Our team of professional house cleaners in Melbourne understand that deep cleaning your home can be a big task at the best of times. Unlike the regular weekend clean, deep cleaning comes with many cleaning tasks that can be:
- Tiring
- Time-consuming
- Challenging
One area in particular that makes our elbow grease run dry is upholstery cleaning.
Upholstery cleaning is an especially tricky thing – it’s not always clear what the best way to go about cleaning it is.
As such, many opt to skip cleaning their upholstery. This is partially because of the challenge of cleaning every corner of your favourite sofa, and partially because hey, it’s probably not that dirty anyway.
The problem is that there is actually a lot of potentially nasty bacteria and bugs hiding in the fibres or the fabric on your furniture!
Today, our professional house cleaners in Melbourne explain the most common types of bacteria and bugs you might find hiding in your furniture, as well as upholstery cleaning tips for when the spring deep clean rolls round.
What’s hiding in your upholstery?
1) What are dust mites, and are they in your furniture?
Dust mites are tiny creatures that produce microscopic waste that cause a lot of trouble for people with allergies or asthma.
One dust mite produces two thousand particles a week. The high reproductive rate of these little critters means that it doesn’t take long for these harmful particles to build up very quickly.
Worse, fabric fibres are surprisingly good at holding on to them!
Instead of simply sitting on the surface, upholstered materials provide shelter for dust mites, hiding them and making them hard to remove by conventional means.
2) Mould, and why it’s harmful
Just because you can’t see mould, doesn’t mean that you and your family are safe from its effects!
Mould can be very harmful to your health even if you aren’t allergic or asthmatic – in particular, mould can cause:
- Irritation to your nose, ears and eyes
- Breathing problems
- Lung infections
- Reduced respiratory function
If the spores of the mould become airborne, it can have a negative affect on your health. In particular, it can inflame the airways, cause coughing and tightness of the chest.
That’s why it so important to hire a professional house cleaner to get rid of it for you – they know how to do it safely and ensure none is left behind.
3) “Don’t let the bed bugs bite!”
Bed bugs are tiny little insects that feed on warm blood – namely, yours!
This isn’t a one-off either – these little bloodsuckers need blood in order to reproduce and survive, so expect repeat visits.
On top of being gross, they can also ruin your sleep with their bites.
The worst part? Bed bug bites can take up to 14 days to appear on your skin. That means you might have to wait two weeks before you even know there’s a problem!
4) A house cleaner explains carpet beetles
Carpet beetles and their larvae live of fabric and animal products. If left alone, they will thrive in carpet, couches and curtains.
You may ask, what’s so bad about carpet beetles? They’re harmless, right?
Not quite.
Unlike the other unwelcome guests we’ve discussed, Carpet beetles primarily cause damage to your carpet, clothes, curtains and upholstered furniture rather than to you. They will quite literally leave holes in your favourite blankets.
Of course, since Carpet beetles and their larvae are also covered in barbed hairs, they do have a habit of being very irritating to human skin.
If you want to keep your favourite clothes, upholstered furniture and even your skin, our house cleaners in Melbourne suggest getting your carpets, upholstery and other areas where carpet beetles hide cleaned out regularly!
As a house cleaner: our favourite upholstery cleaning tips
How to clean mould
The first and most important tip our house cleaners have when it comes to cleaning mould is to protect yourself.
When you are cleaning mould out of your upholstery, it is important to wear a mask to prevent you from inhaling mould spores. As we mentioned above, they can get into your lungs and cause all sorts of trouble, so a mask is essential!
We recommend taking your upholstered furniture outside into direct sunlight and sweeping visible mould off with a broom. Follow-up by using a filtered vacuum to vacuum the couch.
If your couch was covered in a lot of mould, you’ll want to use:
- Rubbing alcohol
- White vinegar
- Ammonia
- Warm water
- A stiff-bristled brush
Mix the rubbing alcohol or vinegar with warm water in equal portions – alternatively, you can mix ammonia and water in a 1:10 ratio. Rinse thoroughly until the mould starts to come loose.
If you’re still worried about potential mould growing where you can’t see it, or are concerned by the presence of deeper mould, give our house cleaners in Melbourne a call and we will take care of it for you.
Upholstery is more than just furniture – cleaning your curtains
When it comes to upholstered surfaces, curtains are especially problematic, and are a common choice of home for dust mites.
You can remove a dust mite infestation from your curtains by washing them with very hot water, and drying the curtains using heat.
You probably won’t want to put your curtains in the dryer, but if your dry them in front of the heater – the dust mites should die off accordingly.
Alternatively, you can call a professional house cleaner in Melbourne to look after it for you!
Using high-temperature steam cleaning and hot water extraction methods, we kill dust mites and other unwelcome creepy crawlies hiding out in your curtains.
Protect your sleep – how to clean bed bugs
When it comes to bed bugs, you’ll want to steer clear of insecticides – you’re going to be sleeping in that bed afterwards, and in many cases, insecticides can be just as bad!
Instead, you’ll want to launder your sheets and bed linens in hot water – 50C, bare minimum.
Heat is your secret weapon when it comes to bed bugs. Consider tossing them into the washing machine and putting it to the “hot” setting should do the trick – alternatively, setting the clothes dryer to the highest setting can also kill bed bugs.
Finally, the hard part: your mattress.
Bed bugs burrow into your mattress, making them hard to remove. If you notice a cut or tear that bed bugs may have used to get in, getting them out can be hard – your only option may be to cover your mattress in an encasement and starve them out.
Be prepared for a long wait, however – bed bugs can hibernate for up to a year!
Look after your upholstery with a professional home cleaner in Melbourne!
Our house cleaners understand that sometimes mess is just too tough or too boring to clean yourself – especially when it comes to deep cleaning.
That’s why we’re here!
The Master Cleaners motto is simple: we’ll Master what you can’t clean.
Our specialty is the big, tough deep cleaning jobs. You know the ones: the cleans that see you doubled over with a toothbrush, scrubbing out corners, breaking your back and wearing out your knees.
Since 2001, our house cleaners in Melbourne and Sydney have been doing just that, leaving spotless houses and happy homeowners in our wake.
Just check out our testimonials to see first-hand how satisfied our clients are with our hard working nature, quality results and reliability.
If you’re in the market for upholstery cleaning, Master Cleaners is the team to call – if you want to contact us, you can call us on 1800 11 22 34. Have a job in mind already? You can get a quote from our professional house cleaners online.
