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Upholstery Upholstery Care | Spot Removal | Fabric Protectors | Selecting Upholstery Fabrics Fabrics and Indoor Air Quality Upholstery Care Upholstered furniture should be vacuumed routinely to remove loose debris from the fibers. Where possible, cushions and pillows should be turned over on a routine basis to even out wear on seating surfaces. Spots and Spills Spots should be removed as soon as they are visible to prevent permanent staining. See section on Spot Removal. Cleaning Codes Fabric manufacturers are responsible for testing the fabric they produce for colorfastness. They are tested in either water or solvent or both. It is important for you to know the cleaning code when you purchase furniture so you will know how to remove spots without removing color. If the fabric is rated S for solvent and water is used to remove a spill, color loss may occur and the manufacturer will decline to accept any responsibility for it. Professional Cleaning The fabric should be professionally cleaned to remove dead skin, dust mites, and other contaminants that cannot be removed by vacuuming. Frequency will depend on lifestyle. Appearance may not indicate a need for cleaning because I have cleaned fabric that did not look soiled but when I emptied the rinse water, it was black. If you haven't had the fabric on furniture you use daily cleaned in a year or more, it's probably time to have it cleaned. Most professional cleaners offer wet cleaning for upholstery fabrics. Few offer dry cleaning (solvent cleaning) because dry cleaning is more expensive and does not clean as effectively as the wet method. back to top Spot Removal What is the difference between a Spot and a Stain? Spots are removable and stains are permanent. What are spots? A soluble residue left on fibers causes spots. They are soluble in either water or solvent. Is the fabric colorfast? Most carpets are colorfast in either water or solvent. However, it is necessary to know whether carpet or upholstered fabric is colorfast in the presence of the spot cleaner you intend to use. If you attempt to remove a spot with water from a non-colorfast fabric, you will remove color. Therefore, you should test any cleaning product you intend to use on carpet or upholstery in an inconspicuous area. If any color transfers to the cloth or towel you applied it with, the material is not colorfast. Observe the test area after it has dried completely. Look for color loss and bleeding of one color into another. If none of these conditions are observed, it is probably safe to use the spot cleaning product. Which spotting product should I use? There are many spot cleaning products on the market. How do you choose? My personal observation is that many of them leave soil attracting residue unless the treated area is rinsed well after spot removal. Some contain so much optical brightner that it appears the treated area has been mildly bleached. My personal recommendation for removing water soluble spots is Club Soda. The carbonation in the Club Soda releases the spot for absorption into a terry cloth or paper towel and leaves no residue. Its cost effective and it works. However, once the fizz is gone, it is no longer effective. How should I remove spots? This procedure applies to any spill no matter whether it is water or solvent soluble. Start by removing any bulk material with a spatula or spoon. With a white terry cloth or paper towel, blot as much of the excess from the carpet or fabric as possible. After testing for colorfastness, proceed as follows unless the fabric is not colorfast in water. If this is the case, proceed to Solvent soluble spots. Water soluble spots If you don't know what caused the spot, start here. Food, beverage, urine, and similar spots that are water soluble should be dampened thoroughly with Club Soda. Using white terry cloth or paper towel, blot the area until no more liquid transfers to the towel. If the spot is still visible, apply more Club Soda and blot again. This technique can be repeated until no more of the material transfers to the absorbent towel. This technique can be used on dried spots as well. Just allow a minute or two after wetting the affected area with Club Soda for the spot to be dissolved before blotting. If these techniques do not remove the spot, it may be solvent soluble. Follow the directions below for Solvent soluble spots. As a last step, place multiple layers of towels over the spot and place a heavy object on top of it overnight to absorb any liquid that remains. Solvent soluble spots For spots such as shoe polish, ink, grease, oil, tar, etc. a solvent may be required to remove the spot. There are a number of solvents commercially available for consumer use, but the one most readily available is Ronson cigarette lighter fluid (not to be confused with butane gas). It contains naphtha and is completely evaporative. NEVER APPLY SOLVENT DIRECTLY TO CARPET OR UPHOLSTERED