How to quickly clean a sofa - effective methods. How to clean a sofa from stains of various origins: tips on how to clean a sofa at home

  • 14.06.2019

If cushioned furniture smells bad, this is not a reason to change the upholstery or call dry cleaning specialists. There are simple but effective means get rid of the smell on the sofa or chair. However, first of all, you need to determine what kind of aroma you have to fight and how deeply it has eaten.

Types of unpleasant odors coming from upholstered furniture:

  • the smell of new furniture;
  • smell old furniture;
  • the smell of food, drinks or tobacco;
  • the smell of human or pet secretions (urine, vomit).

Eliminate the smell of new furniture

Upholstered furniture can smell bad for one of three reasons:

  • the material (usually chipboard) from which the frame of the sofa or chair is made decomposes, releasing toxic substances into the air;
  • a specific smell comes from the leatherette upholstery;
  • the seller kept the interior item in a poorly ventilated warehouse with high humidity air, due to which the upholstery was damp and saturated with the smell of mustiness.

If the cause of the stench is chipboard, the furniture should be laid out, all removable pillows should be taken out onto the balcony for ventilation (so that they do not burn out, they should not be exposed to direct sunlight), and wooden box vacuum from the inside, thoroughly cleaning it of sawdust. The room where the upholstered furniture is located is ventilated for 10-24 hours.

So that the smell is not felt, bowls with ordinary or flavored salt are placed in the corners of the room, tea bags are laid out. An open bottle of lavender oil is placed inside the sofa drawer. Well neutralizes the smell and neutralizes the toxic fumes of formaldehyde room ozonizer. Over the next 2 weeks, the room is periodically ventilated. If the smell does not disappear, it is better to return the furniture to the store: it is dangerous to use it.

Many people react painfully to the scent of new leatherette. Folk remedies can only spoil the coating, they will not cope with the smell. Buy Leather good cleaner from OPTIMA or a similar product and treat the upholstery with it.

If the smell of mustiness comes from the fabric upholstery, it is necessary to carefully inspect the furniture. If mold is found on wood parts (chipboard) or upholstery, the furniture will have to be returned to the seller.

If the piece of furniture is just a little damp, a dehumidifier or a heater is turned on next to it.

Removing the smell of old furniture

The unpleasant smell of old furniture can be explained by:

  • the presence of bedbugs in the furniture (their secretions are allergenic);
  • a lot of dust in the upholstery;
  • damp pillows, possibly mold;
  • old, ingrained dirt from food, drinks, excretions of people and animals.

To remove the smell from a sofa or chair inherited, the furniture is first inspected from all sides, checking the seams and gaps between the pillows. When bedbugs are found, they are destroyed.


Bed bugs are often the cause of bad breath.

On very old furniture, dust has accumulated over the years; an ordinary vacuum cleaner will not completely cope with it. Moisten an old sheet from a spray bottle with a weak solution of vinegar (at the rate of a tablespoon of vinegar per half liter of water). Vacuumed pillows are covered with a sheet and beaten with a carpet beater or an ordinary rolling pin. All the dust will settle on the sheet. To enhance the effect, the pillows are then additionally treated with a furniture cleaner.

Damp pillows are covered with baking soda or a mixture of salt with dried and crushed peppermint. After 12 hours, the pillows are cleaned with a vacuum cleaner. If the cause of the stench is mold, the upholstery should be changed (in extreme cases, the damaged area should be replaced), and the case should be wiped with a chlorine-containing agent. household chemicals or a special fungicide.

Elimination of food odors, excretions of people and animals

If any products, urine or other secretions get on the upholstery, you must immediately blot them with a napkin so that the dirt does not eat into the pillows. Before you get rid of the smell on an armchair or sofa, you need to remove the stain from the upholstery with a stain remover.

If the stain is old and the smell has already eaten into the filler, a mixture of 9% vinegar and hydrogen peroxide (in equal proportions) is injected into the pillows using a medical syringe. The stench will be neutralized, but the pillow will have to dry for 2-3 weeks. Using a hair dryer speeds up drying.

