Can you clean upholstery with a steam cleaner safely without damage?

Can you clean upholstery with a steam cleaner safely without damage?

Steam cleaners are useful for hundreds of cleaning applications in both the home and workplace environments. If you need to clean delicate upholstery items, fabric furniture or even sanitise your mattress, your steam cleaner can be the most useful cleaning tool you'll ever use to complete these tasks in an effective and efficient way.

Steam cleaning not only removes embedded stains and dirt, it also sanitises surfaces as well as removing allergens. On top of this, the treatment can also kills bacteria, mould, bedbugs, viruses, dust mites and most other pathogens!

"Important - before you begin any treatment on upholstery, vacuum it fully using a soft brush attachment that won't damage the furniture, and be sure to vacuum every nook and cranny. Check the suitability of any vacuum attachment before using"

Green Fox Cleaning accredited trainer

Pre-treat any obvious stains

After vacuuming the upholstery carefully, you want to tackle any obvious stains with a pre-treatment. Use an upholstery spot cleaner, and check the instructions for contact time (the amount of time it needs to be left on for to be effective).

After you have allowed sufficient contact time, blot the area carefully with a clean soft cloth, which should help lift the stain with the product.

Precondition the upholstery fabric

A main benefit of steam cleaning for the user is the ability to get out ground in dust and dirt. A good pre-treatment product will help loosen therse makrs before you being the steam treatment.

Again, spray this on the fabric and allow contact time as advised on the bottle. With a very soft brush, gently rub this over all the upholstery, making sure you are rubbing the shampoo into the actual fabric to be effective.

Use the steam cleaner

It is now the time to clean upholstery with a steam cleaner. Quantities of water and product added to machines vary depending on the machine you have, so follow the directions based on the make and model that you have.

Always follow manufacturer's instructions for the correct usage of the steam cleaner, as all will vary slightly.

To use the steam cleaner, you add water and cleaner to the machine.. Normally, you will remove a container from the steam cleaner and fill it with warm water and upholstery cleaner. Make sure you don't fill it too full, as otherwise it could overflow and pour out on the upholstery.

Leave the furniture to dry

Once you have steam cleaned all of the fabric upholstery, you will need to leave the furniture to dry. You can leave this to occur naturally, with windows open to speed the process. Other options could include using a hair dryer on a lowe setting or a fan to speed up the process.

Got a lingering stain?

After you clean upholstery with a steam cleaner, it is possible you may have the odd stain lingering.

Either white distilled vinegar or even vodka will make short work of stubborn stains. Blot the stain with either on a cloth which you have soaked with the liquid. Once they dry, the smell of either will go.

In summary

We hope you have found this article on how to clean upholstery with a steam cleaner useful. Following the tips above, the process should be simple and stress free for you, whether in the home or work environment.

Green Fox Cleaning are a commercial cleaning company that operate in all sectors, serving businesses of all size. Click here to learn more about how we can help improve the appearance of your business with ours.

Clean upholstery with a steam cleaner