I’ve tested so many cleaning methods on my Ashley Homestore sectional, and in this post you’ll learn about my favorite methods to clean a fabric couch.
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure.
We bought our fabric sectional couch a few years ago when we remodeled our living room. We were looking for one that was comfy, durable, and practical.
When choosing a couch, we did lots of testing, and by testing I mean we sat on a ton of them to choose which one was comfiest and also our style. We didn’t even consider cleaning it!
Growing up, I always had leather couches which are pretty easy when it comes to cleaning and maintenance, since you can just wipe up a spill without it damaging the material.
I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into when we purchased a fabric couch. For awhile it was absolutely fine. We didn’t get it too dirty, and I vaccummed it off occassionally.
We have dogs but we don’t allow them on our couch. Instead, we have dog beds on the floor nearby so they can hang out with us when we’re in the living room.
Even after our daughter was born, we still kept it pretty clean. We had the occasional spit-up incident, but that was about it.
Then, when our baby grew into a toddler, the couch cleanliness no longer existed.
First, Hannah started taking drinks and food into our living room.
Jason and I eat on the couch sometimes, and so Hannah would follow our lead. The problem is that Hannah is a messy toddler. Aren’t they all?! Spills started happening, and our couch fabric started soaking in all those spilled liquids.
It got worse. More recently, we started potty training Hannah. If you have a little one, you may know where I’m going with this. ðŸ˜
In the first couple months of potty training, there were LOTS of accidents, many of which have been on our couch.
If our couch was a leather one, it would be no problem. We’d just wipe it up, spray some disinfectant and move along with our day.
Having a fabric couch is a whole other story.
The pee gets into the fibers and it’s so difficult to get out.
Anyone else?! Can I get a hand raise?
Even after “cleaning” it (soaking up the pee with a towel and wiping it with water), not only would large, discolored spots on my couch be leftover, it also still stunk SO BAD.
Jason and I are pretty much clean freaks, so as you can imagine, we had to find a solution quick.
I went on an internet hunt to find the best ways to clean a fabric couch. I tried EVERYTHING, but nothing seemed to work.
THINGS THAT DIDN’T WORK TO CLEAN OUR FABRIC COUCH
- Using baking soda. Is it just me, or does baking soda not work for you either? I kept reading that I could sprinkle it on my couch, let it sit, and then vacuum it up, and it would refresh the couch. Not only was the baking soda hard to vacuum up, it did not leave my couch any better than it was before using it. There was still a smell after using it multiple times.
- Wiping our couch with water. Water by itself actually made our couch worse! The stains became worse after the water soaked in and dried. Water also didn’t help with the smell either.
I had no choice but to go back to square one. I went on the hunt for more cleaning solutions but never really found any that worked, until I found a random youtube video where a lady was spraying her couch with upholstery cleaner.
That’s when I started to buy different types of upholstery cleaners and get to work seeing which ones worked and which ones didn’t. I tried so many upholstery cleaners and I finally found some solutions that work for our fabric couch.
WHAT WORKS TO CLEAN OUR FABRIC COUCH
Please note that this is what works for me. There is no guarantee that this will work for you. Please do this at your own risk. I am not responsible for any issues you may have with your fabric couch.
The first thing to remember here is that I have this fabric couch, and I’ve only used these methods on my own couch.
Your couch should be marked with a cleaning symbol on the tag, so you can know what types of cleaners will work on your particular fabric.
Make sure to check the cleaning symbol on your fabric couch before cleaning it! On your couch, you should find a symbol that says W, S, or W-S.
Here’s what the cleaning symbols mean:
- “W” means that your upholstery can be cleaned using water. Hooray! This is the best one in my opinion because you have the most choice when it comes to cleaning options. You can use upholstery and carpet cleaners, which means you should be able to get the stains out yourself.
- “S” means that your upholstery must be cleaned with solvents, which means dry-clean only.
- “W-S” means that your upholstery can be cleaned with either water or solvents. I’ve heard this symbol isn’t seen too often.
My fabric couch is marked with “W” which means it can be cleaned using upholstry products.
When purchasing the couch, I didn’t even check to see which type of cleaning symbol it had because I didn’t know upholstery had cleaning symbols. I only had leather couches growing up, so I never had to clean a fabric couch.
I’m lucky that our couch ended up being marked with a “W” because it’s made my life so much easier when cleaning it.
Over the last year or so, I’ve tested so many cleaners and here’s which ones work for me:
1. Spot clean with this fabric & furniture cleaning foam.
I’ve tried tons of upholstery cleaners, but this one is by far my favorite. Not only does the solution smell great, it’s also really easy to use because it has a built-in fabric-safe brush. You can easily spray the solution out and scrub the stain right away using the built-in brush.
I’ve found that when I do spot clean, I need to clean the entire top of the cushion instead of just the “spot.” The reason for this is because it cleans the spot so well that then the spot is a lighter color than the rest of the cushion because it’s cleaner than the rest of the cushion.
I suppose this is a good thing, even though you end up having to do more work. I’ve found that this cleaner works well for small spills. If it’s a really bad stain, I’ve had to scrub it a couple times to get the stain completely out, that is, scrub & let dry, then scrub & let dry again.
If you have lots of stains and your couch needs a really good cleaning, I suggest method #2 below.
For some reason, I have a hard time finding the cleaner in stores. There is one grocery store near me that sometimes has it in stock, and when it does, I load up on it.
