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Recipe 45 of 100 · The Country Cleans Mix Book

How to Get Water Stains Out of a Microfiber Couch

Rubbing Alcohol Trick

Dark water rings and crunchy patches on a microfiber or faux suede couch? Water left them, so don't use water. Open a window with a fan blowing out and put out every flame. Vacuum, mist straight 91% rubbing alcohol until evenly damp, and scrub with a white sponge in short straight strokes. Let it dry 15 to 20 minutes, it will look blotchy, then brush the panel in one direction. Not for real suede or nubuck.

Microfiber and Suede Water-Spot Eraser recipe card: 1 cup 91% rubbing alcohol, no water, 1 white sponge, 1 stiff natural bristle brush
What it fixesThose dark water rings and stiff crunchy patches on microfiber and faux- suede couches, including the ones somebody already made worse by trying to clean them.

You need

Mix it

  1. Pour the alcohol straight into the spray bottle. No water, no dilution, that is the entire point.
  2. Set the nozzle to a fine mist, not a stream.

Use it

  1. Vacuum first so you are not grinding grit into the pile.
  2. Mist the alcohol over the stained section until it looks evenly damp, not soaked.
  3. Scrub with the white sponge in short straight strokes while it is still wet. Work fast, alcohol evaporates in a couple minutes.
  4. Let it dry completely, about fifteen to twenty minutes. It will look stiff and blotchy. That is normal, do not panic.
  5. Once it is bone dry, take the stiff brush and brush the whole panel in one direction to fluff the nap back up.
  6. Repeat once if a faint mark remains.
Dale's noteMicrofiber spots because water carries dissolved minerals to the surface and leaves them there as a ring. Alcohol evaporates too fast to carry anything anywhere, which is why it cleans without spotting. Use a white sponge only, colored sponges bleed dye into wet microfiber.
Don'tOpen a window and put a fan in it blowing out before you spray, and kill every flame in the house first, the gas water heater pilot, a candle, a space heater, a cigarette. A cup of 91 percent alcohol misted over a couch panel is a flammable vapor cloud sitting in a closed room. Check the tag too, because this is for synthetic microfiber and microsuede only. Do not use it on real suede, nubuck, or an X code couch. Alcohol strips the natural oils out of animal hide and leaves a permanent bleached looking patch you cannot restore.
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