Cleaning Upholsterery
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May 2011
I bought a used Toyota Corolla several months ago. It
turned out to have a rather bad smell of body odor, which I
hadn't noticed at the time. It's overwhelming when the car
interior warms up. So now it smells like b.o. plus some
awful air freshener. I would like to have the car's
upholstery shampooed, in hope that a good cleaning will
help. So my question is, where can I get a good, thorough
auto upholstery shampoo? I am not interested in a fancy
auto detailing package, just a good upholstery cleaning.
Other ideas for odor elimination are welcome too. Thank
You! Linda
baking soda and fresh coffee grounds are my two go-to things
for odor. try dusting the inside of your car with baking
soda and leave it for a few hours then vacuum thoroughly.
then sprinkle fresh coffee grounds around and drive around
with that for a day or two, then vacuum again. good luck.
b.o.'s bad enough when it belongs to someone you know...
anon
I just bought a car that I didn't realize belonged to a
smoker. I looked for someone to shampoo it and couldn't
really find anyone; those who did charged about $150 and
still didn't guarantee it or couldn't do it without heavy
perfume. I opened up the car all day with several open
containers of vinegar and baking soda around the car with
wet towels, closed at night, turning the towels once per day
to keep them wet. That helped the most. Then I took out all
the rugs and such to air. I bought a spray foam upholstery
cleaner, but the top broke off and it didn't work that well.
If you have access to an outlet, you could rent a rug
shampoo machine with attachments. I scrubbed all the vinyl
parts with a spray whose name I don't recall atm (black
spray bottle) - that was the most work; cleaned all the
windows and will change the cabin air filters this weekend
($22 usautoparts.com, came the next day compared to $35 at
the dealer). Then I sprayed all the upholstery and rugs with
Maguire's odor eliminator that I got at Kragen, which has
some perfume, but doesn't stay very strong. That helped the
most. If there's an unscented Febreeze, that would be fine
too, but more expensive. I can still smell it faintly, but
it's much better and I haven't done the filter yet. If I'd
had more elbow grease to shampoo, it would be all fine now.
Dana
March 2007
Can anyone recommend a way to clean our increasingly dirty
rust-colored ultrasuede sofa? It's almost four years old and
while I've been able to easily spot-clean with water and Dawn,
the seat cushions are getting kind of nasty and I would love to
either have a service come to our place or buy some sort of
cleaner myself that can take care of cleaning the entire sofa
without staining it, discoloring etc. The seat covers do come
off, so if it's possible to dryclean I could try that (any
drycleaners who do ultrasuede reliably?). But the arms and back
could really do with a clean as well.
And turning the cushions over would just be deferring dealing
with the grime (although it's tempting...)
Thanks for any suggestions!
Grimy no more
People that clean carpets do upholstered furniture too. I
recommend Bob's Khem clean, they don't use all the chemicals
that the big ones do. My ultrasuede couch comes out looking new.
Uses them regularly
We were told to use rubbing alcohol when we bought ours. Our
couches look new. We have cleaned anything and everything off
of them. I suggest you grab some rags and test clean a section
out of site using generous amounts of straight alcohol. See
what happens?
Bekki
Dec 2006
I just had Mark from SunClean (BPN recommendation) come and
clean my couch, carpets and area rugs. I highly recommend him--
he's prompt, works hard, does a great job, and delievered on
every promise. Add to that you you are using only safe,
environment and kid (and adult) friendly cleaners, as well as
supporting an independent family business--and what have you
got to lose?! Call Mark 510.263.0321 www.suncleancarpetcare.com
it's easy being green
Feb 2006
I just thought I'd write saying that I do not recommend Stanley Steemers for upholstery cleaning. I saw a few positive messages on BPN so I called them, but they didn't do a good cleaning job, they whipped through it in 20 minutes, and then they dumped the waste water on my plants in the front yard without asking me! I said, wait a minute, what about the chemicals? And they claimed they didn't use chemicals, even though I saw them spraying stuff all over the furniture. I decided not to have them come back to clean better because I really didn't feel like dealing with them again.
Yuck
Sept 2004
Hi - we need to get our couches cleaned and were wondering
if anyone knew of a great cleaner who will come to the
house.
Thanks,
aut
Check out Appleby Cleaning at
http://www.applebycleaning.com/
They're located in San Leandro but work throughout the
area--I've had them clean our rugs in Oakland and now in
Lafayette. They've been around for years, and have long-
term employees. A professional, high quality operation. I
haven't had them clean any upholstery but my in laws have
had their rugs and sofas done by Appleby for *years* and
have always been pleased with their work. They're not the
cheapest but they're great!
Christina
Nov 2002
Two years of toddler abuse has left our furniture in pretty
bad shape (wish I had thought of slipcovers at the outset!).
It's too far gone for spot cleaning. I'm wondering
whether professional cleaning might be the solution or if I
should just bite the bullet and re-cover/replace/slipcover
the furniture. If anyone has experience with professional
upholstery cleaners I'd appreciate some
advice/recommendations. Also, I suspect that a home/rental
steam cleaner wouldn't be great at this, but if anyone has
tried that approach, I'd like to hear how well it worked.
Thanks.
Kathy
I would like to recommend Stanley Steemer in San Leandro
(tel. 510 614-6833) for cleaning of upholstery and carpets.
We have a toddler who trails his meals all over the house
and have had them come to our house and steam clean the
carpets and upholstery for two years now. They are always
prompt and very professional, and we have had excellent
results with the cleaning. We also had them do a protective
coating on carpets and furniture that allows stains to just
be cleaned with water and lasted for about a year (though
only promised for 6 months) on our light colored carpet. I
was about to reupholster two badly dirtied chairs as well,
but they cleaned up very well, except where nap of fabric
was physically worn (arm ends). It is way cheaper to clean
than to reupholster, so I'd try cleaning before committing
to redo upholstered furniture. The cleaners were very
honest with me when they came about whether or not the
damage could be cleaned, and the results exceeded my
expectations.
Cheryl
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