Signs You Need A Professional Upholstery Cleaning

Because we live on and around them, our upholstery can be the victim of staining and spots (time for some upholstery stain removal!). Food, pets, drinks… there are endless sources for a mysterious new stain on a cushion. Thankfully, a professional upholstery cleaning service can help! Rather than immediate begin looking for a replacement, we’d encourage you to consider hiring a professional cleaner, like us! A+ Carpet Cleaning has specialized in upholstery stain removal for over 15 years. Our processes, products, and equipment are all top notch, and we firmly believe in getting the best results possible.

If you are staring down a stain on your lounge chair, or looking at the spot your dog always sleeps on the couch, we’d love to be of service to you. We can help with a wide variety of upholstery stains, and we’d love to save you the money of replacing your upholstery. According to livingcozy.com, most people pay somewhere between $1,500 and $3,000 for a new sofa! 

What We Can Help With

Coffee and Tea Stains

A hot beverage in the morning is a very common way to start one’s day, whether it’s coffee, tea… even hot chocolate. Okay, so maybe you make yourself an iced coffee in the morning. Either way, something about a flavorful drink makes us seek it first thing after we wake up.

Where do you drink your morning beverage? If you enjoy sitting in your chairs or couches while you drink your coffee, you’ve likely experienced the unfortunate event of a coffee/tea spill. While that’s always an unfortunate start to the day, call a professional upholstery cleaner right away to help. And make a mental note if there was cream present or not—it does make a difference!

Red Wine

So, we’ve talked about beginning of the day beverages… now, what about end of the day beverages? A glass of wine is a favored way to relax in the evening, and what better place to enjoy it than your living or sitting room? Particularly in good company.

A splash of red wine on your cream-colored sofa is not the end of the world (we promise). Before doing anything on your own, make sure to contact a professional to talk you through what to do while the area is still fresh. We have had lots of success with wine spills; just check out our reviews!

Greasy Food

Ah, the guilty pleasure of greasy food and a movie night. Have you accidentally dripped or spilled grease onto your upholstery? You aren’t the first person, and you won’t be the last. As it is with all these kinds of stains, the best thing to do is not to treat it with your own methods out of panic. Speak with a local upholstery cleaner (like us) and we’ll make sure you get the help you need.

Pet Stains and Odors

Whether or not you keep your pets off your furniture, their dander and odor can travel into the upholstered fibers. If you do let your pets onto your upholstery, you know how quickly and easily pet fur can embed itself. Old or very young pets can even have accidents on upholstery, leaving behind a less-than-desired stain and smell. Handily enough, we at A+ Carpet Cleaning not only have the most effective method to help on the market, but we also have products that are specifically geared towards alleviating pet stains, dander, and odors.

Dirt and Mud

Over time, soiling happens. When we are going about in the outside world and then immediately sitting on our furniture at home, we are leaving behind different debris that we picked up, usually without even knowing it. This debris can wear down the upholstery fibers and give it a dirty appearance. Luckily, regular vacuuming can help reduce any dirt on your furniture, and a regular, professional cleaning will help maintain longevity.

The “How” of Upholstery Stain Removal

Our process of upholstery cleaning is similar to our process of carpet cleaning, but the equipment we use is different.

• Pre-spray: We will do our pre-spray to begin, allowing some dwell time for it to suspend the soil within the fabric fibers.
• Rinse: Using our upholstery tool, we then use hot water extraction to rinse the pre-spray out to the best of our ability.
  • If there are any specialty stains or spots that we see, we will utilize hand tools and spotter products after rinsing and then rinse again.
• Dry stroke: Once we have finished rinsing over the entire piece of upholstery, we go over the entire thing one more time. This helps the upholstery to dry faster.

Hiring a professional upholstery cleaner is as easy as giving us a call, sending a text, or even sending an email! We have had success with a variety of different sizes, fabrics, soiling, and stains. In order to provide you with an estimate, we will ask you to measure your upholstery in linear feet, provide us with the material information, and then request that you text a photo of the upholstery to our business phone. Once we’ve reviewed the photo with our technician, he will provide us with the estimate and we will pass that along to you.

