With the newer developments in cleaning agents, encapsulants will play a vital role in how furniture is cleaned in the future.
In order to understand the proper technique for cleaning furniture, the standard wet cleaning process must be understood.
This article is for the cleaning technician who wants to explore cleaning furniture with encapsulation or the curious home owner who wants to protect their investment.
Please note that this is a general outline of wet cleaning or steam cleaning synthetic furniture.
Additional details are required but are beyond the scope of the intentions of this article.
You'll want to make sure that the fiber can handle your cleaning process and you also want to determine the soil load of the piece you are about to work on.
This first step is the pre-inspection.
Heavily soiled fabrics, if not regularly maintained, tend to lose their color.
This is usually evident where the person rests their head or around the arms of the sofa or chair.
Also, make sure to ask if there is a pet in the house and take a look around the base of the piece to determine any pet damage, especially cat spray.
If there is urine it will need to be treated and the homeowner will need to be advised of your charge for this.
The next step, fiber identification, is the part where you really need to be experienced because your fiber type will dictate if your cleaning solution is going to be alkaline or acid based.
In many cases the furniture tag will give a description of the material composition.
If you can't find the tag and you're unsure of the fiber type then a quick burn test will suffice.
In this case, a small fiber clipped from underneath the furniture will work.
A trained technician will know what he is dealing with based off of the odor from the smoke.
Once you know what the fiber type is then you'll know what solution to use to clean the furniture.
The pH scale plays a very simple rule in the process.
Natural fibers should be cleaned on the acid side and synthetic fibers get best results with an alkaline cleaner.
The inexperienced technician should just stay with synthetic based fibers if they do not understand the pH scale (this is most common).
To keep it simple, we'll focus on synthetic fibers here.
Don't forget to test for color fastness so that you don't end up with a bleeder! The easiest way to remove dry soil is to vacuum.
With any fabric, including carpets, it's always easiest to remove the dirt before it gets wet and turns to mud.
Many home owners, and especially businesses, rarely vacuum their upholstery.
Let's face it; it's just not on the priority list.
Yes, you will have the exception but in most cases this is what I see in the field every day so pre-vacuuming is mandatory.
Pre-conditioning is the next step.
When employing the wet cleaning method, you want to take advantage of a pre-conditioner.
The pre-conditioner when allowed to dwell properly, will yield a superior result compared to no pre-treatment.
Dwell time is part of the cleaning pie which consists of Heat, Chemical, Time, and Agitation.
If you take away, or reduce, a piece of the pie, you must increase one of the others.
After five to ten minutes of dwell time, the soil is now suspended and it's time for extraction.
This is another one of those critical steps that will make the rookie fear all furniture and make the pro stand out.
I just love it when the client tells me that the last guy they had said the furniture wasn't cleanable.
In my profession you can't force anyone to do anything or you won't be in business for long but this is clearly an opportunity.
If the piece has some sentimental value to it and it could benefit from a good cleaning, then by all means, offer to do a test area on it.
The extraction process is also very critical because this is where many pieces get ruined.
With today's powerful machines, the pressure coming out of the tool must not be too high.
I've seen material just spit because of the high pressure, large volume of H20, and high heat.
This is very common in a heavily soiled area where the material has oxidized (weakened) and the technician over works it.
The other common error is over wetting the fabric to the point where it take 24 hours or more to dry.
You will definitely have a sour mold odor and your client won't think much of you.
If you did an alkaline cleaning on a synthetic piece then you'll want to reduce it to as close to neutral as possible.
This is the easy part that almost always gets overlooked.
All you have to do is "mist" your acid rinse over the "just cleaned" piece.
In general chemistry, an acid plus and alkaline will result in water.
This will reduce the chances of rapid re-soiling and it will also aid in the drying process.
The alkaline detergent will release from the fiber once the acid is misted and the resulting H20 will simply evaporate.
Now that the furniture smells pretty and looks good, you'll have your choice of a solvent or water-based fabric protector that should be applied exactly as specified.
If you are experienced at cleaning furniture then you know that these products work.
When I used to do a lot of wet cleaning, the solvent based protector was the one I'd reach for because I liked the rapid drying over the water based.
