Upholstery Cleaning in San Antonio

Under one of your cushions there's a tag with a one- or two-letter cleaning code printed by the furniture manufacturer. This code is the single most important piece of information for professional upholstery cleaning San Antonio homeowners can hand a technician. Every code maps to a specific chemistry and method:

• W (water-based): hot-water extraction is safe. Most polyester, nylon, olefin blends. This is the majority of San Antonio family sofas.
• S (solvent only): no water. Dry-solvent cleaning only. Common on linen, rayon, cotton velvet, silk blends. Water ruins these fabrics — permanent rings, color migration, fiber distortion.
• WS (either): water or solvent both work. We usually go water because it lifts more soil, but we always test in a hidden spot first.
• X (vacuum only): no cleaning of any kind. Vacuum the piece and that's it. Rare, but real — certain haitian cottons, some antique upholstery. If the code is X and you have a real stain, we tell you honestly that this is a reupholstery problem, not a cleaning problem.

If the tag is missing or unreadable — common on secondhand pieces or older sectionals — we do a burn test on a hidden fiber and a colorfast dab test in a seam allowance. Neither is a guess; both are trained skills. IICRC S300 walks through the protocol.

1. Pre-inspection & fabric ID. Read the tag. Note any pre-existing damage, sun-fade, or seam separation. Colorfast test.
2. Thorough vacuum. Skipping this loads soil into the extraction water instead of removing it. Ten minutes minimum on a full sofa.
3. Pre-treatment. Low-residue, low-pH pre-spray specific to the fabric class. Dwell 5–10 minutes. Spot treatment on protein stains, tannin stains, ink, and pet accidents (each gets a different spotter).
4. Extraction. Hot water at 200–240°F, 100–300 PSI at the tool head — much lower than the 500–1,500 PSI we'd use on a nylon carpet. Slow, overlapping passes.
5. Grooming. A soft upholstery brush lays the pile back down so it dries in the direction the manufacturer intended.
6. Controlled dry. Airmovers pointed across (not at) the piece. Total dry time is where San Antonio's climate helps — low humidity summer days can dry a sofa in 3 hours.
7. Walkthrough. Before we pack the truck. If you see a spot that came back after dry-time, we come back and re-hit it.

Performance velvet — the "family-friendly" fabric everyone bought during the 2020–2023 sectional boom. Actually cleans well because the fibers are polyester and the "velvet" pile is engineered to release soil. Low-PSI extraction, grain-direction grooming, and it looks new.

Linen and linen blends — Alamo Heights and Olmos Park favorite. Almost always coded S. Water leaves rings you can't get out. Solvent-only method.

Chenille — soft, matte, hides soil until suddenly it doesn't. Coded W or WS typically. Cleans great but you have to comb the pile after extraction or it dries in a direction that catches light wrong.

Leather — cleans in about 20 minutes per piece. Conditioning is the actual work; skipping it is why cheap "leather cleans" leave you with cracks in two years.

Microfiber — coded W. Extremely durable. What you're really doing is removing the greasy hand-oil ring where people sit down.

• Visible soil ring on the arm where hands rest.
• Cushions feel oily to the touch, or look darker than the back deck.
• You can smell "the couch" as a distinct smell in the room.
• Allergies got worse and nothing else in the house changed.
• A pet accident soaked through and dried before you found it.
• Someone in the family got sick and threw up on it (yes, we get this call a lot).
• You're 12+ months out from the last professional clean.

For a longer read on this, see our related posts on what the fabric code means and 5 real signs your couch needs professional cleaning.

• Standard sofa (fabric): $120–$250
• Sectional (3–6 pieces): $250–$500
• Loveseat: $95–$170
• Chair or ottoman: $45–$95 each
• Dining chairs: $25–$45 each (usually price-break at 6+)
• Leather sofa: $150–$275 including conditioning
• Fabric protector application: +$40–$120 depending on size

Price goes up when the fabric is coded S (solvent supplies cost more), when the piece is heavily soiled and needs two passes, or when pet accidents require enzyme sub-surface treatment. Price goes down when we're already onsite for carpet or tile and you add furniture to the same visit — call for that combo pricing.

Ready to book? (210) 599-9726 or request an estimate.