Upholstery Cleaning – Be Careful What Material You Choose!
When it comes to upholstery selection, modern-day designs are a very attractive lure and customers are attracted to these items of lustre, beauty, colour or a particular manufacturer when purchasing their new soft furnishings. Of course, the appearance is a very important contributing factor when purchasing what is an expensive outlay. However, there is another important issue that should be considered; its practicality! Prior to purchasing your fantastic new suite which you have seen advertised and visited in the showroom, take a few moments and think about how much time, effort, and money you are willing to spend/waste in its upkeep? There is no point in taking a beautiful looking new sofa and that you won’t be able to clean well. This is why choosing the right kind of upholstery is critical.
The type of material fibres that are used in modern upholstery is a mixture of different kinds. When you select a suite; or upholstered furniture like sofa, armchair or fabric dining chairs you should consider asking the salesperson ‘what kind of material (s) it is constructed of’: Here is some information of the common materials used:
Natural Derived Fabrics
Naturally, derived fabrics are often preferred as upholstery material due to their soft touch. In addition, natural fibres are considered to be better for people with skin allergies or suffer from a skin complaint.
Wool (sheep, in particular) is an easily damaged material that is susceptible to food and drink stains and, like cotton, to direct ultra-violet rays (sunlight). Stain removal solutions, that will usually work well for other upholstery fabric types may not be as effective on wool fibres. With the correct ‘wool’ approved cleaning product, wool fibres will clean very well, although the downside is that as a, like cotton, it will retain liquids (water). Therefore, all wool upholstery should be dried as quickly as practically possible.
Natural Cotton fibre is a strong material and stands well against the usual wear and tear of household life; this is why it is often used as a blending fabric. However, it is a fabric that is easily damaged by direct exposure (or even indirect in a south-facing room) ultraviolet rays (sunlight). If your suite contains a large amount of cotton material be sure that it is not located near windows as the colour will fade very quickly and may become yellow if it is a light-coloured fabric. Moreover, the removing of organic and dye stains from cotton is extremely difficult. It should be remembered, that cotton is highly absorbent to fluid spills and even skin moisture will quickly penetrate deep into cotton upholstery causing discolouration and staining.
Synthetics Fabrics
Upholstery, in the main, is made from synthetic fibres. It is commonly thought that all modern synthetic fabrics are easy to maintain and clean. This only depends on the number of fibres in each particular blend that the suite is made up of. These synthetic (man-made) fibres are used primarily for their resistance to water ingress and ultra-violet (sun) exposure.
Acrylic material and its performance to resist dirt and stains is very poor. The main reason this material is used is only as a blending fibre. However, it is renowned for its good resistance to abrasion and ultraviolet rays. That said, If you should spill a liquid on an acrylic material, it will be very hard to remove the stain without professional assistance.
Nylon synthetics in upholstery fabrics are not stained resistant, although nylon is still quite easy to clean and take care of; more overly so, if it has been specially treated with stain repellent e.g. Scotchgard. Nylon synthetics are a good upholstery choice for those of us who own a pet because our pets can enjoy their couch or armchair time in the knowledge that the underlying material is easily cleaned out of pet hair and stains deposited by our furry friends!
The polyester used in upholstery has a similar make-up to acrylic; it responds well to direct exposure to ultraviolet rays, but it is much harder to remove stains from this material.
Regards
Tom
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