To get rid of the smell of tobacco, fish, beer, vomit, dog hair, wipe the upholstery with a cloth soaked in a solution of vinegar (1 tablespoon per 0.5 liter of water). If the smell of vinegar is annoying, you can use lemon juice.

To eliminate the smell of infant urine, lemon juice is poured into a spray bottle and sprayed on the problem area. When the juice dries, a laundry soap whipped into foam is applied to the affected area of ​​\u200b\u200bupholstery, which is washed off with water after a few minutes.


After all the manipulations, it is advisable to vacuum the dried upholstery

The urine of an adult or a pet is more offensive than that of small child. To remove the smell from a chair or sofa, the pillows are treated first with lemon juice and then with soap suds with the addition of oxygen bleach for colored linen. To eliminate the smell from dark fabric upholstery, a weak solution of potassium permanganate is used. All products are first checked on inconspicuous areas of the upholstery.

The easiest way to remove the stench from the upholstery is leather or leatherette: the pillows are wiped with liquid soap with the addition of a small amount ammonia(1 teaspoon per 50 ml of soap). Then the foam is washed off with water. If the upholstery is ruined by a cat, dried citrus peels are placed inside the sofa. Cats do not like this smell, and the pet will no longer covet upholstered furniture.

Ready-to-use odor control products

There are many drugs on the market for effective elimination unpleasant odors ingrained in the upholstery.

The most popular of these tools:

  • DuftaFresh is a spray that decomposes organic odor molecules in human urine. The drug includes completely biodegradable components, does not leave marks on furniture, does not cause allergic reactions in case of contact with the skin, its use in kindergartens is allowed;
  • OdorGone Professional for Home - an organic liquid remedy that eliminates most unpleasant odors, including cadaveric;
  • "Zoovorsin" - a spray with a dry cleaning effect, suitable for removing stains and odors from animals with upholstery fabric, artificial fur, carpets.

The sofa is probably the most favorite place in the House. They rest on it, covered with a blanket. Children play on it, and often use it as a springboard, climbing on it and jumping to the floor. Our smaller friends, dogs, love to eat on the couch. And no matter how much they were driven out of there, they stubbornly jump onto the sofa again. Yes, even with a bone in his teeth.

And often, after some time, the sofa takes on a worn, filthy look, covered with unsightly greasy or just dirty spots.

How to make the sofa serve you faithfully for many years and at the same time not lose its original appearance.

Of course, ideally, you should initially buy a sofa that would fit your lifestyle.

  • If a sofa is a place of communication for you, then you need to buy it with an upholstery that is easy to clean and less glossy. And of course, exclude the purchase of a leather sofa. Especially if there is a cat or a dog in the house, since it is unrealistic to hide leather upholstery from their claws and teeth.
  • Immediately cover the sofa with a sofa bed, a bedspread or sew a cover both on the sofa itself and on its armrests.
  • Eliminate the habit of sitting on the couch in front of the TV, having a snack, or even having lunch.
  • Periodically carry out preventive cleaning of the sofa. This is very easy to do without resorting to any special means.

To do this, cover the sofa with a damp sheet and pat it with your hands. All the dust collected in the sofa will easily fly out of it and settle on a damp cloth. If the sofa is very dusty, rinse the sheet in clean water, carefully wring out and repeat the procedure with knocking out again.

If you add a little vinegar to the water, it will help bring back the bright colors of the sofa upholstery.

Then leave the sofa uncovered until completely dry. Of course, you cannot sit on it at this time.

While the sofa upholstery dries, clean the armrests if they are wood. Furniture polish or non-aggressive stain removers are suitable for this.

How to clean wooden armrests at home

  • If someone left chewing gum on the armrests of the sofa, use Vaseline. Put a little Vaseline on the gum and start rubbing it in. After a while, the gum will crumble and can be easily removed.
  • If on wooden surface the sofa has white spots from glasses or glasses, then grease them with petroleum jelly and leave for several hours. The spots should be gone.

If the sofa is leather

If the sofa is leather, then at the same time wipe the Vaseline and its upholstery. Then remove the excess shine and the sofa will be as good as new.

