As a Fine Fabric Specialist, you will find opportunities to clean or spot clean fabric covered walls in both homes and commercial establishments. In many cases, the fiber commonly used in such fabrics is silk, and such wall coverings can be found anywhere from homes to professional offices to resorts.
If the coverings are only exposed to atmospheric soil, cleaning the fabric is a relatively easy task involving the use of dry cleaning sponges, which are popular in the restoration industry.
What will be more difficult to clean are the oily soiled areas around light switches and doorways, as well as spills from food and drink.
Oily soils may be removed by applying a dry cleaning solvent suitable for upholstery cleaning to a clean white towel, and VERY gently blotting the fabric. Aggressively scrubbing the fabric will not remove more soil, and will also likely distort the fabric.
Water based spills are more challenging, and usually require the use of a water based detergent for complete removal.
As with dry cleaning, apply your cleaning agent (a fine fabric type detergent, such as Natural Fiber Cleaner is an excellent choice) to a clean, white. folded terry cloth towel and firmly wipe the spotted areas covering a larger area than just where the spot exists. This should allow “blending” and prevent the appearance of a "clean spot" or "water mark".
As with any cleaning of high value textiles, be certain to put the limitations of expected results and related risks of fabric damage in writing on your work order.
Fabric covered walls are NOT designed to be exposed to oily or water based soils, and any attempts at restoration should be phrased as "restorative attempts" that may work, but that 100% like new results should not be expected.
