Faster furniture cleaning productionby Jeff Cross

A lot of attention is spent on carpet cleaning: Getting it clean and dry - fast!

The same amount of attention should be spent on furniture cleaning, especially when you have multiple pieces to clean.

Of course, you never want to sacrifice quality just to get the job done faster.

Let's assume that you have several pieces of furniture to clean. You have tested the pieces, and determined you can safely wet-extract with your portable or truckmount.

Setting up the job

You no doubt have all the tools to clean furniture.

Now it's time to set up your work area.

Once you have your tools and chemistry set up, pull your furniture away from the wall and arrange it in a production line.

This can be in a line, in a circle - it depends on the layout of the room.

A commercial location typically has more room, while many residential locations leave you fighting for space to work.

Be careful of hard floors. No matter how careful you are, you may drip water or chemicals onto the floor. A drop cloth may be warranted.

Use hot solutions to clean with (remember, you tested the piece, right?)

If you decide to use hydrogen peroxide or sodium percarbonate to work on highly-soiled areas or to remove stains (click here for information on using bleaches for cleaning), use warm solutions and not hot.

If you use too hot of a solution, it will foam up and/or expand too rapidly for the sprayer applicator that you are using.

Never enclose any type of mixed or heated peroxide or sodium percarbonate in an airtight container — especially if you mix either one of them with ammonia as the catalyst.

They off-gas and can create a ticking time-bomb.

To be safe, check with your cleaning chemical distributor for usage. Many cleaning chemical manufacturers produce these chemicals and will have recommendations.

Keep in mind that the percarbonate will have a relatively high pH and should be used sparingly, and only on synthetic fibers.

Once the furniture is arranged, set up the portable extractor so that the working upholstery tool can reach at least two of the pieces you are cleaning at once.

Get the production line moving

Spray the first piece with the preconditioner, dampening all areas that are “touch points” on the piece. Work the solution into the fabric with the horsehair brush.

There is no need to precondition the backs or sides of the piece, unless there is heavy contamination. The rinse agent in your machine will remove those soils.

Here is where a two-man team is smart.

Let’s name the workers: Worker A and Worker B.

After the first piece is preconditioned and agitated, Worker A can begin running the upholstery cleaning tool over the piece, while Worker B can now precondition and agitate the second piece.

Worker A keeps one horsehair brush with him, and uses it to agitate heavily soiled areas as he cleans.

After the first piece is extracted, Worker A moves to the second piece and Worker B rotates back to the first piece for inspection.

If there are any areas that are dirty or dull in appearance and need more cleaning, Worker B can spray the peroxide or percarbonate on these areas and work the chemical into the piece with his horsehair brush.

The oxygen action of this chemical will boost the cleaning on those areas.

There are other chemicals you can use for the second cleaning, when necessary. You have to choose the chemistry you feel is best. Peroxide and sodium percarbonate are two choices.

Always use safe cleaning. Always monitor the reaction of your chemical on the fabric, and be ready to rinse the chemical from the fabric if you see an unwanted reaction.

Then, Worker B moves to the third piece for more preconditioning, while Worker A goes back to the first piece after the second piece is cleaned. Worker A extracts those areas on the first piece that were treated a second time, and then moves to the third piece.

Worker B moves to the second piece for the initial inspection — after the second piece is inspected, if it needs more attention, the peroxide or percarbonate is used, and the procedure continues.

Final touches: Drying, protection, inspection

Worker B now goes to the first piece for final touches.

He inspects for spots and stains, and anything else that needs cleaned again. If there are spots and stains, use the kit according to directions.

Worker B towels off all transition areas and applies the solvent-based protector to the piece. The protector, typically a mineral-spirit carried fluorochemical, will actually dry the piece faster because of the solvent added to it, along with keeping the piece clean longer.

That piece is done.

Important: Keep the production line moving. The key is to never stop the action. Time is money.

Always make sure that Worker B does a thorough inspection — at least twice.

If Worker B has nothing to do physically — a lull of activity — he should spend his time inspecting previous work and toweling off wet areas. He’s also the one to keep the machine full of hot solution and to remove wastewater.

This system works great with two-man teams and multiple pieces. If you only have a few pieces, one person can easily handle this type of production line.

If you are cleaning huge amounts of furniture, such as in a theater, more workers and more equipment are needed. But the most expensive piece of equipment, the extractor, can keep up to four men busy if you run the production line correctly.

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