10 Tips on How to Clean Leather
One of the best ways to adorn your home is with leather furniture, but you need to take special care if you want it to last long with you. That entails regular maintenance with appropriate products. Some great tips are given below to help you clean your long lasting leather sofa beds.
1- Thorough Dusting
- Remove the larger debris using a vacuum cleaner and then use a soft clean cloth to wipe thoroughly
- Make sure to vacuum spaces between cushions and seats of the sofa
- Also make sure to avoid scratching leather surface with plastic cleaning attachments
2- Be Specific in Cleaning
- In cleaning leather sofas, you better be very specific and follow “less-is-more” approach
- If there are just a few dirt marks that need to be taken care of, focus on those spots and leave the rest undisturbed as much as possible
- For relatively clean areas, confine yourself to cleaning with a damp (not wet) clean cloth
- Cleaning nubuck or suede sofas needs a different approach. Follow this guide to know how to clean a suede sofa
3- Cleaning Lightly Soiled Areas
- Use a damp soapy cloth to wipe such areas, especially for big patches with light soiling that would not only be tedious, but expensive as well to clean with a leather sofa cleaner
- Go for an all-natural mild soap having no sodium laurel sulphate or other such harsh chemical compounds, since they can dry out the leather surface
- For better results, run through a spot test on the area of sofa that stays out of sight
- Rubbing too hard would push the dirt deeper into the surface rather than cleaning it, so avoid that
4- Cleaning Heavily Soiled Areas
- Keep in mind that using cleaning products not particularly designed for leather surface can strip leather’s natural oils away, leaving it dried and prone to cracking over time
- Look for a high quality saddle soap or some specialized natural leather sofa cleaner with ample natural bees’ wax lacking too many solvents or petroleum products
- Wax based cleaners are much better than oil based ones, since they help in cleaning and conditioning of leather surface rather than seeping into it to hinder the leather “breathe” through its natural pores
- It is important to realize that leather is a natural material whose every piece might behave differently than others. So, you might have to try out various before picking best sofa cleaner for your particular sofa
5- Cleaning Mold or Mildew
- Vinegar serves as one of the best ways in getting rid of mold or mildew stains from leather sofas
- It is a mild disinfectant and helps in killing any mold
- Using as little liquid as possible and wiping it clean quickly is the best way to go about it
6- How to Do It?
- Use a slightly damp cloth to apply the cleaning product on leather surface in circular motions with medium pressure
- Using a soaking wet cloth is very likely to leave stains over leather surface, so avoid it
- Start applying the cleaner in least dirty areas, proceeding your way to the dirtier ones. It ensures that dirt does not spread
- It is best to continue using cleaner parts of the cloth and reapplying the sofa cleaner as you proceed, till you are done with all parts of the sofa needing cleansing
7- Wiping Off the Excess Cleaner
- Wipe each cushion with a clean damp cloth again
- Rinse the cloth in clean water every time you proceed to next cushion
- Make sure not to use any leather cleaner in this round, since you intend wiping off the excess cleaner this time rather than applying it
8- Drying the Sofa
- Run through a dry cloth over the sofa and arrange appropriate ventilation, so that it dries off as quickly as possible
9- Surface Conditioning
- When the sofa dries out completely, apply a light coating of leather preservative or leather conditioner all over the surface of sofa
- Again, go for wax-based natural leather cleaner for best results
- Buff the whole surface of the sofa with a clean cloth to get a shiny surface
10- For Long Lasting Care
- If you want to keep your sofa well maintained over a period of time, clean and condition it like this at least once a year