If you can’t find it in stores, you can always buy it online.
2. Deep clean with this carpet cleaner.
My couch is marked with a “W” which means I can use upholstery cleaners. Make sure to check your cleaning solution symbol on your upholstery before using this solution on your fabric couch.
See more about what cleaning symbols mean above.
This carpet cleaner is like magic, you guys! The spot-cleaning method I mention above works well but when you need a deep-clean, this thing does the trick!
It has a handy attachment that makes cleaning my fabric couch so easy!
Here are some other reasons why I love this carpet cleaner so much:
- It mixes the water and cleaner for you so you don’t have to guess how much of each you need to make the perfect solution. You just put water in one compartment and the cleaner in another. It’s so easy!
- When using it on my carpets, it just as simple as vacuuming. You push it forward to clean and pull it back to dry. I like to go really slow to make sure to get a deep clean on my carpets. I do the same slow technique on my fabric couch, using the attachment tool, too.
- It actually works!!! This is not a paid endorsement, I just really love this carpet cleaner. It actually cleans my fabric couch and gets the stains out. Regarding the cleaning solution, I’ve used the one that comes with it as well as this pet cleaner solution. I’ve found both to work great on our fabric couch and carpets.
I’ve rented carpet cleaners in the past, but none have worked like this carpet cleaner does. I’m so impressed with it, and I use it often during this potty training phase with my toddler, to keep our fabric couch looking new, fresh, and clean.
HOW TO USE THE CARPET CLEANER TO CLEAN A FABRIC COUCH
Now that you know how much I love using this carpet cleaner to keep my fabric couch clean, here’s a tutorial on how to use it to clean your fabric couch.
It’s actually really simple and is a lot like a vacuum cleaner.
STEP 1: ADD CLEAN WATER INTO CLEAN WATER COMPARTMENT
See below exactly where the clean water compartment is. All you have to do it fill it up with water. I prefer to use hot water when I clean my couch.
STEP 2: ADD CLEANING SOLUTION INTO CLEANING SOLUTION COMPARTMENT
I use this cleaning solution in the cleaner and have found it works great to clean my fabric couch.
STEP 3: ATTACH THE HOSE AND BRUSH (PET TOOL)
This pet tool is seriously awesome because it has a brush tool so you can scrub your fabric couch a little bit as you go. The clear part of the tool is where the water is sucked up.
STEP 4: TURN ON THE CARPET CLEANER
STEP 5: SPRAY CUSHION
The water and cleaning solution combo comes directly out of the pet tool. You don’t have to mix the solution and water yourself, the machine does it all by itself so you get the optimal cleaning solution. You just fill each compartment separately and the machine combines it. Pretty cool, right?
I prefer to clean each cushion one by one. I spray an entire cushion using the pet tool to get it soaked with the cleaning solution and water combination.
STEP 6: VACUUM DRY THE CUSHION
Once the cushion is completely saturated, I use the pet tool to vacuum dry the cushion. When doing this, I go really slowly so I get all the cleaning solution and water sucked up thoroughly. I will typically go back for a couple rounds of drying the cushion with the pet tool until no more water enters the tool.
You’ll see the dirty water being sucked up through the tool. It will go directly into the dirty water compartment.
You’ll know it’s working because you’ll see the dirty water compartment fill with dirty water. Once it’s full, you just remove that compartment, dump it, and rinse it. It’s so simple and easy to use!
Watch the video below to see exactly how I use the tool.
STEP 7: CONTINUE CLEANING ENTIRE COUCH
STEP 8: LET COUCH DRY COMPLETELY
STEP 9: REPEAT, IF NECESSARY
The first time I cleaned my couch with the carpet cleaner, I had to clean it three times to get all the stains out. That’s because there were some old stains and smells that had really engrained into the upholstery.
Now that I clean my couch regularly with the carpet cleaner, I usually only have to do one round of cleaning. If you do a second or third round, I’d suggest waiting until your couch dries completely before cleaning it another round. That way, you can see exactly how much it cleaned and where you need to clean it again.
I typically let my couch dry a day or so before doing another round of cleaning. That way, I know it’s completely dry so I can assess it.
HERE ARE THE BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS OF CLEANING MY FABRIC COUCH TWO TIMES (LETTING DRY BETWEEN CLEANS) WITH THIS CARPET CLEANER AND THIS CLEANING SOLUTION:
Awesome, right?! It looks brand new! I’m so thrilled with the results.
It took me so long to find a cleaning solution that actually cleans and removes the stains and smells from my couch.
Fortunately, our fabric couch has really held up over the last several years and seems to be built well. The only issue I was running into with this couch was cleaning it, but now that I’ve solved that, I think our couch will be staying around for quite awhile.
It’s super comfortable and has proved to have durable fabric, so I’m a happy camper!
FINAL CLEANING METHOD: SPRAY FABRIC, IF DESIRED
To top it off, after I’m done using the carpet cleaner and my couch is clean and dry, I like to spray my couch with fabric refresher spray. This fabric spray is my favorite because of the amazing scent and the fact that you can use it for both fabric and air.
I also like to use fabric refresher several times a week on my couch just to keep it smelling fresh and clean between deep cleans.
Good luck cleaning your fabric couch, and make sure to check that cleaning symbol on your upholstery before using any type of cleaning solution!
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