Instead of Vaseline, you can use baby oil. The main thing is that after it the sofa does not look like a fat pie. Remove excess oil with a tissue.

Sometimes it is enough to wipe the sofa lightly wet wipe dipped in soapy water or a mild vinegar solution.

If the upholstery is fabric

If the upholstery is made of fabric, then you need to know how it will behave when in contact with detergent. After all, it can shed, discolor, lose its original appearance. For example, if it is made of plush, velor or velvet.

Therefore, before you start cleaning the sofa, test the product of your choice on a small piece of upholstery, for example, on the back of the back of the sofa.

But in any case, the sofa can not be wet much. After all, this is not a carpet or a blanket - you cannot hang it on the crossbar. And excessive moisture, once inside the sofa, can spoil its filler, a musty smell, or even mold, will appear. And microbes in such an ideal place for them will easily multiply.

Cleaning the sofa with vinegar, baking soda and detergent

This method is probably the most popular at the moment.

To do this, pour about a liter of water into a basin, add a tablespoon of baking soda and a teaspoon of any detergent for dish washing. Lather the solution well, arm yourself with a soft brush and begin to gently clean the sofa, trying to brush in one direction. Do not overdo it with soap, as you will not be able to wash it afterwards. On upholstery made of velor or similar, it is better not to use this product.

Cleaning a sofa with Vanish

Instead of washing powder, you can take Vanish and dilute it in a ratio of 1:9.

Delicate sofa cleaning

For delicate cleaning of the sofa, you will need a regular washing powder for delicate items and warm water.

Mix about half a cup of powder with a glass of water until lush foam.

Spread the foam on the contaminated surface and wait for it to disappear. Repeat one or two times. Then gently brush the areas treated with foam with a soft brush.

After cleaning, remove dirty foam with a washing vacuum cleaner.

There is an opinion that the vacuum cleaner spoils both the upholstery of the sofa and its insides. Of course, if you have a vacuum cleaner so powerful that it easily sucks upholstery along with debris that you have to forcefully take away from it, then it is better not to use a vacuum cleaner for cleaning. Or you just need to reduce the retraction force, that is, the power of the vacuum cleaner.

Stains on the couch

Now for the stains. Any stain requires a special approach. One stain is cleaned with ordinary warm (cold, hot) water, the other with chalk, starch or talc, and the third is only amenable to aggressive solvents.

The result after removing stains also depends on the age of purchase of the sofa. How, you ask.

When you begin to remove the stain, the upholstery will be cleaned along with it - from the dust that has eaten into it. And when that place dries up, a dirty border will appear around it, just on the border of dirty and clean fabric.

Therefore, the stain on the new sofa is much easier to remove, and the result will please you more than what you end up with after experimenting with the old sofa.

Therefore, before removing stains or local cleaning, you need to vacuum the entire sofa or knock out dust with a sheet. And only after that proceed to the removal of the stain.

Remember that any fresh stains are much easier to remove than old ones or those that have been treated with the wrong cleaning methods.

Grease stains

  • If the upholstery appeared greasy spot, sprinkle it with chalk as soon as possible. Wait for it to absorb the fat. Sweep it off with a brush. Pour chalk again and wait again. Most of the time, the stain disappears.
  • Talcum powder is also suitable for removing greasy stains from the sofa. Sprinkle talc on the stain and leave for a few hours. Then vacuum the sofa. Instead of talc, you can use starch or soda.
  • Sprinkle the grease stain with salt and wait until it absorbs the grease. Then brush off the used salt.

beer stains

  • Prepare a decoction of soap root. To do this, pour a liter of water into a saucepan, add half a teaspoon of soap root and put on fire. Boil for about an hour. Then strain the broth and use to clean the stain.
  • You can wipe the stain with ordinary soapy water, and then treat the place with a weak solution of vinegar.

blood stains

  • Blood stains are washed only with cold soapy water.
  • If the blood stains are fresh, prepare a thick paste of talcum powder and water and apply it to the stained area. Let the paste dry and brush thoroughly. Talc can be replaced with starch or cornmeal.