It's now time for drying and I like to clean furniture first and then set up for drying while I'm cleaning the area rugs or wall to wall carpeting.
If you have an air mover this is when you want to use it.
If not, then just make sure the client understands that the cushions have to be rotated so they can dry on all sides.
Be sure to set them up in a triangle form for best results.
The job is never over until you call the client a day or two later to get the final stats like how long did it take to dry or how did it turn out.
Hopefully, you've under promised and over delivered and you can ask for a referral at this time.
Now, I know that the above process is rarely performed because cleaning companies are continuously misleading clients that their sofa can get cleaned for $49.
00 or $59.
00.
In addition, the lack of education on behalf of the technician is very common.
The professional technician will be higher in price and value because he needs to perform all the above steps to get the desired result.
This is an entirely different subject that I'm going to address later.
The point that I want to make is that because of the evolution of newer cleaning agents, preferably encapsulants, that drying time can be considerably reduced.
In addition, the above process can be too stressful for older pieces that have had a lot of use and the risks involved with over wetting and bleeding or dye migration.
Using an encapsulant and incorporating a commercial grade steamer, I can get the same results as discussed above.
I've had many cases where the furniture was completely dry within 20 minutes of cleaning but the average is 1-2 hours on a more heavily soiled piece.
That's drying time without the air mover! The low moisture technique that I'm referring to above not only reduces drying time but I can also work the areas that need it more without the risk of fiber damage.
The process is the same as above except you'll substitute an encapsulant for your pre-conditioner and no rinsing is required.
Don't forget to agitate the solution in with a horse hair brush.
Once the encapsulant has had adequate dwell time, the soil can be easily removed by your hand and a microfiber towel.
In most cases I'll use my commercial grade steamer with a cotton or microfiber towel attached and lightly steam the soil off of the furniture.
Once you have achieved maximum transfer of the soils to your towel it's time to let it dry.
As the encapsulant dries, it will crystallize around any remaining soil.
The result is a very clean piece of furniture with zero chemical residues.
In most cases, this process will use about 90% less water than the standard steam cleaning procedure.
The final step would be to post-vacuum if you are still at the job site or instruct your client to do it herself.
In order to understand the proper technique for cleaning furniture, the standard wet cleaning process must be understood.
This article is for the cleaning technician who wants to explore cleaning furniture with encapsulation or the curious home owner who wants to protect their investment.
Please note that this is a general outline of wet cleaning or steam cleaning synthetic furniture.
Additional details are required but are beyond the scope of the intentions of this article.
You'll want to make sure that the fiber can handle your cleaning process and you also want to determine the soil load of the piece you are about to work on.
This first step is the pre-inspection.
Heavily soiled fabrics, if not regularly maintained, tend to lose their color.
This is usually evident where the person rests their head or around the arms of the sofa or chair.
Also, make sure to ask if there is a pet in the house and take a look around the base of the piece to determine any pet damage, especially cat spray.
If there is urine it will need to be treated and the homeowner will need to be advised of your charge for this.
The next step, fiber identification, is the part where you really need to be experienced because your fiber type will dictate if your cleaning solution is going to be alkaline or acid based.
In many cases the furniture tag will give a description of the material composition.
If you can't find the tag and you're unsure of the fiber type then a quick burn test will suffice.
In this case, a small fiber clipped from underneath the furniture will work.
A trained technician will know what he is dealing with based off of the odor from the smoke.
Once you know what the fiber type is then you'll know what solution to use to clean the furniture.
The pH scale plays a very simple rule in the process.
Natural fibers should be cleaned on the acid side and synthetic fibers get best results with an alkaline cleaner.
The inexperienced technician should just stay with synthetic based fibers if they do not understand the pH scale (this is most common).
To keep it simple, we'll focus on synthetic fibers here.
Don't forget to test for color fastness so that you don't end up with a bleeder! The easiest way to remove dry soil is to vacuum.
With any fabric, including carpets, it's always easiest to remove the dirt before it gets wet and turns to mud.
Many home owners, and especially businesses, rarely vacuum their upholstery.
Let's face it; it's just not on the priority list.
Yes, you will have the exception but in most cases this is what I see in the field every day so pre-vacuuming is mandatory.