FABRIC AND ALWAYS USE IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA AWAY FROM ANY SOURCE THAT COULD IGNITE THE SOLVENT! Apply a small amount of solvent to an absorbent towel and gently wipe the spot from the outer margin toward the center of the spot. Do not scrub as you may abrade the fibers causing permanent damage. Apply solvent to another clean area on the absorbent towel and continue wiping. Continue this process until the spot is no longer visible or there is no transfer of the spot to the absorbent towel. Any solvent residue on the fiber will evaporate rapidly. If the spot remains after using either these procedures it is probably permanent. However, there are a number of specialty spotting products available to professional carpet cleaners which may be capable of removing the spot. Call me for advice at 919-369-5560. back to top Fabric Protectors What Does Fabric Protector Do? This is one of the most frequently asked questions I encounter when I ask a client if they want to protect their carpet or upholstery. The most frequent comment is "Well I had my carpet protected last time and they still got dirty." What are they? Fabric protectors contain chemicals that bond to fibers and repel liquids and soil, much like wax on an automobile or the Teflon on a frying pan or pot. They are applied by spraying liquid protector onto the carpet or fabric. Once the protector dries, it provides an invisible barrier to soil and liquid. Some protectors contain dye blockers that prevent dyes, such as the red dye in fruit beverages, from bonding immediately to the surface of the fiber. Will they keep fabrics clean? Protectors will NOT prevent carpet or upholstered fabrics from becoming soiled just as wax will not prevent an automobile from getting dirty if you drive down a dusty road or in the rain. Protectors allow you time to remove potentially staining materials before they become permanent. However, you must take immediate action to remove the material or it may leave a permanent stain. Usually, if the material is removed within 5 minutes, no permanent staining will occur. What benefit do they provide? Most spots on carpet or fabric are the result of a liquid spill of some kind. If the liquid contains dyes such as tannin in tea or food coloring, the spot will be visible immediately. If the spill is a clear liquid such as apple juice, you may not notice it immediately. The sugar left behind when the moisture evaporates will attract microscopic particles of soil until a spot becomes visible. Protectors allow soil to be more easily removed from the fibers since there is a chemical barrier between the soil and the fiber. How long do they last? Protectors get worn away over time due to traffic and need to be reapplied periodically to maintain the soil repellant characteristics of the fiber. With no wear, they last indefinitely. Do they work on all fabrics? Protectors provide a benefit on synthetic fibers. However, they do not perform well on cotton or linen fibers because these fibers have a hollow core with a permeable mebrane. Dyes can penetrate to the core of the fiber, even in the presence of protector, and cause a permanent stain. back to top Selecting Upholstery Fabrics Most people go furniture shopping armed with emotions. Eye appeal is the number one motivation to make a purchase. Often, the sales person will capitalize on your emotion and you won't discover that you made a bad choice until much later when you cannot return or exchange your purchase. For example, you may see a beautiful sofa that you just have to have. The sales person is happy to sell it to you and offers an extra cost fabric protector and warranty to protect your purchase from permanent staining. You make the purchase and have it delivered to your den. Initially, you establish rules to protect the sofa such as no eating or drinking near the sofa. Six months later, you have a child. Two weeks after it comes home, you're sitting on the sofa with your baby and it spits up on the arm of the sofa. You get a paper towel and wipe the spit up off the arm. To your horror, you discover that you now have a "white" spot on the arm where you wiped it. You know that the fabric has an "S" or solvent rating and that you cannot use water to clean it. So, you decide to contact the fabric warranty company about the problem. They send a technician out to attempt to remove the spot. He immediately identifies the problem as "color loss." In other words, color has been removed from the fabric by the saliva. He asks for your warranty papers and points out the exclusion of color loss from your warranty. You thought you were covered but you weren't. So you call the store where your purchase was made and explain your situation to see if they can help. After contacting the manufacturer, they call you back and inform you that the manufacturer said that when you bought the optional fabric protection and warranty, the manufacturer's warranty became null and