The arms go first, then the tops of the back cushions. Those are the places hands and heads rest, and the fabric there goes darker and a little shiny long before the rest of the sofa starts to look tired. A proper clean lifts that out, along with the crumbs and grit that work down the sides of the seats and into the piping.
The care label
Somewhere on every sofa there is a small care tag, often tucked beneath a seat cushion or fixed under the frame, and we read it before the machine goes on. A W is good news for us, since water is allowed. An S tells us to keep water off entirely, so that sofa does not get wet-cleaned. W/S allows either method, and X allows nothing beyond a vacuum. Plenty of tags have been snipped off over the years, in which case a small patch at the back or under the skirt gets tried first and left to dry before we carry on.
The clean itself
It is the same extraction machine that does the carpets, fitted with a small upholstery head and run at lower pressure. We vacuum first with a crevice tool, then pre-spray the fabric, work it in with a soft brush and extract it. On velvet and chenille the brush only ever goes one way, so the pile does not dry patchy. Zipped cushion covers stay on the foam, because foam can slip out of line inside a damp cover and it is a struggle to get straight again.
Prices
A two-seater is £57 and every seat after that is £26, so a three-seater is £83 and a five-seat corner sofa £135. An armchair costs £33. Dining chairs with padded fabric seats are £13 apiece, a swivel office chair £11, and protecting the fabric with Scotchgard adds £13 per seat. The £67 minimum covers one-off visits, which means an armchair on its own is charged at £67, while a two-seater and an armchair together come to £90.
| Service | Price |
|---|---|
| Two-seater sofa | £57 |
| Armchair | £33 |
| Mattress | £35 |
| Dining chair | £13 |
| Curtains, short drop | £35 |
| Curtains, long drop | £42 |
When you can sit on it
After a morning clean, most fabric sofas are fine to use by the evening. Stand the seat cushions on their edges and keep the room warm with a window cracked. Thick chenille and wool mixes take a few hours longer.
Sofas in Ealing flats and houses
Many of the flats around Ealing Broadway are let furnished, and the landlord’s pale fabric sofa is one of the first things looked at when a tenancy ends. We can do it on the same day as the carpets, so there is only one visit to arrange. In the family houses up towards Pitshanger and Castlebar, a set of dining chairs with fabric seats often goes in with the sofa at £13 a chair. Leather we leave to leather specialists; it needs its own products and we do not carry them.
A bed can be done at the same time, and mattress cleaning has its own page. Curtains in the same room are covered under curtain cleaning, and our prices page lists the lot.
Questions we get asked
Ours is a corner sofa. How is that priced?
By the seat. Count every seat including the corner one: the first two are £57 together and each one after that is £26. A four-seat corner comes to £109.
Our sofa tag has an S on it. Can you help?
Only up to a point. S fabrics are meant for solvent cleaning, and water on them can leave tide rings or pull the cover tight. We can give it a thorough vacuum, and for anything more we will give you the name of a specialist.
Will the cat hair come off?
Most of it. Before any water, we drag a rubber pet brush across the fabric and vacuum up what it gathers, because once hair is wet it clings to everything. Fine hair woven deep into velvet takes several goes and the odd strand stays.
Can the sofa be moved so you can do the carpet under it?
Yes, when we are cleaning the carpet too. We slide it out, clean the floor and set it back down on pads to protect the wet carpet.