Other than carpet, the most frequently utilized “element” of a room would be the furniture. Even those of us who have office jobs love to come home and… sit some more. Our furniture is where we lounge with family, friends, and our pets. Whether you have a sectional you bought from a local Costco or an upholstered rocking chair that has been in your family for eight generations, we are willing to bet that you value every piece of furniture you have in your home. Why? Not only is it comfortable and convenient to have, but a simple couch or dining chair can have many memories associated with it. A home is a huge element of our mental health and sense of stability, and what is a home but the collection of items and people it houses?

Dirt and Stains on Your Upholstery

Try as you might, it is inevitable that your upholstery fabric will begin to see some soiling and wear after a period of time. Dirt is unfortunately a part of life, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a permanent addition to your furniture! If you’re noticing a lot of dirt and stains on your upholstery, that might be an indication that it’s time to bring in the professionals! Hot water extraction utilizes a method that combines pre-spray and hot water extraction so you get a thorough clean and the best results possible. At A+ Carpet Cleaning, we also utilize a truck mounted machine, which is the most thorough, so you know you really are getting the best.

When you attempt to clean a stain yourself, you run the risk of accidentally using a product or method that is harmful/detrimental to the specific fabric type you have, making it more difficult for anyone to have success. Rather than act on your own, we encourage you to call and speak with a professional upholstery cleaner who can direct you on the best at-home methods for the specific situation you’re dealing with. An experienced upholstery technician will advise you differently depending on the fabric of your upholstery and the source/content of the stain. Despite what some might say, there really is no “catch-all” when it comes to upholstery stain removal.

Pet Fur on Your Upholstery

We love pets (and even have a pup of our own)! Not only is a pet a wonderful source of entertainment and company, but they bring a fresh personality into the family… and sure are cute to boot. As a family-business, we know how lovely it is to have a pet in the home, but we also know the struggle of managing the endless fur. Depending on your upholstery’s fabric type, you might find yourself constantly dealing with pet hair by using endless roller sticks, brushes, and specific pet dander tools.

While it’s important to vacuum/roller your upholstery regularly, particularly if you have pets, a professional upholstery cleaner will be able to do a better job at not only eradicating the pet fur, but also protecting the upholstery so it’s more difficult for a pet hair to get deep into the fabric fibers. A+ Carpet Cleaning has a product called protectant, or scotch guard, that creates an invisible barrier around the fibers and makes the upholstery easier to clean in the future. We also can use a special enzyme oxidation treatment on request that does an even deeper clean on pet dander, accidents, and other pet soiling.

Unpleasant Odor coming from your Upholstery

Are you smelling something as soon as you sit down on your couch? Is there a strange odor every time you walk by your upholstered dining chairs?

If there is an odd aroma coming from any of your furniture… call a professional. You don’t need to deal with an odor alone; much like stains, if you attempt to work on it on your own and mistakenly do so improperly, you might make the smell even more pungent. The best way to avoid having to replace the upholstery altogether is to call and have it professionally cleaned. A+ Carpet Cleaning utilizes an odor modification product that changes odor on contact so they no longer have that odor. Our technician is always happy to walk you through what he believes the source of the smell to be, what products we can use, and what results he believes we will achieve.

How to Maintain Your Upholstery

Cleaning your upholstery should always start with a thorough vacuuming. Use a brush attachment to gently remove any dirt or debris that has settled into the fabric, focusing on areas where dust tends to accumulate, such as crevices and seams. If you ever experience a spill or stain, don’t hesitate to call a professional carpet cleaner like us at (503-314-7453) for advice on the best course of action to take.

How We Clean Upholstery

As a locally-owned business, we love to share our processes and products with clients so that you know what’s happening from start to finish. If you’ve never had a professional upholstery cleaning before, our goal is to give you all the information possible so you feel confident and comfortable before the technician even arrives.

Step One: Pre-Spray
Much like carpet cleaning, we will utilize a specially designed pre-spray that will emulsify (suspend) any soil that’s laying deeper in the carpet fibers. And before you ask, there’s no need to worry about our products—everything we use is non-toxic and pet safe!

Step Two: Rinse
Utilizing a special upholstery wand, we will go over the entire piece of upholstery and use hot water extraction. Water up to 220 degrees or hotter will be coming through the wand and being extracted at the same time to provide the most thorough rinse.