void. The solution to your problem at this point is in the hands of the company that sold you the sofa. They may or may not be willing to replace it. If they won't, your only option is to pursue your legal right and that will probably cost more that replacing the sofa. So, how can you avoid situations such as this? By informing yourself about fabrics and using the information to verify that you will be able to live with your emotional decision. Fabric Materials Upholstery fabrics are made from either natural fibers, such as cotton, linen and wool, or manmade materials such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic. Natural fibers tend to have a softer feel to them than the synthetics. All materials can provide good wear characteristics. The endurance of a fabric is closely related to the thickness and weave of the fabric. Loosely woven fabric will show wear more quickly than tightly woven fabric. False suede, velveteen, and sculptured finishes also show wear more quickly. A tight smooth weave will provide maximum durability. Cleaning Codes Assigned by Manufacturer Color is applied to either fibers or finished fabric by using dye. Color which is printed on fabric, such as floral designs, is much more likely to be non colorfast because it is not usually "set" by exposure to high temperature. Fibers which are dyed first and then woven into fabric are the most colorfast. The industry has adopted a system for identifying colorfastness. Fabrics which are rated "W" have been tested and proven colorfast in the presence of water. Fabrics which are rated "S" have been tested and proven colorfast in solvent. Some fabrics are rated "WS" which means they were tested in both solvent and water. Purchasing a fabric rated "S" can be risky. If a drop of moisture gets on the fabric and you blot it out, color loss may occur. Also, the fabric cannot be cleaned with a water based cleaner, solvent must be used. Solvent does not clean upholstery fabrics as well as water and solvent cleaning also costs about 40% more than wet cleaning. Most cleaners don't offer solvent cleaning because it does not provide good results and is expensive. I recommend that you only purchase fabrics which are rated "W" or "WS". Cotton is Unique All of the fibers used in making upholstery fabrics are solid with the exception of cotton and linen. On solid manmade fibers such as nylon, polyester, and acrylic, soil and staining materials remain on the surface of the fibers making it more likely that the soil and stain can be removed. Cotton on the other hand, is a hollow fiber. Think of a straw that has a hollow core. A cotton fiber looks much the same under magnification. However, unlike the straw, the walls of the cotton fiber are permeable which means that microscopic particles can pass through the walls into the hollow core of the fiber. You may have seen socks or T-shirts which have been soiled by our red clay. If you have, you know that you can wash them and bleach them repeatedly without remove the red stain. That's because the red pigment was small enough to penetrate to the hollow core of the fiber. No fabric protector known at this time will prevent cotton from staining. Obviously, I do not recommend purchasing furniture covered with cotton fabric nor synthetics which are blended with cotton for every day use. They may be okay in a living room that is never used but they are hard to live with on a daily basis. Optional Fabric Protectors & Warranties Many furniture dealers offer fabric protectors with extended stain warranties. Some have time limits such as 2, 3, or 4 years while others are "lifetime." I provide service for some of these companies and can tell you that they honor their obligations with no hassle most of the time. I have seen cases where entire pieces of furniture were replaced because of a small permanent stain on an arm. When you have a problem, they will either send you a stain removal kit with instructions or send a service tech to attempt to remedy the problem. If the stain can't be removed, they will attempt to remedy the problem in the most cost effective manner. For instance, they may replace a cushion cover that has been permanently stained and continue your warranty. Often, if an entire piece is replaced, they will not sell you a warranty on the replacement. back to top Fabrics and Indoor Air Quality Why is indoor air quality worse today? With the advent of the oil crises of the mid 70s, our national focus shifted to saving energy. All sectors of our economy began to look for ways to make products more energy efficient. Automakers scrambled to make smaller and more efficient cars. Heating and air conditioning manufacturers began developing more energy efficient units as did appliance manufacturers. The home building industry began to get aggressive. Building codes were focused on energy efficiency and both residential and commercial construction incorporated more efficient insulation, windows, and techniques