Can You Steam Clean a Couch with a Clothes Steamer?

Can you steam clean a couch with a Clothes Steamer?

Yes, you can use a Clothes steamer to clean your Sofa depending on its type.

In this guide, we’ve explained how to steam clean a couch with a garment steamer or clothes steamer for every type of sofa.

Can You Steam Clean a Couch with a Clothes Steamer?

You can use your clothes steamer to clean your couch or sofa. The proper way to do this is by pre-cleaning the couch with a vacuum cleaner and then using the clothes steamers’ steam burst feature to steam clean your couch.

Should You Steam Clean Your Couch?

Steam cleaning helps to remove bad smells, old stains, mold within the couch, dirt and grouts stuck deep inside the fabric. Moreover, steam cleaning helps to sanitize your couch easily and even kills bacteria.

Vacuuming only removes dust, pet hairs, and pollen. But with the help of steam cleaning your sofa will look like a brand new model and will smell good too.

Steps to Steam Clean a Couch

Steps to a successful couch cleaning:

• Step 1: Pre-vacuum the couch.
• Step 2: Use a cleaning agent.
• Step 3: Steam clean the couch.
• Step 4: Remove extra moisture.

Step 1: Pre-vacuum the couch

For an effective sofa cleaning, first, you need to remove dust particles from all over the sofa. If you use sofa covers, then remove them and clean the sofa with a vacuum cleaner.

Pro tip: Make sure to clean the bottom of the sofa or couch, many of us forget this and a lot of dirt accumulates there. Start with the top and gradually reach the bottom part.

Step 2: Use a cleaning agent to remove stains

This is the part where many people make mistakes. Use a cleaning agent if your couch has a lot of stains of coffee, soda & any other stains.

See your couch tag to check if it is cleaning agent-friendly or not. Most of the couch brands permit it but make sure to check the user manual or tag.

If it’s permitted, use a clean agent like Vinegar and baking soda to clean the stain areas.

Step 3: Steam Clean the couch

The next step is to clean the couch with the help of a clothes steamer or garment steamer.

First, fill water to the max level and let it be ready to steam. Clothes steamers come with a lot of accessories – one of them is a brush. Attach the brush to the steamer.

At this point, your steamer is ready to use. Start by pressing the steamer on your couch and you’ll see the difference in cleaning.

Pro tip: Use a floor clothes steamer that is best fitted for upholstery steaming.

Step 4: Remove extra moisture from the couch surface

After steam cleaning, a lot of moisture will be left on the couch. It’s better to let it dry by using an external air drier to remove the excess moisture and dry the couch or air dry it well.

Points to remember:

• Remember to wear protective clothes, as steam created by clothes steamers is temperature-operated. It’ll burn your skin if you’re not wearing protective gear while steaming.
• The best way to deodorize your couch is to use a vacuum cleaner to remove dust particles before steam cleaning.
• Always check the fabric type before cleaning your couch.

Types of couch tags

Different types of couch tags and their meanings:

1. X- If your couch tag is marked by X then you can only use a vacuum cleaner to clean the surface.
2. W- If this is the word in your tag, you can use water or steam to clean the couch. In this case, you can use a clothes steamer.
3. S – This mark suggests that you can only use dry cleaning agents to clean the couch. Steam cleaning or water can’t be used.
4. WS – This is the mark of freedom. You use steam cleaning, and dry cleaning agents on your couch. Some of the brands have these types of tags but are a little bit pricier than others.

Read next: Can You Use Clothes Steamer to Remove Wallpaper?