One of the most common questions I hear is, “How often should I have my upholstery professionally cleaned?” My answer is probably different from what you might expect: I don’t think you should wait until your upholstery looks dirty. I believe professional upholstery cleaning should be part of a regular maintenance program, just like changing the oil in your car or replacing the air filter in your home.
This discussion is about fabric upholstery, not leather, which requires a different type of care.
Don’t Wait Until Your Upholstery Looks Dirty
When people tell me their sofa or chairs are starting to look dirty, I understand why they think it’s time to have them cleaned.
But ideally, you should have cleaned the upholstery before it reached that point.
Think about your car.
You don’t wait until the engine stops working before changing the oil. You do it as routine maintenance because you know that allowing the oil to deteriorate too far isn’t good for the engine.
The same idea applies to the air filter in your home. You don’t wait until you can see dust blowing through the house before changing it.
I look at upholstery in much the same way.
Professional upholstery cleaning should be maintenance, not simply a rescue operation.
How Often Depends on How Much the Furniture Is Used
There isn’t one cleaning schedule that is right for every sofa or chair.
A sofa in a family room that is used every day is going to need a very different maintenance schedule from a sofa sitting in a formal living room that might only be used once a week—or even less.
That’s why I don’t like giving everyone a blanket answer such as, “Have your upholstery cleaned every two years.”
Instead, I recommend looking at how the furniture is actually being used.
For example, suppose a family-room sofa is used every day and you notice that after about two years it begins to look noticeably soiled.
I wouldn’t necessarily wait two years before cleaning it.
I might recommend cleaning it every 12 to 18 months, depending on the circumstances.
The idea is to clean it before you can see the accumulated soil, so that it continues to look clean rather than reaching the point where you notice that it needs cleaning.
What About Upholstery That Still Looks Clean?
This is where things get interesting.
Upholstery can accumulate much more than what you can see.
Every day, dust and other airborne particles settle on the furniture. Pollen can enter the home and eventually settle on upholstered surfaces. Particles associated with cooking can also become airborne and eventually settle into fabrics.
If you sit near a sunny window, you have probably seen those tiny particles floating through the air.
Eventually, they have to land somewhere.
And some of them land on your furniture.
So even if your sofa still looks great, that doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t material accumulating in the fabric.
Your Clothing Can Also Affect How Often Upholstery Needs Cleaning
Another issue that many people don’t think about is dye transfer from clothing.
Dark clothing, particularly dark blue jeans and black or dark-colored pants, can sometimes transfer dye onto upholstery simply through normal friction.
Every time you sit down, move around or get up, there is friction between your clothing and the upholstery.
This can be particularly noticeable on white, cream or other light-colored furniture.
My advice?
If you have light-colored upholstery, be careful about wearing dark clothing on it.
Don’t wear dark blue jeans on a white sofa and then be surprised when the fabric eventually shows the consequences.
If dye transfer does occur, it can sometimes be much more difficult to deal with than ordinary soil.
This is another reason why I prefer a preventive maintenance approach. If a particular piece of furniture is exposed to dark clothing every day, it may need professional cleaning more frequently than another piece of furniture in the same home.
What About Spills?
Of course, spills are another reason upholstery may need professional attention.
Coffee, wine, food and other substances can create problems very quickly.
And this is one area where fabric protection can sometimes provide valuable extra time.
A protected fabric may cause a liquid to bead up rather than immediately soaking into the upholstery, giving you an opportunity to blot the spill.
But even with protected upholstery, I recommend dealing with spills as soon as possible.
The longer something remains in the fabric, the more difficult it can become to remove.
And if you aren’t sure what to do, that’s one of those situations where it can be better to ask a professional before experimenting with household cleaners.
There Is Also What I Call “Cleaning for the Health of It”
There is another reason I don’t think upholstery should be cleaned only when it looks dirty.
We naturally shed tiny amounts of skin as we go about our daily lives. Upholstered furniture can also collect dust and other microscopic particles over time.
Those materials can become part of the household dust that accumulates in furniture, carpeting and other soft surfaces.
Dust mites, where present, feed on organic material such as shed skin flakes, and their waste and body fragments can become part of household dust.
This doesn’t mean that having your sofa professionally cleaned will cure allergies or prevent allergy symptoms. It won’t.
But it is one reason I believe there is value in cleaning upholstery even when it still looks good.
I sometimes refer to this as “cleaning for the health of it.”
You’re not necessarily cleaning because you can see something wrong.
You’re cleaning because you know the furniture is accumulating material through everyday use.
Every Piece of Upholstery Is Different
After more than 55 years in the carpet and upholstery cleaning business, one thing I know for certain is that there is no universal cleaning schedule for upholstery.
The type of fabric matters.
The color matters.
The construction of the furniture matters.
How often it is used matters.
Who uses it matters.
What people wear while using it matters.
Whether people eat and drink on it matters.
Pets, children and other household activities can also make a difference.
A formal living-room chair that is rarely used could go considerably longer between professional cleanings than a family-room sectional that everyone sits on every day.
That’s why I prefer to look at each piece of furniture individually.
So, How Often Should You Have Your Upholstery Cleaned?
If you want a simple answer, I’d say:
Don’t wait until your upholstery looks dirty. Establish a maintenance schedule based on how much the furniture is used and the conditions it is exposed to.
For heavily used upholstery, that might mean approximately every 12 to 18 months.
For moderately used furniture, it might be longer.
For furniture that is rarely used, it may be considerably longer.
And if you have a light-colored fabric that is exposed to dark clothing, pets, food, drinks or other conditions that accelerate soiling or staining, you may need to shorten the interval.
The important thing is to establish the schedule before the furniture tells you it needs cleaning.
After 55+ Years, That’s How I Look at Upholstery Cleaning
When I started cleaning carpets and upholstery more than five decades ago, I learned that cleaning isn’t simply about making something look better.
It’s also about maintaining it before problems become difficult to correct.
That’s why I compare professional upholstery cleaning to changing the oil in your car or replacing an air filter in your home.
You don’t perform those maintenance tasks because something has already failed.
You do them because you want to prevent problems and keep things working properly.
I believe upholstery deserves the same kind of regular maintenance.
If you’re wondering how often a particular sofa, sectional, chair or other piece of fabric upholstery should be professionally cleaned, I’d be happy to look at the type of fabric, how it is used and its current condition and give you my opinion.
Alec’s Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning LLC
Serving Boston, Greater Boston, the South Shore and Cape Cod.
Call 781-871-1415 to discuss your upholstery cleaning needs.