Is Your Sofa Making You Sneeze?
If you find yourself sneezing and feeling a bit sniffly after a relaxing night in front of the TV, then you may think you're going down with a cold. However, the cold never comes. You feel fine during the day but not at the end of an evening.
Instead of a cold, you could be picking up allergens from your sofa. Dust mites, general debris, and pet hair and dander may have collected in the cushions, and you may be having an allergic reaction to them.
How can you fix the problem?
Vacuum Your Sofa
If you don't regularly run your vacuum over your upholstered furniture, then it can collect allergens. Even if you give sofa cushions a quick run-over when you vacuum the room, this may not clean the sofa off completely.
So, target your sofa for a good, deep clean. Take its cushions off and put them on the floor. Vacuum the fronts, backs and sides on a high setting. Then, run your vacuum over the shell of the sofa. Try to get down the interior sides if you can. Don't forget to clean the back and sides of the sofa itself.
This may be enough to give you a relaxing evening in front of the TV without sneezing and spluttering. If this works, then make sure to give your sofa a vacuum regularly to keep it free of allergens.
If a good vacuuming doesn't work, then you may need to find a different solution.
Have Your Sofa Professionally Cleaned
You may have your carpets professionally deep-cleaned regularly, but you probably haven't thought about having your upholstered furniture cleaned this way. This is a good idea that could fix the reactions you're having to allergens in the furniture.
While basic vacuuming removes surface debris, it won't touch anything that is embedded in the upholstery. You also may not be able to get right down the sides of the sofa to clean them out fully.
If you have a dog or a cat at home, then a vacuum will only get rid of surface hair and fur. Your pets shed skin dander flakes when they sit or lie on your sofa. These flakes are tiny and easily embed into upholstery. You may actually be a little allergic to this stuff, which is why you're sneezing in the first place.
To combat the problem once and for all, have your sofa and any other upholstered furniture professionally cleaned. If you use a company that offers anti-allergen cleaning, then you should be able to remove all pet debris at the same time. Contact a company that offers upholstery cleaning services to learn more.