Step Three: Spots/Stains
After finishing a rinse, the technician will review the upholstery and look for any spots or stains that were not immediately removed by the first two steps. If there are any areas that need more attention, they will work on those using tools and spotters accordingly.

Step Four: Dry Stroke
Finally, the technician will go over the entire piece of upholstery again, this time with just the high-powered vacuum running through the wand. This extracts as much moisture as possible while still giving your upholstery the deep cleaning it deserves. We have found that doing a final dry stroke helps the upholstery to dry faster as well as helps to prevent wicking.

Upholstery Cleaning Near Me… Near You!

A+ Carpet Cleaning is based in the Cedar Mill area of Portland, but each week we reach areas including Beaverton, Hillsboro, Lake Oswego, Tualatin, Tigard, West Linn, and even occasionally Sherwood and Wilsonville. If you have an upholstery cleaning need, we’d love to hear from you. Call us at 503-314-7453.

A+ Carpet Cleaning – Portland
2885 NW 111th Ct, Portland, OR 97229
(503) 314-7453
https://carpetcleanerportland.com/ 

While cat owners might disagree with that second part, the heart of the quote is true: we love our pets! All our employees have a pet, and we have our own family dog, Amber, who is often sleeping at our feet while we talk with you over the phone. We know how pets and upholstery get along… and how sometimes, they don’t. 

Unfortunately, when you know the joys of pet ownership, you also know the downfalls. Training, feeding, walking, bathing. And for many of us, cleaning up after accidents and fur left behind is a part of a regular routine. Animals add a certain strain to keeping your floors and furniture clean, but owning a pet doesn’t mean that you can’t keep your home looking and feeling fresh! When you bring in local Portland professional cleaners like A+ Carpet Cleaning, you know that we’ll get the job done right. And, best of all, you won’t have to lift a finger.

Now, pets and upholstery… those two things don’t often co-exist well. Whether your dog has left a perfectly shaped dog crevice on your cushion, or your cat accidentally threw up on the armchair, or you aren’t sure what color your couch is anymore because of all the fur… you may need to call a professional! BUT, there are many things you can do on your own to maintain your way to a happy home for both you and your animals.

How it Looks

One of the most common issues pet owners face is shedding. Dogs and cats naturally lose hair, which can quickly accumulate on fabric surfaces. Pet hair can embed itself into the fibers of upholstery, making it difficult to remove with a standard vacuum cleaner. Additionally, some pets have oily coats, which can transfer oils to the furniture, leading to discoloration and odors over time.

Scratches and claw marks are another concern, especially for cat owners. Cats often use furniture as scratching posts, which can result in frayed fabric or leather surfaces. Even well-trained pets can inadvertently cause damage by jumping on or off furniture, digging their claws in for traction.

Accidents and stains are inevitable when living with pets. Whether it’s a puppy still in the process of being house-trained or an older pet with occasional bladder control issues, urine and other bodily fluids can leave behind unpleasant stains and odors if not promptly and properly addressed. Pet vomit, which can be acidic, can also damage fabric if not cleaned immediately.

How it Smells

Love is blind, right? Sometimes, so is our nose! Pets can leave behind a pet odor that can be difficult to get out on your own. While some people do their best to keep their pets off their furniture, they still can’t prevent dander and other pet debris from eventually clinging to the fabric of their upholstery. Regularly taking a vacuum to your upholstery not only helps pick up our messes, but it helps with our pets and upholstery as well! A non-commercial vacuum’s suction can still do a good job at removing loose hairs and debris from your upholstery. Any debris left within the fabric can eventually break it down and affect its integrity, so making sure you are regularly maintaining your upholstery is very important.

As professional upholstery cleaners in Portland, we don’t recommend that you do a quick Google search for upholstery odor removal. Instead, call a professional (like us) so that we can help you navigate what the best next steps could be, whether it’s a simple solution that we can give you or if we think it’s a situation best left to the pros.

Spot Cleaning

Accidents happen. And they seem to happen somehow most often around the things we care about the most, like our cream colored couch! We know that it feels natural to immediately panic when a new substance has splashed onto your precious furniture, but handling the situation immediately and correctly can save a life—well, the life of your upholstery, anyway!

