How to Care For Your Furniture
Caring for your Furniture
Cleaning upholstered furnishings is very important but frequently ignored or even avoided. Often, this is a result of a negative experience. Every year, tens of thousands
of people see do-it-yourself carpet cleaning machines at the supermarket and in hardware stores. Often, these also offer an attachment to clean furniture. Not knowing any better,
the consumer rents the machine and submits his upholstered furniture to a terrible ordeal. The results can be disastrous. The colors can fade or run. The whites look dull. It
takes days to dry. It smells. The comers of the skirts curl. The buttons rust. It's no surprise. The poor consumer was lead to believe he could clean his upholstery with a little
machine that was never made for the job. To make matters worse, he may have used carpet cleaning solution to clean his upholstery.
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A "professional" version of the same problem.
Unfortunately, some "professional" carpet cleaners create the same disaster. They clean carpets and decide they just have to add an attachment to their machine to be able
to clean upholstery too. They make the same mistake the do-it-yourselfer made. They try to employ carpet cleaning products and techniques to upholstery. On the other hand, wonderful
results can be achieved while cleaning upholstery when the correct products are used with the correct methods.
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What's the difference?
There are several differences between carpet and upholstery. The two most obvious are the fibers and the way they are used. A popular fiber in upholstery is cotton. In carpets,
cotton is rare. Also, if you think of upholstered furnishings, the fibers are frequently woven. Woven rugs are rare. In other words, a popular fabric and a popular style in the
world of upholstery are rare in the world of carpet. In fact, cotton or woven carpets are considered to be "specialty" cleaning. Little wonder do-it-yourselfers and untrained
professionals get into trouble. Specialty cleaning gets its name from the specialized care needed to avoid problems and to insure excellent results. Upholstery responds very
well when the proper methods and compounds are employed. Colors don't run or fade. Whites look bright and crisp.
Upholstery cleaning isn't rocket science, but it isn't carpet cleaning either. When we think about it, proper upholstery cleaning calls for much more than a do-it-yourself
machine and a jug of one-product-cleans-all could ever dream of doing. Proper cleaning goes beyond how something looks. Dust, soils, and odors are easily trapped in upholstered
furniture. Each time we sit in the sofa and then get up, it breaths in and out like a bellows.
When we remember how we use our furniture every day, the necessity for proper professional care becomes clear. When the correct care is given, upholstered furnishings
will last for many years. They will also contribute to a healthful, fresh, indoor environment.
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