The sofa is a place for the whole family to relax. Sometimes a variety of contaminants appear on it. It can be crumbs, traces of coffee or tea. Children and pets can also leave different marks on fabric surfaces. The sofa loses its attractive appearance over time. It needs urgent cleaning.
You can remove stains and scuffs yourself at home. To do this, follow some simple tips. How to clean the sofa will be discussed next.
Varieties of stains
To determine how to clean a sofa at home, you need to consider possible types of pollution. In each case, you need to act in accordance with the situation.
It should be noted that even with careful use of furniture, it will still get dirty over time. Dust settles on the sofa, and odors in the apartment and dust that enters with air masses from the street accumulate in the tissues. Over time, the furniture loses its former gloss. She takes on a gray tint and becomes untidy.
Sebum, skin particles, hair remain on the surface of the furniture. If there are animals in the house, they will pollute the sofa much faster. Children also bring various things here, toys, which contributes to the gradual contamination of surfaces. Often there are stains on the sofa from food, drinks. There may be specific contamination, for example, traces of a pen, varnish, paint.
Recommendations from experts
To understand how to clean the sofa from dirt at home, you should use the advice of experts. They recommend regular cleaning of the furniture surface. No need to wait until the sofa turns gray. Regular cleaning will keep your furniture in good condition.
Before starting cleaning procedures, it is necessary to determine if there are any stains on the surface of the upholstery. If such pollution is present, their origin is established. It is advisable to remove stains immediately after they appear. Old traces of food, drinks, animal paws are much more difficult to remove.
For cleaning, use gentle products. You can use special purchased compositions. Many owners resort to the help of improvised means. Such substances are always in the house. With their help, it is easy to achieve a good effect during processing. You should also consider what material the sofa is upholstered with.
Regular cleaning
When learning how to clean a sofa at home, you need to start with the features of scheduled cleaning. This action is recommended to be carried out at least once a week. If you regularly eat while watching TV on the sofa, cleaningcarried out more often. Dust, hair and other small dirt must be removed from the upholstery.
You can use one of two methods when carrying out scheduled cleaning. In the first case, dust and other dry contaminants are easily removed with a vacuum cleaner. If there are no such household appliances in the house, try knocking out the upholstery. This is a more labor intensive process.
To knock out the dust accumulated over the week, you will need to take a clean cloth. It can be, for example, an old sheet. It must be lowered into the water, and then carefully squeezed out. The material should be slightly damp. Sheets cover the sofa. Then a plastic beater is tapped on the upholstery. Dust that will rise up from such actions will settle on wet material. It is necessary to perform several approaches, between which the fabric is rinsed, wrung out and laid out again on the sofa.
Using the vacuum cleaner
Housewives who use a vacuum cleaner at home have practically no questions about how to clean the sofa from dust. Progress does not stand still. Today, there are vacuum cleaners on sale that are able to qualitatively remove dust from furniture upholstery. They are easy to operate.
People who are allergic to dust are recommended to clean the apartment with a vacuum cleaner at least once a week. The sofa becomes a home for dust mites. Because of the products of their vital activity, an allergy appears. Vacuum cleaners are able to remove dirt without liftingclouds of dust in the air.
The set of such equipment includes several different nozzles. With their help, you can thoroughly vacuum not only flat surfaces, but also hard-to-reach folds and crevices. Regular use of the vacuum cleaner allows you to keep the sofa clean for a long time.
Fat spots
Even with regular cleaning, there may be a situation when the upholstery needs to be cleaned urgently. This happens when some liquid is poured on the sofa or food is dropped. Cleaning a sofa at home from stains is easy if you know a simple technology.
It is extremely important to remove grease stains from upholstery as soon as they appear. Otherwise, it will become more difficult to eliminate it after complete drying. You need to prepare ordinary chalk. It must not contain dyes. Only white bars are suitable. Chalk needs to be crushed into crumbs. This powder is sprinkled on the place of contamination and left on the stain for several minutes. The substance absorbs and retains fat. Dry brush chalk sweep. If necessary, repeat the procedure again.
