Disinfecting your couch and other upholstered furniture is essential in preventing the spread of disease-causing microbes in your home. Bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms can indefinitely survive on fabric, carpets, and upholstery if they have the right conditions. The risk of coming into contact with these pathogens is even higher if you or a household member has allergies or asthma, which could increase their sensitivity to these allergens even further. Fortunately, disinfecting your couch is not as difficult as it sounds; it is something you can do yourself. Here are some ways to disinfect your couch at home and keep it that way: In this article, we will discuss how to disinfect a couch.
Steps To Disinfecting Your Couch
Vacuum First
Before you go about disinfecting your couch, you would need to remove accumulated dirt and debris. To do this, you use a vacuum cleaner. Run the vacuum over the couch’s seat, backrests, and armrests. Focus on the corners because dirt can hide there. Remember to clean the couch’s bottom(the floor-facing part).
Check The Label On Your Couch
It is important to check the label on your couch to know the cleaning agent/disinfectant that goes with it. There would be a symbol on the label that indicates this.
W – If you see this symbol on the label of your couch, it means that you can use water to clean your couch.
S – This symbol indicates that you can use only a solvent-based cleaning or disinfecting agent and that water shouldn’t touch your couch for any reason.
WS – You can celebrate if you see this symbol on the label of your couch. This symbol means that both water and solvent-based disinfectants can be used to clean the couch.
X – This symbol means that you would have to be content with vacuuming only. Water and any other disinfectant should not be used to clean the couch.
Choose A Disinfectant For Your Couch
After knowing if your couch can use regular disinfectants, the next step is choosing a disinfectant. Disinfectants that you can use are:
a) DIY Sanitizer and Disinfectant: You can make a quick disinfectant using materials that are readily available in the home. Mix 2 cups of hot water with one tablespoon of dish soap to make this disinfectant.
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Alcohol Disinfectant: To make this sofa disinfectant, mix 2 cups of rubbing alcohol with 1 cup of water. Alcohol acts well against viruses.
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Vinegar Sanitizer and Disinfectant: To make this disinfectant, mix 1 cup of white vinegar with 1 cup of water. Vinegar is quite effective in killing dust mites and bacteria.
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Steam: Steam is another efficient disinfectant. The steam’s heat eliminates not only dirt and grime but also allergens, viruses, dust mites, mildew, and other pathogens. However, you need to get a specialized steam cleaner to use it.
- Hypochlorous acid(HOCL): Hypochlorous acid is a mixture of table salt and water that is then electrolyzed. Electricity converts the table salt and water mixture into hypochlorous acid. This acid is a very effective and safe disinfectant for your couch and any other surface, including food produce. Yes! It’s that safe. So whether your couch is made of fabric, leather, polyester, or suede, hypochlorous acid is the disinfectant for you.
How To Disinfect Your Couch
We now move to how to disinfect your couch properly after you must have vacuumed it, checked the requirements, and chosen a disinfectant.
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Put the disinfectant in a spray bottle: A spray bottle helps you to control the amount of disinfectant you put on the couch.
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Apply a little disinfectant to test: To ensure that the disinfectant you chose will not damage your couch, spray a little on a hidden place like the bottom of the couch. However, with hypochlorous acid, you might not need to test because HOCL has already been tested on various surfaces without any adverse effect
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Spray the whole couch with the disinfectant: Spray the couch till every part is soaking wet. Remember to spray all the corners and crevices thoroughly. Let it stand for 10 minutes when you are done.
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Wipe down with towels: Once 10 minutes is up, you can then wipe down with clean towels
Disinfect The Slip Cover
If you use a slipcover, you should also disinfect it. You can either use a disinfectant like hypochlorous acid or hang it in the sun for 3 – 4 hours. Ultraviolet(UV) rays are lethal to germs. You can also use both methods together. You can also wash it in cold water if the instructions allow for a cold water wash.
Why Hypochlorous Acid Is The Best Disinfectant For Your Couch
Hypochlorous acid is an extremely mild acid, as mild as citrus juice. It contains no corrosive ingredients that will damage your couch. It can be used to disinfect any type of couch. This is unlike most of the other disinfectants mentioned above, which cannot be used for some types of couches because of their corrosive properties.
How To Make Hypochlorous Acid
To make hypochlorous acid, you just need table salt, water, and the kit. You mix the table salt and water in the hypochlorous acid-making kit and plug it into an electricity source. The electricity transforms your salt and water solution to hypochlorous acid, a potent but safe general disinfectant that can be used to disinfect pretty much any surface. The quality of the electrolysis cell is an important consideration when selecting a home system. Higher-quality systems may be more expensive, but they will last much longer due to the durability of the alloys used to make the cells.
Where To Get Hypochlorous Acid-making Kit
You might already be wondering where to get a hypochlorous acid-making kit from. You can get a hypochlorous acid-making kit from here. This is a trusted merchant for these products. They sell both home-use and industrial hypochlorous acid-making kits. They also provide sales support.
Other Uses of Hypochlorous Acid
We said earlier that hypochlorous acid is a general disinfectant. These are the other things that hypochlorous acid can be used to disinfect:
- Food Produce
- Meat
- Furniture
- Surgical/Medical Equipment
- Livestock
- Water
- Seafood
- Poultry
- Household furniture and fittings
- Toilets and bathrooms, among others.
Takeaway
The importance of disinfecting the couches in your home cannot be overemphasized. In addition to keeping them clean, disinfecting them kills bacteria, viruses, and fungi that could cause illness to the members of the household. It is also pertinent to use the right disinfectant to avoid damaging the couch. For more information on what you can use to disinfect your couch, check here.
