One of the most devastating mistakes a homeowner or office worker can make is trying to clean with too much water. Carpets, fabrics, and beddings usually have cushions that are not designed to get significantly wet. This can lead to the promotion of mold and mildew, leaving undesirable odors and health hazards for pets and people.
So how can you protect your fabrics from water damage? For starters, with mattresses, consider a spill cover, which feels like an extra sheet, but absorbs a considerable amount of liquid before it reaches and stains the mattress padding.
When cleaning your fabrics with a liquid solution, look at cleaning instructions on things like mattresses, pillows, cushions, and blankets. Many times, attached tags will tell you what type of detergent and what temperature of water to use. If a cushion or pillow has a zip-off fabric cover, remove it for separate washing or cleaning; this will keep the padding completely free from water or detergent contact. It is also recommended to wet the cloth rather than the area to be cleaned. Then, dab the cloth against the fabric rather than scrubbing it. This does two things: prevents water from seeping through the top layer of fabric into the padding, and allows contaminants to be lifted onto the cloth without rubbing abrasively against the delicate top-level fabrics.
Professional carpet cleaning equipment is usually designed to use only as much water as is necessary to reach the top-level rug fabrics without seeping into carpet padding, which is why these tools are preferred over manual cleaning with a detergent mix.
Whether it’s for carpet or fabrics, if there has been a deep spill, or if a pet, leak, or other flood has significantly wet the area so much that the fabric has certainly been waterlogged, call NOVA. We can make a priority trip to your location and analyze the damage before making a recommendation. Unfortunately, some damage can only be resolved by replacing the padding. Other times, we may be able to remove the excess liquid with our professional-grade equipment before it does any significant damage.
For significant water damage, such as a major flood or pipe break, please see our section titled “Water/Mold Damage Extraction/Restoration” under the Services tab. We can begin the repair process and make recommendations for the lowest cost to get your home or office back to normal.