Ordinary kitchen s alt absorbs fat well. It, like chalk, is scattered on top of the stain. S alt should cover the contamination with a thick layer. After 10-15 minutes, brush it off with a brush. From the first time, you can achieve excellent results if the pollution is small. If there is a large stain, the procedure is repeated. S alt also absorbs liquid. This is a great tool for dealing with various pollutants.
How to remove blood stains?
Fast andIt is possible to effectively clean the sofa from stains at home only if the product is selected in accordance with the type of pollution. It happens that the upholstery is contaminated with hard-to-remove substances. Such is the blood. If trouble occurs, you should immediately take a small cloth and wet it with cold water. It covers the stain. The blood cannot be washed completely if hot water is used for cleaning.
After 5-7 minutes, remove the napkin from the surface of the sofa. The upholstery in this place is blotted with a paper towel. Such actions are performed several times. The procedure is carried out until the stain disappears. You can’t rub it, otherwise it will increase in diameter, stains will appear.
If the blood has frozen on the upholstery, use a saline solution. It is kneaded in a glass of water at room temperature. Add one tablespoon of s alt to the liquid. Soak a cloth in this solution. It is applied to the stain for a few minutes. Then the wet surface should be blotted with a dry cloth. It is strictly forbidden to use ammonia for cleaning. This compound will stain upholstery.
Other types of pollution
You can clean the sofa at home from dirt in other simple ways. It is extremely important to consider the type of upholstery. It can be fabric, leather or eco-leather. So, traces of a ballpoint pen from any type of surface will help remove alcohol. It is necessary to moisten a cotton pad with it, gently attach it to the upholstery. If you start rubbing it, stains will appear. Therefore, this procedure is performed carefully. Cotton wool is often changed by wetting it again and again with alcohol.
Difficult to remove juice stains and fresh fruits. For such contamination, alcohol is used. The cleaning technology is the same as in the case of removing strips from a ballpoint pen.
Traces of coffee, tea are easily removed with soap. You will need to prepare a small bowl of warm water. Leave a small piece of soap in it. It should soften, dissolve in water. After that, a tissue napkin is moistened in the solution. It treats the stain. Then, with a damp cloth dipped in clean water, remove traces of soap.
You need to do these things quickly. If the soapy solution is not immediately removed from the surface, streaks will form. After that, the fabric is dried with a paper towel.
Cleaning a leather sofa
Considering how to clean the sofa from dirt, it is necessary to consider the features of actions in the presence of leather upholstery. This is a porous material. It quickly becomes covered with a layer of dirt, losing its spectacular gloss. Large particles of dirt can scratch its surface. In this case, the texture becomes rough.
To keep the spectacular look of a leather sofa, it must be regularly cleaned of various contaminants. First of all, dust is removed from the surface (you can use a vacuum cleaner). Next, wipe the surface with a damp cloth.
When the upholstery is cleaned, it must be treated with a special protective cream. It maybe Vaseline or regular face cream. The surface is rubbed with this composition. With a paper towel, excess that the upholstery cannot absorb must be removed. This will avoid the appearance of oily sheen. Sofa looks chic for a long time.
Cleaning fabric upholstery
How to clean the sofa yet? Pay attention to the subtleties of cleaning fabric upholstery. In case of incorrect actions during cleaning, the material may lose its attractive appearance. It has stains and scuffs. Fabric upholstery does not like moisture. If it penetrates into the deeper layers, it will lead to premature wear of the filler.
Moisture-impregnated upholstery and filler fibers become a good environment for the development of fungus and bacteria. They will cause an unpleasant odor, the appearance of dark spots. Therefore, when cleaning such sofas, it is important not to let them get wet. If juice, tea, water or other liquids are accidentally spilled on the sofa, they must be immediately removed from the surface with napkins.
General recommendations
Experts advise protecting the upholstery of the sofa with additional bedspreads. This will significantly extend their service life. If there are animals in the house, purchase furniture made from special fabrics. In this case, claw marks will not remain on the surface of the upholstery.
Having considered how to clean the sofa, everyone will be able to remove various dirt from the surface of the upholstery in a timely and correct manner.
