The average sofa isn’t like a pair of curtains or your favourite jacket – you can’t simply send it to the dry cleaners in order to restore it to its former glory. If you have a fabric-covered sofa, the likelihood is that it will attract stains and unsightly blemishes over the course of its lifetime. But before you make an expensive trip to the nearest furniture store, you should consider cleaning your tired sofa with the help of a Shark® steam mop.
GET YOUR SHARK VACUUM CLEANER AT THE READY
Before you start to tackle those stubborn stains and ground-in dirt, you will need to remove any loose dirt, dust and general debris from all the surfaces of your sofa. If it has removable cushions, take them off and individually vacuum them with a powerful Shark® vacuum. You should then systematically vacuum every square inch of your sofa. Applying super-heated steam from a Shark® steam mop may spread dirt and dust around if it isn’t removed first.
PREPARE THE SHARK LIFT AWAY MOP
Shark’s® ingenious Lift-Away™ Professional Steam Pocket® Mop is ideal for cleaning upholstery, as it features a detachable, handheld steam cleaner that is perfect for reaching all those hidden nooks and crannies that sofas tend to have.
Your Shark® steam mop will have an accessory hose, to which a range of handy and effective accessories can be fitted. For the main areas of your sofa, the Shark® Carpet Glider attachment could work well. And to remove particularly stubborn stains, using Shark’s® Flat Scrubber Attachment with micro-fibre steam pads will deliver just the right amount of steam to clean your sofa’s upholstery without damaging it. You may also want to experiment with the Garment Steamer Attachment with bonnets.
Shark’s® Steam Pocket® technology equally disperses steam across the entire surface of the mop head – ensuring no area of your furniture is out of reach. You have the choice of three different intensity settings: dust, mop and scrub. To begin with, it’s probably a good idea to use the dust setting. Fill your mop’s reservoir with water, select your chosen setting, and wait around 30 seconds for your Shark® steam mop to reach temperature. You should then gently pass the cleaning pad of the Shark® Lift-Away™ unit over all the surfaces of your sofa.
One of the clearest advantages involved in using your Shark® steam mop to clean your sofa is the fact that the optimum amount of water is used. The revolutionary steam system developed by Shark® means your surfaces can be steam cleaned without leaving excessive water residues behind. So when you’re finished, your upholstery isn’t soaking wet.
CLEAN IN SECTIONS
If you are cleaning your sofa for the first time, it’s probably best to select the underside of a cushion to clean first – or an area that is out of view. Clean a small area then check the results around 15 minutes afterwards. If the surface you have cleaned has responded well, you will know that it’s OK to clean the rest of the sofa. However, you should always check the furniture manufacturer’s cleaning guidelines before you start.
Once you have covered all the surfaces of your item of furniture, the chances are that your Shark® steam mop’s cleaning pads will have picked up a serious amount of dust and dirt. It is probably best to replace them if they have become discoloured, as this could affect your mop’s cleaning power the next time you use it.
You should finish off the job by vacuuming your sofa one final time. Despite the fact that Shark’s® Steam Pocket® technology uses a minimal amount of water to create steam, your upholstery may be slightly damp to the touch after cleaning. Open the windows and doors in the room, and allow your cushions to dry separately before placing them back into position.
The cost of a professional upholstery cleaning service is considerable, but the purchase of a Shark® steam mop can deliver exactly the same benefits for a fraction of the price. With regular, chemical-free cleaning, there is no reason why you can’t extend the life of your sofa considerably.