Urine stains

  • If the child has just stained the sofa, then immediately remove as much moisture as possible with the help of napkins. Then rub the area with alcohol or diluted citric acid.
  • If there is no alcohol, then after getting rid of excess moisture, wash the stain with soapy water or Vanish stain remover.

Ballpoint pen stains

  • ink stains and ballpoint pen cleans well with alcohol. But you can not rub a swab with alcohol on the fabric, making large circles. From this, the ink spreads, forming a large purple spot. You need to stock up on a few pieces of cotton wool and change them as they get dirty.

juice stains

  • Stains from juice and fruit can be removed by rubbing the place of contamination with diluted ammonia or mixing alcohol with ammonia in a 1: 1 ratio. Let the liquid dry and then rinse off warm water and dry.

coffee stains

  • To remove coffee stains, add a little vinegar to the soap solution and wash the stain with this solution and dry it.

Stain on velvet or plush upholstery

  • Such upholstery cannot be cleaned with water or soap solutions. Therefore, clean all problem areas with alcohol or gasoline. Both cheap and angry.
  • If you use a soapy solution, then clean not with water, but with abundant foam. And always in the direction of the pile. It is also not recommended to clean such a sofa with brushes. For cleaning, it is better to use a soft sponge or microfiber cloth.
  • Difficult stains on delicate fabrics are still best left to specialists.

But still, I would like to remind you that it is easier to prevent the appearance of stains and dirt on the sofa than to selflessly clean it all!

If liquid gets on upholstered furniture, it is immediately absorbed deep inside. This leads to the fact that over time, upholstered furniture begins to smell unpleasant. How to remove the smell from the sofa and not ruin the upholstery?

How to remove bad smell from sofa

You can eliminate the smell with the help of professional means. When choosing a product, you should pay attention to those that neutralize rather than mask odors. But there are many effective folk remedies to remove unpleasant odors from the sofa.

If beer, wine, or other drinks are spilled on the sofa, you need vinegar. It is necessary to dissolve 5 ml of vinegar and 10 g of salt in 1 liter of warm water. Soak a piece of thin natural fabric in the resulting solution, wring out, cover the sofa.

The fabric must be pressed tightly to the surface, you can walk on top with a dust beater. After 10-15 minutes, the fabric needs to be wetted again. Repeat the procedure at least five times. Such cleaning will not only help to remove unpleasant odors, stains, but also return bright colors to the upholstery.

Salt is a natural absorbent. Furniture with bad smell you need to fall asleep with ordinary or flavored salt, leave for 9 hours. Then carefully remove the layer with a brush or vacuum cleaner for the car.

Well absorbs smells of black or green tea. The bags can be laid out on the surface of the sofa, left for several days. If the furniture is not light, you can clean it with ground coffee Spread evenly over the surface, remove after 5 hours.

Leather furniture requires a delicate approach, aggressive products can ruin the upholstery. To remove the smell, you need to make a soapy solution - dissolve 25 ml of liquid soap and 15 ml of ammonia in 1 liter of warm water. Moisten a soft cloth, gently wipe the entire surface of the sofa. You need to move from the edges to the center: this will help to avoid the appearance of stains.

How to Remove Urine Smell from a Couch

The smell of urine is difficult to remove because it is quite stable. To remove children's urine, you can use iodine. Dissolve 15 drops of iodine in 1 liter of warm water, treat the surface. This method is only suitable for dark upholstery. For light furniture, you need to dilute lemon juice in the same proportions.

Laundry soap will help eliminate old stains. Moisten them with water, rub with soap, leave for 15 minutes. Prepare a solution of 1 liter of water and 15 ml vinegar essence, wash off the soap. Wipe the furniture clean with a dry cloth, dry with a hair dryer. If you have to remove the urine of an elderly person, then the stains must first be filled with diluted medical or ammonia, left for half an hour.

To completely remove the smell of animal urine, complex cleansing is required.

What is necessary:

  • vinegar - 150 ml;
  • hydrogen peroxide - 150 ml;
  • dishwashing detergent - 2 tsp;
  • water - 450 ml + 150 ml;
  • soda.

