HUMAN OILS IN MY SOFA?

I recently inherited a used sofa. the fellow who had the sofa finally got a bed and didn’t need it anymore.( The bed AND the sofa were too much for the smallish bedroom) He had been sleeping on the sofa and one arm(used as pillow) and an upper part where he sat is saturated with some sort of dingy, oily, substance. It is either his natural oils or possibly geri-curl or the like.

We live in HUD apartments and furniture is passed from tenant to tenant. My question is what can I use to remove the stains? Are the foam upholstery cleaners used for auto interiors a good idea? Is there another type cleaner that would be better?

I’ve never tried to clean a velveteen type fabric before and don’t want to ruin the upholstery but the stain is disgusting, and probably not very sanitary. We have the stained portions covered with towels for now, but need a more permanent fix.

Any suggestions would be appreciated….Thanks…JPT

You will need a professional upholstery cleaner to take care of this problem. There are no "off the shelf" cleaners that can remove body oils that have passed through the chairs fabric and are now residing in the padding just beneath the fabric.

I found this out the hard way. I purchased a couch from our local Salvation Army that had geri-curl oils in it. I used a fabric cleaner for auto interiors and that just made matters worse.

I live in Florida and contacted a company named Tru-Clean Carpet and Tile Care and they came over, explained wy off the shelf remedies don’t work (not strong enough) and then cleaned my couch. They charged $95.00 but my couch looks brand new and no more staining.

Hope this helps so you don’t waste your money on products that won’t work.