Specialist Upholstery Cleaning in Dover, Kent

When it comes to cleaning furniture (upholstery), one of the first steps is to identify the fibres that make up the fabric. For example, it could be a blend of cotton, polyester, acrylic etc. Depending upon the fibres, the percentages of the blend make a difference too. A high percentage of cotton will require a different cleaning chemical, as opposed to a high percentage of acrylic.

Each fibre has its own set of tolerances and sensitivities. So whilst any cleaning chemical will make the fabric clean (to a lesser or higher degree), the lifespan of the fabric can be degraded by the wrong choice of chemical. It can cause it to wear out quicker, or its appearance to age prematurely, or both.

Specialist Upholstery Cleaning Case Study

One of my regular clients had a beautiful suite of furniture bought from Lenleys of Canterbury not too dissimilar to the one here, although the fabric of the one in the picture may be a totally different composition.

Now my clients fabric was a composite chenille. The client had spilled a glass of red wine on the arm and onto the seat cushion. Fortunately the fabric was a blend of acrylic 35%, along with polyester 55%, and cotton 10%. This means the fabric had a high content of man made fibres. Having identified the fabric, I knew then how to proceed with the cleaning and what chemicals it was safe to use to remove the red wine stain. Had the fabric been composed of a higher percentage of natural fibres, the cleaning would need to be approached with a different set of chemicals.