How Often Should My Sofa Be Vacuumed?

Vacuuming is part of the routine sofa care. However, should it be done every week or every day? Well, the frequency that you pick depends on a couple of factors. Before we delve into that, let’s look at the importance of the vacuuming.

How Regular Vacuuming Helps Your Sofa

The sofa is constantly piling up dust, and there is also soiling that is brought onto it by the persons using the furniture. Food crumbs, mud from the paws of your furry friend who comes in from the outdoor escapades all soiled up, dander, body waste from insects and rodents that come to feed on the organic matter in the furnishings – it all piles up within the cushions and in the cervices of the sofa. The gritty soiling is a threat to the upholstery, gradually wearing it down. When people use the sofa, the particles are grinded against the fabric, abrading the material. When this is left unchecked, it damages to the sofa becomes expensive, taking away its beauty and appeal. Vacuuming comes in to extract the loose debris from the upholstery, and reduce the rate of wear of the sofa.

Skipping out on the vacuuming means that there will be more gritty soiling getting pushed deeper into the sofa material, and more effort will be required to remove it. For those food crumbs strewn all over the cushions and upholstery, they will be a magnet for insects, which will increase the rate of grime building up within your unit. 

Factors Affecting The Vacuuming Frequency

• Level of traffic

The amount of usage that a sofa in the reception area of an office building receives, that of the sets in the living room at home, and the chaise lounge in the bedroom are all different. For low traffic sofas such as those in bedrooms and the guestrooms, the vacuuming can be done weekly. However, for those in the living room, this should be at least twice a week, while that in the reception area can be done daily. The number of people on the premises is a determinant factor here. Basically, the higher the number of people, the more frequent the vacuuming should be.

• Presence of pets

With cats and dogs around, there will be a higher concentration of dirt and allergens. The furry little guys no doubt enjoy sleeping on sections of the sofa. Some of these can get so concentrated with dander, that you will have a more severe reaction resting on them than if you buried your face in the fur of the animal. In case you have pets in the household, the vacuuming should be more frequent.

Schedule A Routine Deep Cleaning For Your Upholstery

While vacuuming is important, an in-depth cleaning will still be required. This is because the vacuuming does not remove the grime that is ingrained within the upholstery, and you also want the stains and odours removed. For this, it is recommended that you bring in the professionals, and here are a couple of reasons why:

• They have the equipment needed for the task

Without the high-powered machinery needed for the cleaning, working on the sofa can take longer than necessary, and leave the upholstery and padding too wet – which prolongs the drying time as well. The equipment that is rented from the stores comes with smaller capacities compared to the industrial-grade units used by the professionals. This is in a bid to make them more portable and affordable to rent out, which inadvertently results in them coming with less power to undertake the cleaning. On the other hand, the professionals will use truck-mounted systems that deliver the pressures and temperatures needed for the cleaning task, and they also come fully equipped with the scrubbing gear and wet/dry vacuuming systems to extract the moisture from the cleaned sofas.

• Avoids damage

With upholstery cleaning, you can’t just use any random detergent in an attempt to remove the dirt spots and stains. Just because a particular formulation was effective in breaking down the dirt build up on the countertops, or removing that drink stain on the floor, doesn’t mean that it will be suitable for the same kind of stain on the sofas. The underlying material of the unit is a key consideration in the kinds of cleaning processes that are employed.

It is common to find DIYers using the wrong cleaning chemicals, which ends up damaging the furnishings. Bleach-based solutions, ammonia, vinegar and other popular DIY cleaning hacks can wreak havoc on the upholstery, especially for the delicate fabrics. The different types of material, be they natural or synthetic sofas, have their required cleaning processes, and deviating from this can lead to issues such as corrosion of the fibres, weakening of the protective treatments that had been applied, and there are also those cases where the stains become more permanently etched onto the sofa. This is certainly not how you want things playing out. Avoid the risks by calling in the pros.

• It frees your time

You’re already busy with a packed schedule, with all the activities in your work and social life. In fact, this is likely to be one of the reasons why the upholstery cleaning chore doesn’t make the routine to-do list. Sneaking an arduous sofa cleaning task in the middle of your days can put a toll on you. Getting the professionals to do it takes the load off your back, and frees you to focus on the rest of your itinerary. 

Here, it is important that you engage with a firm that prioritises client satisfaction, which includes the results obtained from the cleaning process, to the timely nature of the services. You wouldn’t want to be inconvenienced because of a cleaning crew that do not adhere to the schedules that had been agreed upon, or a company that keeps taking you round in circles when you call them up to make enquires. It points to a firm that will bring you difficulties down the road. Sure, there may occasionally be unforeseen events that lead to delays – but even these should be communicated quickly, that way you’re not left waiting ages for the crew to arrive at your residence, time that could have otherwise been spent on other tasks.

How Often Should My Sofa Be Vacuumed?