How to Clean a Couch, Including the Upholstery and More

In many means, your couch is the heart of your dwelling. Believe about it this way: It truly is the place you and your liked kinds gather to entire jigsaw puzzles, capture up after a extensive day’s work, and binge Netflix demonstrate following Netflix demonstrate. Due to the fact of this, your couch is also the catch-all location for chip crumbs, popcorn kernels, and occasional wine spills.

When vacuuming or wiping down your couch may well tackle day-to-working day filth and pet hair, you should really bust out your fabric steamers and cleaners if you seriously want to get rid of established-in stains, spills, and oils from grimy palms and toes. Each six months or so, observe this phase-by-phase guide on how to clear a sofa — no make any difference what sort of cloth it might be — by Carolyn Forte, Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, to make your residing space prepared for one more jam-packed weekend of motion picture-viewing.

Table of Contents

How to Clean up and Sanitize a Couch

No matter whether you’re making an attempt to deal with a specific stain on a cushion or want to give your overall couch a biannual refresh, give this effortless how-to a attempt:

Use a handheld garment steamer or bursts from your steam iron to eliminate dust mites. Go more than the overall couch, permitting just the steam to touch and penetrate the fabric. If you really do not have a steamer or iron, skip this step and go straight to vacuuming.
With your vacuum’s upholstery attachment, go above the complete sofa: back, arms, skirt and cushions. If the cushions are removable, get them off and vacuum the fabric underneath, likely as far under the back again and arms as your vacuum can access. With the crevice resource, go alongside the seams, all-around any buttons, and alongside the trim.
Choose a glance at your couch’s treatment tag to see what’s protected to use on the material:
- W is the most straightforward to clean and indicates h2o-based cleaners are alright to use.
- W/S implies that both h2o- or solvent-primarily based cleaners are safe.
- S suggests only solvent-dependent cleansing chemical compounds should really be applied.
- X means do almost nothing more than vacuum or brush the fabric.
1. For fabrics that can properly be cleaned with water, address food items and pet stains with an enzyme-that contains formulation like Bissell Skilled Pet Stain & Odor Remover. In a pinch, combine with each other mild dish soap with warm water. Generally take a look at the cleaner in a hidden area initially.
2. If your cushions have detachable addresses, unzip them and area a paper towel among the material and filling to soak up cleaner. Implement the cleaner to a cloth and blot the stain carefully, doing the job from the exterior in. The moment the stain is taken off, dab the space with another damp cloth to rinse thoroughly and blot dry. For “S” materials, remove stains with a solvent-primarily based product or service according to bundle directions.
3. Cleanse dingy arms and headrests with a portable extraction cleaner like Bissell’s Small Green ProHeat Transportable Cleaner. Just dispense the cleaner and water mixture by means of the hose, agitate the fabric with the brush nozzle, and vacuum up the dust into the tank. For solvent-only materials, it is really best to contact in a specialist for a risk-free and thorough cleaning.
4. At the time your sofa is cleanse and dry, kill any lingering germs and odors on drinking water-risk-free upholstery with a fabric sanitizing spray like Tide Antibacterial Cloth Spray.