning it yourself. Besides, they are professionals, and they can do the job in much less time and effort, so you save on your time as well as energy.
Saves You Money In The Long Run
When you hire a professional sofa cleaner, you may think that you are spending a lot of money on the cleaning process.
However, spending this money is still worthwhile otherwise your furniture will continue to deteriorate with the dirt and grime, and you will have to spend an even more amount on its repair or in buying a new one. Therefore, if you consider in the long run, it helps you save money.
Safer Cleaning Practices
The professional cleaning experts use all the standard and safer cleaning practices like using non-hazardous cleaning supplies that are environmentally friendly. So you know for sure that the whole process will be safe and healthy for all.
License And Insurance
The professional cleaning services are licensed and insured, so you can have peace of mind that they will compensate for any damage if incurred during the cleaning process.
How To Select The Right Upholstery Cleaning Professional
When you have decided that you want to hire a professional upholstery cleaner, you will come across various companies that claim to do a good job. However, you should select the one which meets certain criteria.
These are further described below:
- Always check their reputation and the years they have been in the business. A good and reliable company has multiple positive customer reviews and testimonials, which can give you an idea about its reliability and customer service.
- Check to see their pricing and how it compares with their competitors. You do not want to be ripped off while at the same time, do not want to hire a cheap company that will do a poor job.
- Check to see if they have a license and are insured. This will be another testimonial of their reliability that they will compensate you for your losses in case of any damage. Check for any kind of hidden charges such as transportation charges, cleaning supplies charges, or any other extra cost.
- Check the type of cleaning and supplies and equipment which they choose to ensure that they do not use any kind of chemicals or hazardous elements.
Upholstery Service Cost
When you consider the various sofa cleaning services in Singapore, you will come across different companies that offer different packages and deals for upholstery cleaning.
The prices can vary depending on the type of company, their popularity, and the different variations in the types of furniture. On average, you can expect the following costs of sofa cleaning in Singapore:
- 1 seater: $40 to $80
- 2 seater: $80 to $160
- 3 seater $120 to $240
- 4-5 seater or an L shaped sofa: $200 to $320
- Ottoman: $30 to $60
- Dining chair: $15 to $35
- Office chair: $10 to $25
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