Unpleasant smells in the apartment are very annoying for many people. It is especially unpleasant to feel such smells from the sofa, on which it is so comfortable to lie, relax and watch TV. For those who plan how to get smell out of sofa, you can turn to real professionals or try to solve this problem yourself.

In order to perform this procedure at home, you can use acetic acid, potassium permanganate, several tea bags, lemon juice, starch, ordinary liquid soap, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, pet odor absorber, freshly ground coffee, aromatic pads, ordinary or aromatic salt as well as a professional upholstery cleaner.

Acetic acid
Thinking about how to remove the smell from the sofa, you can use acetic acid. To do this, dilute about two tablespoons of this ingredient in one liter of water. In the resulting mixture, gently moisten a microfiber cloth. It is advisable to carefully treat the surface of your favorite sofa with this napkin and leave it to dry completely. Instead of acetic acid, some recommend using lemon juice, potassium permanganate solution, or standard hydrogen peroxide. This will become the best way how to remove the smell from the sofa or get rid of the cloying smell of cat urine.

Salt
Anyone who dreams of how to remove the smell from the sofa should know that table salt helps to cope with this. You can also use the aromatic version. It must be poured onto the upholstery of the sofa in an even layer and left for about 10 hours. After that, you need to remove the salt with a regular brush or using a car vacuum cleaner. It is believed that similar to table salt effect gives baking soda in conjunction with potato starch. Due to their simple structure, these substances perfectly adsorb unpleasant odors.

Soap
To destroy unpleasant odors, you can use a soap solution. To do this, mix a few drops of liquid soap and warm water. It is recommended to add 1 tbsp to the mixture. l. ammonia. In such a mixture, you need to gently moisten a cloth or a regular foam rubber sponge. Wipe the upholstery of the leather sofa with a damp cloth. Rinse off the solution from the sofa with a damp microfiber-based cloth. Then wipe the upholstery with a regular cotton towel.

Odor absorber
For those who dream of how to get the smell out of the sofa, you can use an odor absorber for your beloved pets. You can easily buy it in a regular supermarket. It is recommended to spray it evenly over the territory of the sofa and leave it in this form for a couple of hours. Then gently wipe with a regular brush. You can put a few bags of green tea or freshly ground coffee on the sofa. It needs to be removed after a few days.

Professional tool
To clean the sofa, you can purchase special remedy, a wide range of which is presented in modern stores.

Upholstered furniture is exactly the piece of furniture that is quite often used by people in Everyday life. In this regard, it is more prone to various pollution and untidy appearance. In order to prevent early wear of furniture, it is important to know the rules for caring for it, as well as specific measures to get rid of dirt.

How to protect sofa upholstery from dirt

In order not to ask questions about how to clean upholstered furniture, you need to try to protect it from stains. This can provide at least two options.

  1. Cover

The easiest way to protect the sofa upholstery from stains is with a blanket or bedspread. Perhaps a sofa covered with a blanket will not look aesthetically pleasing for someone. But for the safety of the upholstery, it is advisable to cover the sofa with a cloth at least for the period when it is especially necessary. For example, if a pet with dirty paws runs around the house or one of the family members decides to have a snack while watching TV.

  1. Case

Sofa covers are a real salvation for upholstered furniture from possible stains. Unlike the option with a bedspread, covers have a larger number of advantages. Firstly, the covers can be sewn from your preferred fabric and colors, which means that the sofa will continue to be in harmony with the interior of the room. Secondly, they can increase the terms of use of the sofa several times. Also, the advantage of the covers is that they can be easily removed for washing, which means that they are unlikely to have to be changed often.

How to rid a sofa of dust

If it was not possible to prevent the appearance of dirt, you will have to fix the problem in every possible way. Home furniture cleaning options will depend primarily on the type of soiling.

Upholstered furniture has the ability to pass dust from the air into itself, which accumulates over time. Upholstered furniture made of the following materials is most susceptible to this:

  1. velours;
  2. chenille;
  3. matting;
  4. flock;
  5. tapestry.