Microbial Life on Your Sofa – A Hidden Ecosystem
How much time do you spend lounging back on the sofa? Just relaxing, hosting guests, napping, watching some TV, getting steamy with your partner – the sofa handles it all. Have kids and pets? No doubt they enjoy playing and resting on those cosy cushions. But just pause and think of all the microscopic life forms that shares that space with you. The bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other entities that have made their home in that upholstery. Each time people use the sofa, those microbiomes latch on. Just exactly what are you exposed to?
Bacteria on Your Sofa
There’s a bustling community of bacteria on the furniture – a combination of the normal flora of human skin and opportunistic pathogens. Take Micrococcus and Kocuria bacteria for instance. They are generally harmless, ubiquitous in our environment and contribute to the natural microbial balance on our skins. However, in certain scenarios, particularly for immunocompromised individuals, they can land one in hospital. Kocuria has been linked to infections and is notorious for its resistance to common antibiotics, such as oxacillin and cefazolin, with varying sensitivity to others like ampicillin and vancomycin.
You’ve probably also heard of Staphylococcus, often associated with infections ranging from minor skin conditions to severe health issues. A specific strain, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is a major concern in both healthcare settings and at home. Surfaces like sofas can harbor MRSA, posing a risk of transmission through direct contact. This bacterium, along with Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) can on soft surfaces like upholstery for extended periods.
Viruses Lurking in the Living Room
Viruses like the flu can survive on fabric surfaces but have a shorter lifespan compared to hard, non-porous surfaces. On materials like cotton fabric, influenza viruses typically remain viable up to 24 hours, yet on non-porous surfaces like stainless steel or plastic they can only last up to 48 hours. Factors such as temperature and humidity affect how long they can survive.
Granted, viral transmission from surfaces is not as common as through the air. But when you’re using the furniture and touch contaminated areas, then proceed to touch your face – specifically the eyes nose or mouth, you give these pathogens direct access into your body. So that popular sofa can be a high risk, especially if someone ill has recently occupied the space.
Fungi Among Us
The various kinds of mould and yeast are part of the natural environment. Their spores are carried into our homes by gusts of wind, through the open doors and windows. You even carry others on your clothing! clothing. They end up landing on the furniture, and can easily flourish in areas with high humidity or moisture. Common indoor moulds include Cladosporium, Aspergillus, and Penicillium.
Now with mould, one of the main issues is the threat to those with with allergies or respiratory conditions. The spores the fungi produces can trigger symptoms similar to hay fever—sneezing, runny nose, red eyes, and skin rash. More severe reactions may include asthma attacks or exacerbation of existing respiratory conditions.
Fungi can easily grow and spread on furniture, like sofas, depending largely on humidity and temperature. When humidity levels stay above 65%, conditions are ideal for fungal growth, which not only harms air quality but can also reduce the sofa’s lifespan and cleanliness.
Regularly and check for any signs of dampness. If you notice mould or a musty smell, you might need to remove the affected upholstery. Professional sofa cleaning services can tackle more severe fungal problems. In extreme cases, replacing the sofa may be the only solution.
The DIY Sofa Cleaning Mistake: Too Much Water
When too much water is used in cleaning a sofa, it can seep deep into the cushions and foam padding beyond the surface fabric. Unlike surface moisture, which can evaporate relatively quickly, moisture trapped deep inside the upholstery takes much longer to dry out.
This prolonged dampness creates an ideal environment for fungi. Plus sofas often accumulate dust, skin flakes, and other organic debris deep within their fabric and crevices. When these organic materials get wet and remain damp due to excess water, they serve as a food source for fungi, facilitating their growth.
Such issues can be prevented by ensuring that the sofa is cleaned by a professional, where the processes also includes extraction systems to remove the bulk of the moisture from the furniture to speed up the drying process.
How Often Should The Sofa Be Cleaned?
In your home, the frequency of cleaning your sofa mainly depends on its usage and the presence of kids, pets, or allergies among household members. A good rule of thumb is to deep clean your sofa at least twice a year. However, if your furry friends love lounging on the couch or your kids treat it like a jungle gym, increasing this to once every three to four months can help manage dirt and allergens.
For commercial spaces like offices, hotels, or waiting rooms, there are more people roaming about and using the facilities. In this case, the professional cleaning should be at least monthly or bi-monthly.
Daily maintenance is also crucial. This involves simple tasks like removing crumbs or dust and addressing spills immediately, which can prevent stains from setting. Like cleaning up a spill during a movie mishap, or getting rid of the grime left behind by clients using the furniture in your office.
The material of the furniture also factors in. Leather, for instance, requires different care compared to fabric upholstery. Leather should be regularly wiped down with a suitable cleaner and conditioner, not just for cleanliness but to prevent cracking and dryness. A family in a dry climate would particularly benefit from conditioning their leather sofas more frequently to combat the arid conditions.