Don’t treat the spot yourself with a home brewed cleaner. Each piece of upholstery has a tag that will demonstrate the method of cleaning that the manufacturer recommended. A professional upholstery cleaner can take a look at the upholstery (either via a photo or in person) and will mostly likely be able to tell you what kind of fabric we’re probably dealing with and how that fabric needs to be treated.

Don’t leave the spot for another day. Taking care of a new spill when it happens is much wiser than leaving it to the future you to deal with. If you don’t handle a new spot right away, you make it more difficult to remove by either yourself or even a professional cleaner. Flipping the cushion over does seem like a good band-aid solution in the moment, but what are you going to do if that side gets a spill, as well?

Don’t rub. For some reason, many of our client’s first instincts when it comes to treating a stain is to rub the cloth to soak up as much as they can. Do not rub. You are most likely rubbing the substance farther into the carpet, not out of it. For the very first step, we typically recommend a careful blot on the affected area in or to absorb as much moisture as possible without sending it further in.

Seriously. Call us. We don’t charge a “consultation” or anything like that to give advice over the phone. If you have a new spot on your upholstery and need help, please let us help you! We will be completely transparent with you and are happy to walk you through an at-home upholstery cleaning method if we feel like you can take care of a spot on your own. It is always a true joy to share our expertise and educate folks on how to best take care of their home and possessions.

Prevention

Preventing damage before it occurs is key to maintaining when you have pets and upholstery. Using pet-friendly furniture covers is one effective strategy. These covers can be easily removed and washed, protecting the underlying fabric from hair, scratches, and spills. Another option is to choose pet-friendly upholstery materials such as microfiber, leather, or synthetic fabrics that are more resistant to stains and easier to clean.

Regular grooming of pets can significantly reduce the amount of hair they shed. Brushing your pet frequently removes loose fur before it has a chance to embed itself into your furniture. Additionally, keeping your pet’s nails trimmed can minimize the risk of scratches.

Training your pets to stay off the furniture can also be effective, though it requires consistency and patience. Providing your pets with their own comfortable spaces, such as pet beds or designated areas with soft blankets, can make it easier for them to avoid the furniture.

Professional upholstery cleaning when pets and upholstery mix?

If your home has pets, we’d highly recommend having your upholstery professionally cleaned every once and a while to improve its longevity. Your furniture is an investment, and having it professionally cleaned is typically cheaper and more earth-minded than having to replace your living room set every two years.

A+ Carpet Cleaning utilizes hot water extraction with a truck mounted machine. We’ll pre-spray your furniture, go through with water that gets over 200 degrees Fahrenheit to rinse, and then go through once more with a dry stroke so that the upholstery will dry as quick as possible and will help to prevent wicking. For pets, we have a special enzyme oxidation treatment that we can use with the pre-spray that helps us to reduce pet odor and dander. It also helps cleaning up any accidents (feces/urine/vomit) that may have occurred.

If you have upholstery that you need cleaned, or if you need some help with a spot or stain, call A+ Carpet Cleaning 503-314-7453.

A+ Carpet Cleaning – Portland
2885 NW 111th Ct, Portland, OR 97229
(503) 314-7453
https://carpetcleanerportland.com/ 

You may be preparing to get your home host-ready, and we know that you may have lots of options when you’re looking for a carpet cleaner near you. However, we would argue that you can’t do better than a local,  family owned carpet cleaning business.

Service

Did you know 75% of people would return to a company because of excellent customer service? As consumers ourselves, we place high value on intentional customer service. We want to treat you the way we like to be treated as customers. So what does that mean practically?

Oftentimes, the first interaction you have with us as a business is the first phone call you make. When you call the office, you’ll be either speaking with Chantal, who has been with A+ Carpet Cleaning for two years, or Tiki, the co-owner of the business. Our office is happy to answer any questions you have, review our methods with you, and work on getting you the best estimate we can. We are up front with our pricing, how it works, and do our best to ensure costs are as transparent as possible so you aren’t met with any surprises on the day of service.

We are always happy to send a personalized email with what we discussed (method, estimate, pricing, etc.), and make communication as convenient as possible by having access to call, email, and text. A phone call can be difficult if you have a day job and work through office hours, or if your home usually has a noisy (but joyfully so ) background. If a call sounds daunting, feel free to text us (same number, 503-314-7453) or email at info@apulsqualitycleaning.net.