to keep indoor air in and outdoor air out. As the standards rose, less and less air exchange between indoors and outdoors was allowed. As a result, indoor air became more stagnant. Problems which had not been experienced before began to appear. One of the first of these is known as "filtration lines" on carpet. What are "filtration lines" on carpet? Filtration results from airborne particulate soil rising to the ceiling due to the natural physics of warm air rising. When the warm air reaches the ceiling, it spreads to the walls which are cooler. As the air cools, it falls along the cool wall until it contacts the carpet at the baseboard. The carpet actually filters the air along the edge and, over time, turns dark gray. The groove formed by the carpet being tucked over the tack strip and under the baseboard is not touched by most vacuums and the cycle continues until the gray appears. Filtration usually occurs in upstairs areas or in stair wells, especially along outside walls. By the time the gray is visible, it is difficult if not impossible to remove due to the complex mixture of components involved. Oils from cooking become airborne and soot from gas hot water heaters, fireplaces, and leaking heat exchangers combine with microscopic particulate soil suspended in the air to form these complex compounds. Do fabrics act as filters? In order to try to contain these contaminants, manufacturers developed more efficient filters for heating and cooling systems. However, the soils mentioned above are too small to be captured effectively and, therefore, they remain suspended in the air until they settle or are trapped. Another source of contamination is us. We are constantly loosing skin cells which provide food for dust mites. These bugs are microscopic is size and thrive on dead skin cells. They are present in any environment where people exist and cannot be exterminated. However, populations can be reduced by removing the food supply. Many people are allergic to dust mite feces and some must resort to extreme measures to protect themselves. All of the soft fabrics in a home help trap contaminants. Drapes, upholstered furniture, and carpet trap these contaminants. However, when the carpet is walked on or the furniture sat on, some percentage of the trapped material is dispersed into the air again. So, the cycle of trap and release goes on and on. Eventually, some of the contaminants become trapped in the fibers and will not release until the material is cleaned with a liquid. So, cleaning is not just an appearance thing. It can actually affect the quality of your indoor air. Beyond cleaning, you may have a need to further improve the indoor environment by filtering the air more effectively. Filtering Indoor Air If you have allergies or a particular odor problem, filtering the air may be a cost effective way to enhance your indoor air quality. There are a variety of advanced filter types available for central heating and cooling systems. Inexpensive heating system return air filters do not trap microscopic particles. Generally, the more expensive the filter, the more effective it will be. Electrostatic filters are the most effective but are also the most expensive. You may want to consider a portable auxiliary filter system. The majority of these systems circulate air through filter material which may also contain carbon or charcoal to trap odors and gases. These units only filter the air which is in close proximity to the unit. Therefore, several units may be required to filter an entire household. They usually sell for around $200 but require filter replacement several times each year at a cost of about $40 per replacement. An electronic air purifier provides even greater capability. These machines generate ions which cause microscopic particles in the air to bond together into larger particles which will settle out of the air. The ionizers are effective within a 20-60 foot radius of the unit. Since the ion generators use radio waves that penetrate walls, a single unit can settle these particles out of the air throughout a home. When first used, you would probably notice dust accumulating on furniture at a more rapid rate than before using the machine. Once settling has occurred, the particles can be removed with a treated dusting apparatus on hard surfaces and with a high filtration vacuum from carpeting, upholstery, and drapes. Since particles that contain odor are also suspended in the air, the ionizing effect settles the odor molecules out of the air. Some machines also generate ozone. Ozone has a free oxygen molecule and is very unstable. It seeks to rid itself of the free oxygen molecule and return to its O2 state. The free oxygen molecule is available to combine with other organic material and oxidize it. Odor causing substances such as pet urine, smoke, paint, etc. are eliminated within the environment where it is operating. back to top |
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