It’s a fact that most cleaners, especially on-location carpet and furniture cleaners, use hot water extraction when cleaning both carpet and furniture.

But many of them are beginning to utilize low-moisture cleaning of furniture.

When in doubt as to how fibers might react to regular hot water extraction, it is safer to use low-moisture cleaning.

If you need information on cleaning severely soiled upholstery, click here.

True dry cleaning, using approved solvents and a dry cleaning machine, is generally not necessary in today’s world of fabrics, chemistry and tools.

It’s still an option, but one used rarely.

You can obtain great results with low-moisture cleaning.

Tools needed

Every job is different, but in general, here are the items you might need to get your start in low-moisture furniture care.

The quantity of each item depends on the size of your company or facility.

• Bucket(s)
• Horsehair brush for agitation
• Foaming upholstery shampoo, with or without encapsulation technology (your preference)
• White cotton towels
• Wet vacuum with 2 to 4 inch slotted hand-held tool (no water pump needed, so this can be a simple wet/dry vacuum)
• Pump-up sprayer(s)
• Dye stabilizer (acid overspray product)
• Spot and stain kit
• Solvent-based protector
• Bleaches for special application
• Other chemicals , depending on your preference or experience in cleaning

Testing furniture fabrics

This procedure is not difficult, but must be followed and be your first step if you are in doubt as to the fiber content.

Here’s what you do:

Obtain a small amount of fabric from the piece you want to clean. Open a zipper on the piece, or turn it over and obtain a sample where the fabric has been stapled.

Always obtain a sample from an inconspicuous area.

Perform your test with a pair of tweezers, an ashtray and butane lighter:

• Hold a small piece of the fabric (one that has all types of threads in it from that piece of furniture) in the tweezers and bring the flame close to it, but don’t put the fabric in the flame.
• Watch the reaction of the fabric. If it pulls away from the flame, it is probably mostly synthetic, like polyester, nylon or olefin. If it doesn’t, it’s probably natural like cotton.
• Now, put the fabric into the flame. Let it burn for a second, and then carefully blow it out.
• After it cools, crush the ash between your fingers.
• If it is soft or crumbly, and your fingers are dirty, the piece has at least some natural fibers.
• If it is hard, and your finger remains clean, you have synthetic fibers.

What does this all mean?

If you have natural fibers, you have to be extremely careful with your cleaning, perhaps using low moisture as outlined in the following information.

If it is synthetic, you shouldn’t have a problem with cleaning using various methods.

Always test your cleaning chemistry for colorfastness, regardless of the type of fiber content.

Dyes bleeding can occur in any type of natural fiber and in many synthetic fibers as well.

Cleaning expectations

The cleaning protocol outlined here is low-moisture cleaning for light to moderate soiling. It’s perfect for nearly all residential and commercial-type furnishings.

Heavily soiled pieces can be successfully cleaned with low-moisture cleaning, but it involves more time and work.

Many cleaners will use a two-step method to clean these pieces, combining the information in this technical bulletin and adding hot water extraction as the second step.

Whip up the shampoo until you have dense foam. Apply only the foam to the piece, and agitate it into the fabric. This will loosen the soils.

Be sure to thoroughly work solution into the arms of the piece, as well as anywhere that has contact points. Allow dwell time.

Towel-dry the piece or wet-vacuum the foam. Many modern shampoos dry to a crystal, so if you leave it behind to dry, there’s no harm done.

In fact, subsequent vacuuming keeps cleaning the fabric.

Keep repeating this step until you have the desired result.

You can also use more moisture from the bucket, if you deem it safe and the amount of soils warrant it.

You are now moving more into “shampoo” cleaning.

Use a towel or the horsehair brush to transfer the shampoo and more moisture to the piece, and follow the procedures above.

But do not over-apply moisture.

Your goal is to dampen only the fabric and not the foam or cushion.

Many cleaners will apply the shampoo with a pump-up sprayer, agitate it into the fabric, and then wet vacuum the resulting foam and soils. This can save time, but also uses more moisture.

That system often works better on severe soils than dry foam cleaning, and is safer than hot water extraction cleaning.

For more agitation, you can also use a brush on an electric power tool, if the fabric can handle it. Watch the reaction of the fabric as you work, and stop working if you see any amount of fraying, distortion or especially color movement.

Regardless of how you use this system, apply the fabric protector last. The solvents will help dry the fabric and help keep it clean.

Speed-dry the piece with an airmover or another fan; do not direct air straight at the piece.

Instead, angle it so the air moves across the surface you are drying.

This keeps you from pushing moisture into the piece.