DIY: remove stains on couch and from sofa fabric

• home remedies
• Remove stains from the sofa
  • Remove water-soluble stains
  • Non-water soluble stains
  • Protein-containing stains
  • special cases
• Important questions

Stains on the couch or the good fabric armchair are always annoying. But instead of annoying yourself for a long time, try to get rid of the stain yourself. There are a number of tools to tackle all kinds of contaminants. But what remedy helps against which stain ">

Quickly it happened: The glass of red wine tilts on the good upholstery suite, when painting the nails dripping nail polish on the expensive fabric cover of the chair or the burning candle leaves wax stains on the sofa. If there are small children in the house, urine, blood or other bodily fluids may be contaminated. While you can simply put soiled laundry in the washing machine, this is not possible with the couch or armchair. But here too, there are a number of home remedies that you can use to remove stains yourself. Here are some helpful tips for fighting stains.

Remove stains as soon as possible

The sooner you treat a stain, the better and easier it is to remove. So act immediately. It is helpful to keep clean towels and kitchen crepe always within reach, especially if you are planning a big party or the kids like to romp on the upholstered furniture. Once a stain has dried, it can hardly be removed without residue. Also, you do not necessarily know what caused the damage.

home remedies

... to remove stains

There are some home remedies that you probably have in the house anyway. With a valuable couch or high-quality armchairs with fabric cover you should stock up with some other means. Most products are also very suitable for cleaning other furniture, laundry or dishes.

Home remedies for stain removal:

• Detergent (liquid for wool)
• Gall soap / curd soap
• neutral soap
• pH-neutral dishwashing detergent
• clean, lint-free linen towels
• kitchen roll
• soft brush
• toothbrush
• cold packs

Detergents that are not necessarily present in every household, but sometimes perform well, include:

• special stain remover
• methylated spirits
• citric acid powder
• benzine
• distilled water

Which means you use at which spot, depends on the respective condition. For example, stains such as nail polish or wax are not water-soluble and therefore can not be removed with water-based agents. In protein-containing stains such as blood, urine, sweat, semen and pus, on the other hand, only clear, cold water should be used. Contamination by wine, food, cosmetics and pens, however, can usually be washed out with soap.

Tip: First try each remedy on an inconspicuous part of the furniture. If the fabric discolors, lightens or even becomes fuzzy, keep your hands off it. A stain on the couch is less noticeable than a hole or a completely roughened spot in the fabric cover.

Remove stains from the sofa

Before you begin stain removal, find out what caused the stain. It is about:

• water-soluble stains: food and drinks, cosmetics, perfume, pens
• non-water-soluble stains: paints, resins, adhesives, lubricating oil
• proteinaceous stains: blood, sweat, urine, pus, semen
• Special cases: chewing gum, candle wax, plasticine

Tip: On high-quality upholstered furniture, you will generally find labels with care instructions and remedies in a hidden place, which you must never use. Sometimes the care instructions are also recorded in a brochure. Please consult them first before starting to do it yourself.

Remove water-soluble stains

Water-soluble stains can be washed out quite well with neutral soap. Dissolve the product in cold water and apply it circularly to the stain with a soft cloth. Then treat the contaminant with distilled water. When the stain has disappeared, dab dry the damp area with kitchen paper. You can repeat this treatment several times. If you have no neutral soap in the house, you can also use liquid wool detergent or dishwashing detergent. Under no circumstances should you use washing powder or hard cloths and sponges if you want to remove the stains. They rough up the fabric and can even leave holes.

Tea stains are a real challenge. As soon as they have dried you will hardly get them out of the sofa or armchair. If the stain is still fresh, press kitchen crepe on it to absorb the moisture. Then wash it with a solution of gall soap or curd soap.

Non-water soluble stains

Water soluble stains are much more difficult to get out of the fabric than water soluble stains. Even after a successful elimination almost always a weak remainder remains. Paints, resins or paints contain solvents that attack the paint and also the fabric fibers. To wash such soiling from the fabric, you need benzene or special stain water. The agents are applied with a soft cloth and rubbed on the stain as long as the stain is visible. Then let the spot dry. Later, the stain can be aftertreated with distilled water.

Protein-containing stains

All body fluids contain proteins. This makes stain removal difficult. Under no circumstances should you use warm water, as this causes the protein to clot and settle properly in the material pores. Wash blood, pus, urine, sweat, and sperm as soon as possible with cold distilled water. Only then can you treat the areas with neutral soap or wool detergent. Dab the spots with kitchen paper well dry. Often, you then have to work the spot again with distilled water.

Dried blood can be eliminated only in the rarest cases completely. The red dye is very colorful and leaves brown spots. Try to remove blood stains with citric acid powder. You can get the powder in the pharmacy. To remove the stain, dissolve one tablespoon of citric acid in 150 milliliters of water. Dip a white, lint-free cloth into it and rub the stain on the couch or the fabric armchair until it is barely or not at all visible. Dab the remains carefully. Then wash the area with distilled water.

For more tips and advice on removing blood spots, see: Removing Blood Stains

special cases

Chewing gum, putty and candle wax have the unpleasant property of hardening and eating into the fibers. Do not try to remove them with a brush. The fabric cover suffers and becomes rough. In most cases, you will succeed in treating the spots with cold.

To do this, place a frozen ice pack in place to make the rubber or wax really hard. Then the hardened dirt particles can be removed from the fabric with a soft brush or a toothbrush. Larger candle wax stains break into small pieces beforehand to make them easier to remove.

For wax stains, it is often recommended that the wax be removed from the fabric by heat. For this, a blotter is placed on the stain and worked with a hot iron. Due to the heat, the wax becomes liquid and absorbed by blotting paper. This method is only recommended for white wax. As soon as the candle wax is colored, there is a risk that you will burn the dyes into the fabric due to the heat.

Here are some other useful tips for removing wax stains on different surfaces: Remove candle wax

Important questions

Why distilled water for stain removal "> Make distilled water

Never sprinkle red wine stains with salt

An old advice of the grandmothers is that you sprinkle red wine stains on the upholstery immediately with salt and let it dry for half a day. You should not obey this advice. The salt causes the stains to burn even more strongly into the fabric and can not be removed later. Therefore, only wash out red wine stains with water and neutral soap.

Tip: If you want to remove stains, always work from the edge to the middle. Start in the middle with the stain removal, rub the pollution outward and only increase the damage.