Leather Cleaning with Household Products

Although there are many leather cleaning products on the market, it is just as easy, and sometimes preferable, to undertake leather upholstery cleaning, or in fact, any kind of upholstery cleaning, with ordinary household products.  However, before you do anything to your leather furniture, check on the manufacturer’s labels to make sure that the leather has been treated at source to protect its surface. If it looks as if your furniture won’t withstand cleaning with water or other liquids, be sure to contact a reputable company for advice on professional leather cleaning.

Starting with simple hoovering of your leather sofas and chairs is the first step in any leather cleaning campaign.  Somehow hoovering carpets is something we do without even thinking about it, but attempting. to clean furniture with the hoover is at another level altogether.  It helps to have a really efficient hoover, one that is light and easy to use, and one which is very simple in terms of attachments.  And the brush attachment to use for leather cleaning has to be very soft, so as not to scratch the surface of the leather, and manoeuvrable enough to get into those difficult corners.  Leather is a completely natural fabric and will usually withstand wiping with a damp cloth to remove any excess dust that remains after hoovering. If it hasn’t been cleaned for a long time, it might need more thorough leather upholstery cleaning with water that has a very small amount of mild dish-washing liquid dissolved in it. Some people go to the extreme of using distilled water for this method, but in any case it would be a good idea to test a small, inconspicuous part of the leather first to see if by any chance it is going to leave an unsightly mark.Using anything containing wax or silicone for your leather cleaning of furniture may prove not only ineffective in your upholstery cleaning efforts, but might leave a sticky residue or even a horrible blotch on your valuable sofa.

Carpet Cleaner Dublin Use Natural Methods of Cleaning

If it’s a little known fact in the world of carpet cleaning that since 2001 UNESCO has been designating various traditions as “Masterpieces of Intangible Heritage”, it is probably even less well known that one of these masterpieces is the Azerbaijani carpet, added to the illustrious list in 2010. There is archaeological evidence that reveals that carpet-weaving was taking place in the area during the 4th millennium BC.  It began very simply among the diverse tribal cultural groups, and gradually different styles emerged, based around different carpet-making centres. Initially the carpets were without patterns or motifs, but when the palas carpets developed, they were made with horizontal stripes incorporated into the design. Next to come along were kilims, a name in carpets that is still very well known today. In fact it is very likely that carpet cleaning dublin companies such as chem dry are sometimes asked for advice about carpet cleaning of kilims. These carpets have geometrical patterned shapes resembling people, birds and animals, always in a perfectly symmetrical composition, and feature bright, contrasting colours.  Other flat-weave carpets are called shedde, some of which have a chequered pattern while others are subject-based with a dark red background. Verni carpets with their characteristic S shaped patterns are among the most prized Azerbaijani carpets – the patterns are meant to represent dragons, and as such are said to bring good luck and protection from danger to the owner. The zilli has very ornate and complex designs, making each carpet resemble a garden full of flowers and birds. Will the average carpet cleaner dublin technician be likely to come across these rare carpets?  It’s just possible!

Carpet cleaning as practised by the carpet cleaning dublin branch of chem-dry could potentially include many different types of Azerbaijani carpets, only a few of which are named above - many are still produced by four major carpet-weaving schools.  It may be that this area has become so famous for carpet art because of its location which bridges East and West as well as the Christian and Islamic cultures. Two of these schools could be singled out as being especially remarkable:  the Buku school carpets are famous for being particularly soft and having very intense colours and intricate designs incorporating medallions; the Karabakh school produces carpets which have 33 of what are called ornamental “compositions,” more than the others which usually have between 8 and 25. (There may be as many as 600 compositions in total in the region). Their carpets have a very thick fluffy pile and vivid colours. As with all the other schools, carpets vary in style from village to village.  It is not surprising that such a rich cultural heritage has been deemed worthy of recognition by UNESCO.
It is very important in carpet cleaning that the carpet cleaner dublin expert is able to recognize the use of natural dyes. In Azerbaijani carpets there are seven basic colours derived from pomegranate and onion skins, indigo, quince and mulberry leaves and madder roots, among others.  When the yarn is being dyed vinegar, alum or salt is put into the dying solution to intensify the colours and ensure that they don’t fade or run when the carpets are being cleaned.