For those who suffer from allergies, cleaning sofas might need to be more frequent to remove allergens like pet dander, dust mites, and pollen. This is especially true during peak allergy seasons. A weekly vacuum with a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner can make a significant difference in keeping symptoms at bay.
A couple of times during the year, hire a sofa cleaning contractor to come in and carry out a thorough job.
Why It’s Worth Hiring a Professional for Sofa Cleaning
A clean, hygienic sofa means comfort for you and your family, especially with kids or pets around. But getting it the required standards takes lots of effort. Fortunately, you can outsource this chore. Here’s why:
- Extend Sofa Life: Dirt and dust accumulating on the sofa is a threat. It has an abrasive effect, wearing down the fibres each time someone uses the furniture. Spills are also an issue, especially with the chemical reactions they may have with the sofa material. You don’t want set-in stains ruining the décor of the room, given that the sofa is a core part of the space. Hiring a qualified contractor to remove the grime will prolong your sofa’s lifespan—and save you money. After all, these are expensive pieces of furniture, and you don’t want to be forced to replace them prematurely.
- Get Rid of Tough Stains and Smells: Some sofa problems can drive you to your wit’s end. Stains that resist all your cleaning efforts. Odours that make the whole room smell unpleasant. Constantly reassuring guests that the stains on the cushions won’t transfer to their clothes. The embarrassment when you see them crinkling their noses at the smells coming from the seats. This is not how you want things to be. From red wine spills to pet accidents, professionals have the tools to deal with it all. No more hiding spots with cushions!
- Boost Indoor Air Quality: Sofas trap allergens like dust mites, pet dander, and pollen, which can worsen allergies or asthma. They are a health risk to the household members. A professional clean helps improve air quality, making your home fresher and healthier.
- Freshen Up Your Space: Of all the different kinds of furniture in the home, the sofa is the most impactful to the ambience. If it is in a sorry state, the rest of the general look and feel of the space goes down the drain. On the other hand, a clean sofa can brighten up your entire living room. It’s like giving your home a quick makeover without the high cost.
- Save Time and Effort: You have more important things to do with your weekends and days off from work. Enjoying a scenic walk, tying out a new recipe or baking something sweet. Catching up on that movie you’ve been looking forward to, starting a new series, or finally read that book you’ve been meaning to start. You could even spend some time journaling and setting new goals. You don’t want to spend hours hunched over a soiled sofa, scrubbing away at stubborn dirt and stains. Professionals make it look easy, but it’s hard work—especially if you don’t have the right tools and cleaning products. And it’s particularly exasperating if you spend all that time on the project and still end up with unsatisfactory results. If any residue remains on the sofa, it will get soiled again at a faster rate. Some stains even wick back up to the surface after you’re done, forcing you to repeat the process. Avoid the hassle and free up your time for things you love by leaving the task to a qualified contractor.
- Get Expert Care: Different fabrics need different treatments. Professionals know what’s best for your sofa’s material, keeping it safe from DIY mishaps. Plus services use safe, eco-friendly products, so no need to worry about harsh chemicals in your home.
Definitely, the success of the task hinges on you actually getting the right crew for the job in the first place. The market is flooded with plenty of contractors, each claiming to be the best at what they do, so you need to take your time to sift through the different options to find the local sofa cleaning professionals that will actually deliver on their mandate.
You can start with an online search. From search engines, social media sites to local business listings, you will find different contractors offering the sofa cleaning services near you. Go through their reviews and ratings. How credible does the company look? Areas like the comment sections on their social media pages will enable you to see what others say about the business. Be wary of companies that have excessively negative reviews. For contractors who have been in business for a while, there are bound to be a couple of clients who were not pleased – so see how this was addressed. Generally, you want to work with a company that has more positive reviews, spread out over time. These should also be natural reviews, not just spammed comments by people who seem that they have been paid to do that.
When it comes to the pricing, check quotes from different companies. Factors that will affect the final cost include aspects like how many sofas need to be worked on, the kinds of stains involved, all through to the time at which you want the service to be scheduled, since there are companies that are flexible enough to come outside the typical working hours. If you get rates from a couple of providers, you will be able to gauge the optimal price for your specific situation, since you don’t want to overpay, or risk hiring an unqualified contractor because of their low rates.
When discussing the sofa cleaning task, ask about the kinds of processes that the company uses. Get a detailed breakdown of how they intend to work on your particular furniture, including the products that will be employed for the task, right through to the timings involved, that way you can plan yourself. If you have pets, ask whether the cleaning crew will be okay with them being around when the task is being carried out, or whether you will need to make special arrangements. You can also make this call yourself, since you know your pet best, and how the dogs or cats will react to a household with new people and machines being moved around.
