5 Upholstery Cleaning Myths

It”s been stated: “It ain”t what a man don”t know that gets him into problems, it”s what he knows that just ain”t so!”

So, it seems to be with a few of the myths that continue to be perpetuated in our industry.

Every from the following myths have basis in reality – as do several cultural myths – but in addition have flaws in them that will price you time, customer goodwill and often dollars when you fall in to the trap of believing them.

1. Dry cleaning is usually the safest strategy to go

Because problems connected to upholstery cleaning – including texture distortion, cellulose browning, colour bleeding and color fading – are generally related to cleaning with water-based solutions, it seems that dry cleaning with solvents is the logical strategy to utilize when there’s any doubt as for the possibility of damaging a fabric.

Though this really is occasionally. accurate, it”s not generally accurate.

Dry cleaning solvents would be the least most likely to harm delicate textures like a chenille fabric created from rayon, but there is no assure that dry cleaning solvents is not going to result in colour bleeding.

You will find many approaches to stabilize dyes, a number of which use dye setting agents that let for cleaning with water-based options.

Whilst these procedures will not be 100 percent safe at all times, neither are dry cleaning solvents.

All cleaning and spotting solutions needs to be tested on the fabric that may be being cleaned to assure that it really is colorfast to those supplies.

two. Usually clean with all the hottest water feasible

Synthetic fibers, specially oil-loving fibers including olefin and polyester, release oily soils readily when cleaned with hot cleaning solutions.

The usage of hot water speeds cleaning and lessens the will need for highly buffered alkaline cleaning detergents that could possibly otherwise bring about bleeding or fading of colors.

On the other hand, there are two distinct circumstances where “hot is just not so hot:”

Non-colorfast fabrics: According to the cleaning agents made use of along with the dyes which can be present, you can find times, contrary to popularly held belief, that hot water might contribute to color bleeding when warm water may not.
Synthetic fiber velvets: Below particular situations, like heat spikes in gear with poorly regulated heat systems, permanent distortion can occur when a burst of heat contacts some synthetic fiber velvet fabrics. Extremely warm, consistent temperature is safer on such fabrics than particularly hot water that may well not be conveniently controlled.
three. The tags are accurate cleaning recommendations

There are actually two tags generally located on furnishings: Fiber content material tags and cleaning code tags.

Both may be misleading.

Fiber content material tags most normally describe the material utilized for “fill” or “stuffing” in the furniture. In case you see a tag that says the material is some percentage of cotton/polyester felt, it”s most likely to describe the components beneath the fabric you are cleaning. You will find situations once you could possibly find out tags that do list the fiber content material on the fabric that you are cleaning, but this can be quite uncommon.

Cleaning code tags are truly colorfastness code tags used by furniture suppliers to help the customer to ascertain which goods they may possibly use to maintain their fabric. These codes usually do not get rid of the need for you personally to complete your personal inspection and testing of the fabric.

When quite a few cleaners discover that the “S” code, which means “dry clean only,” is hardly ever correct, you can’t overlook the truth that these codes do make queries and concerns for your consumers.

It is best to go over the codes, remind your client that these codes usually are not a assure of cleanability and that, in the end, it’s you and your buyer who have to agree to what strategy very best suits their requires.

In no way to get a moment ought to you believe that blindly following these codes will release you from responsibility when you damage the material in any way. These codes are merely recommendations, not guarantees.

four. Fiber ID tests are useless

A lot of cleaners turn into frustrated once they try to carry out burn testing on upholstery fabric.

Because a variety of fibers may be blended when producing upholstery fabrics, there are actually frequently conflicting outcomes when such components are burnt with each other.

Furthermore to the concern of blended fibers, there is also the truth that several fabrics have material applied for the back in the fabric to stabilize it that also creates false reads when a cleaner attempts to determine a certain fiber.

Even so, completely overlooking the advantages of understanding at the very least which fiber family members will be to be cleaned is just not smart.

If your burn test can inform you, at the very least, in the event the fabric is produced of all-natural fibers, synthetic fibers or blends of both, you’ve a improved understanding of your dangers of cleaning such a fabric and what soil removal levels might be achievable than in case you usually do not understand how to identify the fundamental fiber family members.

five. Synthetics are “trouble-free”

Whilst it is frequently true that synthetic fiber fabrics – those that include nylon, olefin, polyester or acrylic – are less complicated to clean and are extremely unlikely to knowledge colour or fiber distortion complications, this “rule of thumb” isn’t usually true.

A few examples incorporate:

Heat damage to synthetic velvets: As described earlier in this post, synthetic velvets may very well be permanently distorted by higher temperature cleaning.
Color bleeding: Some synthetic fibers, in particular acrylic and often nylon, might not be as colorfast as you may expect. Surprisingly, a lot more than several acrylic fiber fabrics happen to be identified to bleed to dry cleaning solvents and solvent-based protectors.
Debunk the myths

Debunking these usually held myths is not meant by any indicates to frighten cleaners away from cleaning upholstery.

Instead, it can be meant to guard you from needless and potentially expensive claims and to remind you that the ideal approach to protect against these difficulties is usually to rely on your individual tests and evaluations and not on some issues that “just ain”t so” – or, no less than – not so all of the time.

Contact on Pacific Carpet & Tile Cleaning in Newport Beach CA (949) 545-5205