5 Common Upholstery Cleaning Problems

In this article we are going to cover common upholstery cleaning problems that we see on a regular basis.

Upholstery Cleaning Is Much More Complicated Than Carpet Cleaning

When it comes to having your upholstery cleaned it is extremely important to hire a company that TRULY KNOWS HOW TO CLEAN UPHOLSTERY.

Upholstery cleaning, in many cases, is more technical than carpet cleaning, and there are many more issues that could potentially cause your upholstery to be ruined - or at least not come clean the way you want it to, or end up not looking the way you want it to.

So What Are The 5 Common Upholstery Cleaning Issues?

1. Cellulosic Browning. This is a very common problem and, no matter how careful the piece is cleaned, can really end up making your upholstery look awful.

So what is cellulosic browning?

Simply, it is when the lignin from a natural fiber is released during the cleaning process. Typically this is caused by either too much water being used to clean the upholstery, which causes long dry times, or a strong alkaline cleaner.

Cellulosic browning can be a major problem, and sometimes very difficult to correct. If your upholstery cleaner is experienced, and knows what theyare doing, cellulosic browning can be 100% corrected or close to it.

2. Color Migration (bleeding). The "bleeding of colors" during, or after, upholstery cleaning is fairly common, especially if the upholstery cleaning technician doesn't have a firm grasp on the type of fabric they are cleaning.

Color migration with synthetic fabric is far less common than color migration with a natural fiber.

With a natural fabric the dyes are much more likely to "run" into areas that they do not belong in.

What are the main causes of color migration?

A. Unstable dyes to begin with. The dyes used to color the fabric are just not very stable. They do not hold together during cleaning.

B. Cleaning with high alkaline cleaners.

C. Cleaning with really hot water.

Can color migration be fixed?

Yes, it can be fixed; but it is very tricky to do so and it can also be extremely costly to do so. It really depends on how bad the color has
migrated to unwanted areas - and how badly you want it fixed.

The best way to avoid color migration is to test the fabric very carefully BEFORE the cleaning process starts.

If testing shows that the color wants to run, then there are cleaning agents, and techniques, that can be used to greatly reduce the chance of color migration.

3. Shrinkage. Shrinkage is a problem that MOSTLY occurs when cleaning natural fabrics, but it can also happen with synthetic fabrics.

The only real areas you have to be concerned with shrinkage are on the skirts of an upholstery piece, the cushions with removable fabric, and the pillows.

Once the fabric has shrunk there is very little you can do to get it back to its original size - much like clothes that have shrunk.

Shrinkage ONLY occurs during the drying process. So one way to avoid shrinkage is to not get the fabric too wet. The problem with this is that sometimes a fabric is so soiled it really needs to be cleaned aggressively, and that usually means a fair amount of water being used.

Another way to avoid shrinkage is to NOT take the cushion fabric off of the cushions to clean. With some fabrics you can do this, but most you cannot.

So if you do take the cushion fabric off to clean, you should IMMEDIATELY put the cushion fabric back onto the cushions.

Otherwise there is a very real chance that cushion fabric is not going to fit on
the cushion again.

As far as the skirts go, one way to reduce the chance of skirts shrinking is to add a uniform set of "weights" to the skirts during drying. There are various ways to do this, and they can be quite effective.

The key with skirts is to make sure they are not allowed to dry FREELY hanging if they have been wet cleaned, especially if the backing of the skirt is flimsy.

There should be some sort of weight at the bottom of the skirt to make sure the fabric does not shrink.

4. Fabric abraded or torn. This is a big big no no with upholstery cleaning. Your upholstery should never received ADDITIONAL physical damage by the cleaner.

What kind of damage are we talking about?

Holes put into the fabric. Cuts in the fabric. Abraded fabric. These types of damage.

An upholstery cleaner needs to understand how far they can go (as far as aggression) and what type of tools they need to use to safely clean the fabric.

5. Damage to legs or other pieces of the upholstery that are not fabric. There should never be any damage such as scratches or stains adding to legs or any type of trim on an upholstery piece that is being cleaned.

Again, the upholstery cleaner is there to clean the upholstery - not add additional problems. So if your upholstery legs or trim have been scratched or the stain has been altered - that should not happen.

Well, there you have it.

Five common upholstery cleaning problems. It is important to understand that these problems, all of them, can be close to 100% avoided if you hire an upholstery cleaning company that is well-trained and has the desire to do the job the right way.

If you have any questions about our upholstery cleaning services in Vancouver, Washington please give us a call today.

Thank you for reading our article.