Pre-conditioning is the next step.
When employing the wet cleaning method, you want to take advantage of a pre-conditioner.
The pre-conditioner when allowed to dwell properly, will yield a superior result compared to no pre-treatment.
Dwell time is part of the cleaning pie which consists of Heat, Chemical, Time, and Agitation.
If you take away, or reduce, a piece of the pie, you must increase one of the others.
After five to ten minutes of dwell time, the soil is now suspended and it's time for extraction.
This is another one of those critical steps that will make the rookie fear all furniture and make the pro stand out.
I just love it when the client tells me that the last guy they had said the furniture wasn't cleanable.
In my profession you can't force anyone to do anything or you won't be in business for long but this is clearly an opportunity.
If the piece has some sentimental value to it and it could benefit from a good cleaning, then by all means, offer to do a test area on it.
The extraction process is also very critical because this is where many pieces get ruined.
With today's powerful machines, the pressure coming out of the tool must not be too high.
I've seen material just spit because of the high pressure, large volume of H20, and high heat.
This is very common in a heavily soiled area where the material has oxidized (weakened) and the technician over works it.
The other common error is over wetting the fabric to the point where it take 24 hours or more to dry.
You will definitely have a sour mold odor and your client won't think much of you.
If you did an alkaline cleaning on a synthetic piece then you'll want to reduce it to as close to neutral as possible.
This is the easy part that almost always gets overlooked.
All you have to do is "mist" your acid rinse over the "just cleaned" piece.
In general chemistry, an acid plus and alkaline will result in water.
This will reduce the chances of rapid re-soiling and it will also aid in the drying process.
The alkaline detergent will release from the fiber once the acid is misted and the resulting H20 will simply evaporate.
Now that the furniture smells pretty and looks good, you'll have your choice of a solvent or water-based fabric protector that should be applied exactly as specified.
If you are experienced at cleaning furniture then you know that these products work.
When I used to do a lot of wet cleaning, the solvent based protector was the one I'd reach for because I liked the rapid drying over the water based.
It's now time for drying and I like to clean furniture first and then set up for drying while I'm cleaning the area rugs or wall to wall carpeting.
If you have an air mover this is when you want to use it.
If not, then just make sure the client understands that the cushions have to be rotated so they can dry on all sides.
Be sure to set them up in a triangle form for best results.
The job is never over until you call the client a day or two later to get the final stats like how long did it take to dry or how did it turn out.
Hopefully, you've under promised and over delivered and you can ask for a referral at this time.
Now, I know that the above process is rarely performed because cleaning companies are continuously misleading clients that their sofa can get cleaned for $49.
00 or $59.
00.
In addition, the lack of education on behalf of the technician is very common.
The professional technician will be higher in price and value because he needs to perform all the above steps to get the desired result.
This is an entirely different subject that I'm going to address later.
The point that I want to make is that because of the evolution of newer cleaning agents, preferably encapsulants, that drying time can be considerably reduced.
In addition, the above process can be too stressful for older pieces that have had a lot of use and the risks involved with over wetting and bleeding or dye migration.
Using an encapsulant and incorporating a commercial grade steamer, I can get the same results as discussed above.
I've had many cases where the furniture was completely dry within 20 minutes of cleaning but the average is 1-2 hours on a more heavily soiled piece.
That's drying time without the air mover! The low moisture technique that I'm referring to above not only reduces drying time but I can also work the areas that need it more without the risk of fiber damage.
The process is the same as above except you'll substitute an encapsulant for your pre-conditioner and no rinsing is required.
Don't forget to agitate the solution in with a horse hair brush.
Once the encapsulant has had adequate dwell time, the soil can be easily removed by your hand and a microfiber towel.
In most cases I'll use my commercial grade steamer with a cotton or microfiber towel attached and lightly steam the soil off of the furniture.
Once you have achieved maximum transfer of the soils to your towel it's time to let it dry.
As the encapsulant dries, it will crystallize around any remaining soil.
The result is a very clean piece of furniture with zero chemical residues.
In most cases, this process will use about 90% less water than the standard steam cleaning procedure.
The final step would be to post-vacuum if you are still at the job site or instruct your client to do it herself.
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