Be a Sofa Cleaning and Carpet Cleaning Pro in 5 Easy Steps
Carpet cleaning and shampoo and sofa cleaning and shampoo are chores that we don’t learn from school, not even from our parents (unless they are professional carpet cleaners).Most of us have these items in our homes and probably bought expensively. Naturally, we want them to last at least your lifetime. But as much as we want to, we can’t stop them from getting stained or dirtied (especially with little ones around), unless you cover them in plastic, or you are not totally using them at all. Even in storage they get dusty and sometimes even molds develop from them.
If you are in a situation of having to clean a sofa or carpet, or tasked to do so, and you are looking for pro-tips to clean them fast and easy, you have come to the right place. Check out our steps on how to clean sofas and carpets like a pro:
Need something cleaned?
1. Assess the condition
As they say, don’t go to battle without a plan. Don’t just dive in and scrub those sofa or carpet yet, instead, check out a few things first before going toe to toe with the upholstery:- What kind of fabric are you dealing with? (all sorts of fabric would need different care)
- Is it stained or just dusty?
- How long has it been on its current condition? Is it a new stain or dirt, or are they old?
- How thick or thin is the fabric already? Can it take a beating? Or it might get holes after?
2. Prepare your materials
Once you’ve assessed the condition of the sofa or carpet, you would know what you will be needing. This way, you can save on supplies, your time and effort in cleaning. So what materials do you need exactly? Depending on the condition:
IF it is just dusty, dry, no stains and the fabric is still thick:
- Dry, clean plastic brush
- Vacuum
- Kitchen towel/big toilet paper
- Rubbing Alcohol (Isoprophyl or Ethyl)
- Warm water (in a spray bottle)
- Vacuum
- Rubbing Alcohol (Isoprophyl or Ethyl)
- Warm water
- Dishwashing soap (liquid)
- Dishwashing Sponge
- Dipper (Tabo) or Pail/bucket
- Vacuum
3. Cleaning Process
Now that you have your materials ready, you can start cleaning it accordingly:
IF it is just dusty, dry, no stains and the fabric is still thick:
- Start off with loosening the dirt by using a dry plastic brush. Make long, gentle strokes according the fabric’s direction or how the “tufts” go. If it doesn’t have any, brush it still in just one direction. This way, you get to remove the dirt without damaging the fabric.
- Vacuum the sofa or carpet with the same direction as you did when brushing.
- Immediately blot the fresh stains or dirt with a kitchen towel or toilet paper. Just dab the towel/paper on it, avoiding the clean surrounding being stained.
- Put some rubbing alcohol on a clean kitchen towel or several pieces of toilet paper, and then place it on top of the stain. Make sure that the kitchen towel is not soaking wet. Let it stay there for 15 minutes and DO NOT rub the kitchen towel on the fabric to avoid smudging or scattering the stain. This will dissolve the remaining ink and oil based stains and dirt, at the same time, bringing them to the surface where the kitchen towel or toilet paper will absorb them.
- After the time is up, check if the stain has been completely removed. If there are still some more, repeat step 2 until totally cleaned.
- Spray some warm water on the area and then wipe it off to remove the excess alcohol on the fabric.
- Vacuum the area to remove excess water and then air dry or use the dryer function of your vacuum.
- Vacuum the sofa or carpet to loosen up and remove the dirt. Make long, gentle strokes according the fabric’s direction or how the “tufts” go.
- Combine 2 part dish washing liquid, 1 part rubbing alcohol and 5 parts water in a dipper or pail/bucket. Mix/shake it until you form suds.
- Using a sponge, take some of the sponge and scrub it on the stains/dirt. Make sure to use the soft part of the sponge and scrub it according to the direction of the tuft. Work on affected areas only, avoiding the clean parts. Do not use excessive force or scrubbing to protect the fabric.
- Repeat on other areas, or clean the whole sofa or carpet if necessary, to get an even color.
- Vacuum the area to remove excess water and then air dry or use the dryer function of your vacuum.
4. Post-cleaning assessment
After cleaning your sofa or carpet, you might want to check how things went. Are the stains completely removed after the process? Are the colors even? Are there any faded spots? You might need to redo the cleaning as some stains disappear when wet, and then reappear when they are dry already. You might need to check on pre-existing damages as well, some part that was already broken prior to cleaning, hiding in the dirt. You might need to do some stitching at some parts. This is an opportunity for you to know what other steps you can do to maintain your sofa or carpet.5. Maintenance
Now that you have your sofa or carpet cleaned, you would want to keep it that way as long as you can. The best way to maintain them is to have a routine quarterly or monthly sofa or carpet shampoo cleaning to recondition the fabric. Also make sure to clean any mess that may stain the material as soon as possible. Once it dries out, it will be harder to clean them. Vacuum it or brush it weekly to remove dusts and dirt.
Sofa Cleaning or carpet cleaning might be hard for a few, and expensive to some, given that you need a vacuum cleaner (and hopefully with a dryer function). But you can always hire a professional sofa cleaning or carpet cleaning service company to do the job at half the cost (not to mention, saves you time and energy!).