Natuzzi sofa

[Mark Sandwith]

I have been to clean a natuzzi 3 seater today, it is 10 years old with green felt pen and other various stains. (thought it was suede at first) It is a lovely grey colour. After a good vacuum then pre-spray with m-power i agitated with micro mits left 25 mins for dwell and cup of coffee then extracted with warm water, then dried off with the turbo dryer. The results were not that great is there anything i could of done differently to achieve a better result? Could i have used HD? I did take some photos on my phone but i havent got a cable to transfer to the pc.
Mark

 

[John Bolton]

Mark,

There is no need to have a tea break in order to allow dwell time.

I pre-vacuum a cushion, pre-spray and agitate lightly the put it aside.

By the time that a few cushions/panels have been treated, the first will have had sufficient dwell time and is ready to be extracted.........Dwell time need never stop you working productively.

As each cushion/panel is extracted it should be finishes with a folded towel. This will set the nap correctly, remove a little more moisture and the cleanliness of the used towel will confirm that the fabric has been correctly flushed.

I have cleaned a lot of upholstery with M-Power, domestic and commercial, but never had the need to resort to HD. For the sake of speed, on heavilly greased head marks I sometimes lightly over-spray with Micro Spotter or spray a little Solution Special Spotter onto an upholstery mitt when agitating. (on Natuzzi, Alcantara and suchlike I would use Micro Spotter)

 

[Mark Sandwith]

Speed was not a issue as i have already spent 2 hours on the sofa. As for the dwell time that was machine set up and pre- vac a room next door (1 min cold coffee) as due to the amount of soiling on the sofa which was also lightly sprayed with m-power spotter on the really bad bits, i thought a bit of dwell time with m-power would help. I dried off with towels and set the nap before turbo drier was switched on. What i really wanted to know was that as the results were not as good as i would have expected would HD be an option?

 

[Mick Halliday]

not wanting to sound cheeky but I would have known within cleaning the first cushion that the chemical I was using was not doing the job,( I always do the worst piece first then proceed to the rest of the suite)

then I would have upped the strength, although I've got to say I've not cleaned a suite in 5-6yrs and not used M/S, and I've never done anything but a brilliant job

I wouldn't bother even starting with M-power on upholstery, I'd go straight to a chemical I know will work.

 

[Mark Sandwith]

I know what your saying Mick about one cushion first but was unable to do this as there is just one cushion for the whole sofa and it is all attached so was unable to do this test. But i have used m-power for months now with fantastic results so was expecting the same today

 

[Jim Neal]

Mark, your description says it all...

it is 10 years old with green felt pen and other various stains. (thought it was suede at first) It is a lovely grey colour

What are you supposed to do with a 10 year old piece of upholstery that has been through the wars like this?

Although I've found certain instances on carpets where M-Power alone can't quite get the desired results, I've yet to find it unable to produce the same results on upholstery as the detergents I was using before.

One thing I'd have done differently from you is really gone to town on the agitation - I'd have used my Minitex and tampico brush attachment, which I find really makes a difference on heavily soiled upholstery.

Another point - I'd have sprayed quite liberally to ensure a sufficient volume of pre-spray for the product to do its work. Obviously you need to make a judgement call on each individual fabric and pice as to how much moisture is safe, but I have been known to use up to 5 litres of solution on a 3-pc when it's really bogging.

I also use the hottest plain water rinse I feel is suitablewhen the soil level is high, maybe it's psychological but I also add an alcohol based spotter to the worst bits before extracting, which benefits from heat in the rinse.

 

[Mark Sandwith]

Thanks for the reply Jim, after reading some of the other posts on this sort of fabric i was very wary of using a hot rinse, my gut instinct was to use the heavy guns ie special spotter on the really bad bits but i didnt want to own a 10 year old sofa if it started to laminate. So i think i might have been over cautious as i have lots of other work to do which will be a nice xmas earner, will be seeing customer tomorrow and maybe give it another go this week using some other product, if you have any advice on what other product you would maybe use on this sort of fabric would be appreciated.

 

[John Bolton]

Mark,

Better to be over-cautious than brash and later regretful!

These fabrics are heat sensitive so lower temperatures are sfer.

As I indicated earlier, I would avoid Special Spotter for the same reason that I would avoid a citrus-based spotter. There is a posibility that either might affect the bonding adhesive so with safer alternatives available, why take the risk, no matter how slight?

You have already used a very effective cleaning agent so before wasting time re-doing the job unnecessarily, make sure that what you are seeing is real, rather than apparent soiling.

The nap fibres are a very fine denier and the wear-and-tear of ten years usage will have caused some distortion. Originally strait, some of these fibres will have become crimped and the lay will have altered. Both will have happened most in the areas that were dirtiest - the areas that receive the most wear. These areas will naturally appear duller than the rest of the suite.

So before doing anything else, examine the areas closely - preferably with some magnification. Spray a little spotter onto a clean white towel and (without rubbing aggressively) wipe over one such area, then examine the towel. This should give you some indication as to whether the soiling is real or apparent.

 

[Mark Sandwith]

Thanks John, called in on customer and done just that i explained what i was doing and why. After the test my brand new white towel was spotless as i thought it would be customer was happy with my indepth explaination about fibre distortion.
Thanks for the advice