Upholstery cleaning is a service that many carpet cleaners offer but few are good at. It takes proper education, the right equipment and years of experience to be able to clean upholstery properly. This is why it is so important to find a good upholstery cleaner to handle your upholstered furniture. The best way to clean upholstery is with a wet cleaning system, but unlike carpet cleaning, the system can either be portable or truckmounted. Upholstery cleaning requires little pressure and just basic vacuum levels so either system is acceptable. Some materials however can not be wet cleaned safely. For these materials the carpet cleaner will need to use either a solvent cleaning system, foam cleaning system or other low moisture upholstery cleaner. The method used will have to be determined by the carpet cleaner, which is why it is so important to find an experienced cleaner.
What to look for and and upholstery cleaner?
Because upholstery cleaning requires a greater deal of knowledge and skill than carpet cleaning, you need to first and foremost find an experienced cleaner. Your best bet will be an owner operator who has many years of experience in the industry. Because this can be a high turnover industry, the chances of finding an experienced employee are slightly less than with finding an experienced owner operator. Still, if you cannot find an owner operated cleaning company, look for a qualified company that uses their own employees. Just like with carpet cleaning, subcontractors should be avoided. You should also try to find a company that is I I C R C certified and upholstery cleaning. The I I C R C course will give the carpet cleaner the basic knowledge that they need to successfully clean upholstery without damaging it. Lastly, you want to make sure that the cleaners using the appropriate tools. Some carpet cleaners like to take shortcuts by using improper tools such as a stair tool to clean with. These tools might save them time, but they do not do a very good job on upholstery. They are too large and do not allow for the proper control of moisture. Your carpet cleaner should use a tool similar to the one pictured above. Granted, in most cases, you will not be able to see what kind of equipment they use until they get to your home, but if you ask them what they will be using on the phone, they will be much less likely to try to use an improper tool.