How Often Should You Clean Your Sofa, Mattress and Curtains? A Singapore Guide

By Scrubbys SG · Updated 7 August 2026

Your sofa, mattress and curtains look fine, so it is easy to forget they are quietly collecting everything the air carries. In Singapore's humidity that happens faster than most people realise, which is why upholstery here needs cleaning more often than the advice you read from cooler countries.

Why It Matters More in Singapore

Warmth and humidity are ideal conditions for dust mites, mould spores and bacteria to thrive inside soft furnishings. A mattress absorbs sweat every night. A fabric sofa traps skin cells, food crumbs and pet dander. Curtains filter dusty outdoor air all day. None of it is visible until it builds up, and by then it can trigger the sneezing, itchy eyes and stuffy mornings that many households wrongly blame on the weather alone.

How Often to Clean Each Item

• Mattress: every 6 months. It is the item in closest, longest contact with your skin, and the one most people never think to clean.
• Fabric sofa: every 6 to 12 months, or more often with young children or pets.
• Curtains: every 6 to 12 months. They hold more dust than they look.
• Carpets and rugs: every 6 to 12 months, sooner in high traffic areas.

Homes with babies, elderly family members, or anyone with allergies or asthma sit at the shorter end of every range. If someone in the house wakes up congested, the mattress and sofa are the first places to look.

Steam Clean or Deep Clean?

Both have a place, and the right choice depends on how much build up you are dealing with.

Steam cleaning

High temperature steam sanitises the surface, lifts light soiling and kills dust mites and bacteria without heavy chemicals. It is ideal for regular maintenance and for curtains, which we steam clean in place using a pole extension tool, so there is no need to take them down.

Deep cleaning

Deep cleaning works further into the material to draw out stains and grime that have settled in over time. It is the better choice when an item has not been cleaned in a long while, or after a spill that soaked in.

Signs It Is Overdue

• A faint musty smell when you sit down or lie down
• Morning congestion, sneezing or itchy skin that eases when you are out of the house
• Visible dulling of the fabric compared to a protected area, such as under a cushion
• More than a year since the last proper clean

How Pricing Works

Upholstery is priced per item rather than per home, so you only pay for what you need. Sofas are counted by seater, for example a 3 seater L shape sofa is counted as a 4 seater. Mattresses are priced by size, and curtains by the piece. You can see the full Upholstery Cleaning price list, and it is a popular add on to a Spring Cleaning.