Hey all,

I'd like to clean my sofa, and I have no idea how. The salesperson at Interio (where I bought the sofa) said it would be best to steam clean it, so I went out and bought a steam cleaner.

Now, my sofa is 100% cotton, and I read in a couple of places online that it's better not to steam clean anything that's more than 50% cotton (I'm not sure how credible those sources are). On top of that, the little tag on the cushions and the sofa indicate that there should be no ironing, no tumble dry, no triangle thing (no heat?), and finally, there's what looks like a bucket full of water crossed out (no moisture?).

So, how on earth can I clean this sofa if I can't do any of the above? I might be able to machine wash (on cold) the cushions, but what about the fixed part of the sofa? I already vacuum it but I would think it's better to clean it properly every once in a while.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

The triangle thing is bleach. So if it's crossed out = "no bleach" . Sounds like you should be dry cleaned unless it also has this symbol:

I bought my (cream) sofa second hand and my Mum cleaned it with her steam cleaner - came up a treat! I'm not sure of the cotton content though, I can't find any labels on it.

Perhaps you could steam clean a small hidden area first, or one side of a cushion to test the material is OK.

If I were you I'd dry clean the bits that are removable, and steam the rest. I have a Polti steam cleaner and I use it on everything: floors, mattresses, carpets, furniture.Never had a problem, but I guess if your sofa is new or especially precious then use caution. I guess the problem with 100% cotton is that it has potential to shrink in very hot water, but most modern steamers leave only the tiniest trace of water so you'd probably be ok.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I'll try steam cleaning a small part on the back of the sofa and see what happens.

Cheers,
Shadi

I have a beige sofa myself and am wondering how to protect it from stains that might be caused by red wine, coffee or chocolate. Now before you add the groans and make the witty comments, there is no way that I would ever make a stain on it unless I had an epileptic fit, sat on the sofa, in the middle of sipping a glass of red wine. What I am planning on doing is renting out my apartment furnished so that the sofa will be subject to the assaults of whoever stays there. I will assume that coffee, red wine and chocolate accidents will happen to the sofa so I want to put in place a set of cleaning substances, tools and instructions so that if something happens to the sofa then hopefully the person will react to it and take measures to limit the damage.

I will most likely be letting to a British computer contractor so I am being realistic. I used to share a flat in London with two guys from Barnsley so I know what single men are capable of doing to an apartment. I expect one or two items of crockery to get broken. But I would like the sofa to somehow last. It cost me a lot of money (from Pfister). I will buy a steam cleaner, as is the subject of this thread, but I think other measures need to be added for the preventitive combat of stains and I am wondering where to get cleaning kits for this. I live in Basel.

If you have a micro-fibre sofa...NO! My wife steamed cleaned it and it subsequently lost all of its dirt-repellent properties...

Well, there are a number of simple household tricks you could use actually... I personally like the mineral water and towel trick. If you've spilled something then pour sparkling water on and use a towel to soak it up. Gets rid of most things but requires time and effort..

Personally I'd love to hear feedback on how the steam cleaning went from the OP? I also wonder whether a steam cleaner would work on carpets?

I have a very large rug that it very thick and pale and decided to get it steam cleaned.
The trouble is that because it is so thick the dampness must have got trapped in the pile and taken too long to dry because it does have an odour sometimes like a damp dog. If the window is closed, I can smell it and I fear that my beautiful rug might have to go I had my stairs steam cleaned at the same time but because the carpet pile is not so thick- they do not smell

Hi All.

Sorry for the late reply, I've only just noticed the post. (Hope I'm not too late )!!!!
In my former life I worked as an upholsterer for approx 25 years. I have also worked in the In Home Upholstery Repair Trade. (Homeserve for my sins).
From a professional point of view for the original OP. I wouldn't go anywhere near your sofa with a steam cleaner. The temperature of the water that comes from the cleaner will be very hot and will more than likely shrink the fixed material. You may not think this is a problem as the material is stapled to the frame, but the material is already pulled tight and the shrinking may tear the material ! Your best bet is to just spot clean it, you can purchase a cleaning kit from sofa shops (well you can in the UK, not sure about here). Hope this of some help and not too late.
If you can't find a cleaning kit, PM me as I'm going back to the UK on the 4th and will bring one back for you.

All the best.....Mike

I went to the shop where I bought my sofa recently to ask about cleaning with a steam cleaner. The salesperson I spoke with advised strongly against cleaning with a steam cleaner for the exact same reasons already mentioned by Mike.

I did pick up a cleaning kit for 30 chf from the Micasa (Migros furniture) store. There is a sponge and some special cleaner. Apparently you spray the cleaner on and leave it for a while and it makes foam which you then wipe away later with the sponge. Have not tried it yet though but sounds nice and easy enough.

That sounds exactly like the cleaning kit I mentioned above. I have used these in the UK and if you follow the instructions to the letter they work really well.

If the pillows come off the couch, perhaps you can dry clean them yourself using baking soda, a brush, a garbage bag and vacuum cleaner.

Anyone else ever try this technique?

I went to Manor in Basel today, partly to buy one of these steam cleaner things, but they didn't have anything like that. Which shop should I go to in Basel to find one?

Zihlmann had a cheap Polti (199 SFr) so I bought it to clean my sofa with. I saw that you had to vigorously vacuum the sofa using the nozzle on full suction power so I carefully and thoroughly vacuumed the sofa. Now the sofa is perfectly clean. It looks new. There is no dirt on it at all. Therefore no need to steam clean it.

A word of warning. Please don't use your steam cleaner on windows when it's under 0 outside. They will crack.

Words of experience

I would have thought that steam cleaning windows would damage the silicone grouting keeping the glazing in place. If not then what do you achieve by steam ckleaning windows that the usual glasreiniger and paper towels does not achieve?

Clean windows without the elbow grease

Good point, so long as it works.

Now that I have a steam cleaner with no need to use it for cleaning my sofa (just preparing my sofa for the steam cleaner totally cleaned it) then maybe I can save time and sweat scrubbing, mopping and disinfecting my slate floor areas using the steam cleaner. It will have already been vacuumed by the Roomba so do I just steam it and leave it or do I have to vacuum it again just after I have steamed it?

It does a good job on the slate floor areas. It works better than scrubbing, mopping and disinfecting by hand and takes a good deal less time. Also, I had managed to "shine" the slate in a huge streak with floor polish and the steamer, on full power and with the nozzle at zero distance, is able to remove the floor polish from the slate. Where slate meets floor then it can be used to remove the "shine" that ends up on the edge of the slate area.

For gravy, soy sauce and curry splashes on the white emulsion paintwork next to the breakfast table, again, spraying with steam using the steam gun on full power removes it. It will probably need repainting when I leave but at least it does not look a mess while I am still living there.

All in all, a jolly good buy. A Polti 1300 for 199 SFr from Zihlmann (reduced and the last one left in their main Basel shop). I think I landed lucky this time.