Boy Bill, thats kinda like asking whats the best car. There are many ways to clean upholstery. I might suggest you take an upholstery cleaning class, you will learn alot and make life a lot simpler with the knowledge you will gain. That being said you can do upholstery cleaning with your stair tool. If you have the challenger stair tool, you might want to consider cutting the pad driver down so it's not so big around. You will find it easier to clean stairs also. Just take a long sabre saw blade and cut around the pad using the metal plate on top as a guide, very simple and quick. With the smaller head you can get into corners and other areas much easier. You will want to get a folding card type table to take into the house so you will have a place to set pillows and cushions on while you clean them, this will save your back a lot. You can use your orbit-natural as the cleaner or encap juice. Just spray it onto an area like a cushion or back of acouch or what ever. then take a damp cotton pad, set it on the area to be cleaned and place your stair tool on it, and clean away. For dirty areas you might take a hand brush and pre-scrub that area before you pad it. Small areas you can't get to with the machine and pad you can just use a damp towel and hand rub that area. After doing one stuffed chair or couch you will see how easy it is. We clean alot of furniture this way. You may also want to consider a small portable unit to HWE clean furniture. Some guys will spray there cleaner on the furniture and take a hand brush and give that area a light scrubbing then spray it lightly with water and extract it with a shop van. Some cleaners buy a upholstery cleaning setup that uses dry foam, which is scrubbed into the fabric, let stand for a few minutes then vacuumed out. This process is very safe for all fabrics, we sell such a machine. If however, you do not want to spend anymore money you already have the tools needed to start cleaning furniture. A word of caution check the label under the cushinon to see if it can be wet cleaned. If it says solvent clean only don't do it. Also no matter what the label says test a small area on the zipper portion of a cushion, by applying your cleaning solution to it, then take a white towel and rub it to see if you get any color transfer, if you do don't go any further. Then take a hair dryer and dry the area you just tested to see if you are getting any discoloration, if not go for it. This is where an upholstery cleaning class comes in handy. Or buy our upholstery cleaning unit, which is safe for all fabric, then you don't have to worry about any of that. OH! before you clean any furniture or carpeting for that matter you should always vacuum it first. Hope this helps!
Lot of good info from J.E. there above. I use my stair tool on upholstery which is firm enough, but switch to a by-hand approach with soft pillows, etc. To me, the lighter the stair tool, the better, as it will be less tiring for you. I prefer to schedule jobs of which upholstery is a component in the earlier part of the day, as I find it more tiring than c.c. I tell customers that upholstery cleaning, like surgery, should be scheduled in the AM while the "doctor" is still fresh, focussed, & energetic.