We want you to know that we prioritize you and your needs. As a smaller family owned carpet cleaning business, we have the resources to go the extra mile for you and your home, whether that means working with a tricky schedule, talking you through carpet recommendations, or offering advice on odor removal.

You matter to us. When you look at the reviews, you may notice that many of the reviewers are returning clients who plan to come back. We have built a reputation for ourselves through being genuine and experts at what we do. It’s as simple as that!

Accountability

Mike and Tiki Honkanen, owners of A+ Carpet Cleaning, both play foundational roles in the day to day of the business. While Mike runs his own van, Tiki supervises the office and is often the voice you hear on the other end of the phone! Rather than run you through a million different triages of authority, the owners of A+ Carpet Cleaning are always available to you if you need them. W

When the owners are heavily invested in the business at this kind of level, you know that you are getting five-star service! And speaking of five-star service, we’d encourage you to check out our reviews and recommendations on Google, Yelp and Nextdoor. Reviews are a great way to hear an unbiased opinion on a business, and we ourselves certainly check the reviews before moving forward with a company.

We have over 2,500 positive reviews across different platforms. We truly believe in “treating your home like our own,” and are so grateful that our clients can see that!

Your Needs

When you hire a family-owned carpet cleaning business, you are working with a company that desires to suit their services to your needs. Our pricing structure allows for flexibility and personalization that a larger business might not be able to accommodate. Whether you need your whole home cleaned or just one spot from a puppy accident, we are here for you. If you are concerned a stain may be permanent, our technician is more than happy to help you assess that in person and let you know if a repair might be preferred. A stain in your carpet doesn’t mean you will have to replace the whole room; oftentimes a professional carpet technician will be able to patch the spot for you, saving you a lot of time, money, and the hassle of moving every bit of furniture out of a room.

We know that you need more than just services done well—you need smooth and transparent communication from start to finish. We do our best to ensure that you feel fully prepared for your carpet cleaning appointment by sending a confirmation email as soon as you schedule. The confirmation email will remind you of how to prepare for the technician before he arrives, as well as remind you of the day and arrival window you were scheduled for. Our system will also automatically send you a reminder on the day before your appointment, just as a friendly heads-up that your scheduled cleaning is only 24 hours away!

The communication doesn’t stop there! A few days after your cleaning, we will personally send you a text, asking how the carpet cleaning went and making sure you are happy with everything. Your satisfaction is so important to us.

This is the kind of attention that you can get from a family owned carpet cleaning business! We are here for your needs, whether it’s a move-out clean, yearly maintenance, or an emergency pet accident.

The Local Part of a Local Business

Obviously, there are lots of economic and moral benefits to supporting local businesses. However, hiring a local business benefits not just the local economy, but it serves you in a big way!

A+ Carpet Cleaning has served the Portland metro area for over 15 years. We know the neighborhoods, the traffic, and the how each season brings a new version of wonderful PNW weather. With that in mind, we are able to be more precise when we are discussing estimates over the phone.

As an example, there are some areas that are more likely to have wool carpets installed. Adversely, there are some areas that have more issues with carpet rippling/carpet stretching needs because the homes were built by the same builder who did not have them properly installed in the first place.

We also know how to give more accurate arrival windows because we know how to factor in traffic when it comes to 217, Highway 26, and, dare we mention it, I-205. Rather than provide you with a generic “somewhere between 8-5” window, our office staff takes drive time into careful consideration when providing you with your arrival window so that our arrival windows can range between 1.5 to 3 hours instead.

When it comes to the weather, we have put processes and procedures into place so that we are prepared for the oh-so-typical Portland rain, such as having blankets for the hoses to run on in your home and shoe covers for ourselves.

A Family Owned Carpet Cleaning Business Near You

Overall, when you are looking to hire a professional cleaner, why not hire a professional who not only knows his service well, but also knows the area where you live and can offer precise recommendations and services based on your location? We are proud to be local to Portland and would love the opportunity to meet a neighbor and help. Call your local, family owned carpet cleaning business today.

A+ Carpet Cleaning – Portland
2885 NW 111th Ct, Portland, OR 97229
(503) 314-7453
https://carpetcleanerportland.com/