Discover What's in your Furniture
DISCOVER WHAT’S IN YOUR FURNITURE!
Even if you keep your house Spartan clean, your couch may be a Trojan horse harboring an army of dust, mold and grime.
"People don’t have any idea what’s in their furniture. If they did, it would make them sick," upholsterer Jim Santilli says.
Santilli isn’t talking about loose coins or the missing remote control, either. He’s talking about the really funky stuff that’s made its way into the batting or foam core: Spider webs. Mouse droppings. Dust bunnies. Hair.
"People bring in a piece of furniture and say, ‘It’s in great shape; it doesn’t need anything," says Santilli, owner of Kansas City Upholstery. "I’ll just pat it and this big cloud of dust comes out."
Santilli always replaces all batting, lining and foam when he reupholsters, he says. Customers who come in wanting only to re-cover a piece "invariably" change their minds when Santilli opens it up to give them a peek inside!
In addition to the gross-out factor, your favorite overstuffed sofa or armchair actually could be making you sick if you are sensitive to the allergens or irritants it holds, allergists say.
Indoor allergens produce symptoms similar to pollen allergy symptoms, such as coughing, sneezing and watery eyes. Thus, many people falsely suspect hay fever when in fact they are reacting to house dust mites or pet dander, says Laurie Blevins Fowler, director of the allergy clinic at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Upholstery is also an ideal environment for MOLD, which causes different, "more subtle" symptoms, according to allergist Bruce Pfuetze of Overland Park, Kan. "A patient may be tired, irritable, fatigued," he says.
Levels of pet dander in homes with no pets are sometimes as high as in homes with pets, some studies show. People carry pet dander from place to place on their clothing, Pfuetze says. Direct contact with dust mites or mold on upholstery also can cause skin reactions such as eczema or hives, he says.
Microscopic mites and pet dander can take up residence in decorative pillows and throws as well, especially feather pillows, which Fowler calls "dust-mite high-rises."
If you want to determine whether a piece of furniture is funky, there are two easy ways, Santilli says: the pat test and the sniff test.
The pat test works best in bright light. Clap the back or the top of an arm of the piece in question. If you see particles rise up, you need a professional cleaner.
The sniff test is self-explanatory and fail-safe: If you detect a musty smell, that’s mold. Water-damage marks also should make you suspect mold, Fowler says. Cleaning offers little help, because mold often forms deep within batting or foam.
A strong ammonia scent is urine. Cat urine is among the most difficult odors to remove.
If your sniff test detects lesser odors such as cigarette smoke, sweat or food smells, professional cleaning should bring good results.
Santilli advises paying a little more for a skilled cleaner. "Wet and jet" cleaners who are in and out in 15 minutes "can’t possibly get things clean," he says.
For furniture that is beyond even professional cleaning, reupholstery sometimes is a good option. The cost-benefit equation depends on the quality of the frame and the quality of the new upholstery.
Allergists, upholsterers and cleaners all agree that the key to keeping upholstered furniture in good shape is frequent vacuuming. Santilli advises vacuuming horizontal surfaces every time you dust. Think of how much dust would accumulate on a table if it were never dusted, he says. That same amount is on your sofa, too. You just can’t see it.
When you sit on dust, two bad things happen: It abrades the surface of the fabric just like superfine sandpaper, and it gets ground into the interior of the upholstery.
A protector such as Scotchgard is "not bullet proof," Cole says, "but it buys you time" to clean up a spill. The suds of warm dishwashing liquid are safe for most fabrics; for tougher stains, use a pH-neutral spot remover. Turning a fan on the damp area will hasten drying.