"Hi Comettose, Thanks for your advice re the pond; the shop vac which you are using--what brand is it? You mentioned water change, how much water do you discard when you backwash the pond? A few inches e.g. 3 or 4" or more in the Spring. What source do you use for your aquatic plants? I am unfamiliar with Thalia." I just ran down the basement to see what brand and it says 'ShopVac'. 14 gallon capacity. It is red and black. My neighbors gave it to me. It is on wheels and sits in a partial container (can't explain that too well). 10.5 amp motor. It has a long hose and there are small wedge attachments, brush attachments, etc. It shuts off when the holding tank is full and I unscrew a cap and all the water and leaves/gravel shoots out around my pond plantings. You have to be careful with it - it will suck up fish or frogs (not that I've done that) but it does have powerful suction. If my fish or frogs get nosy and try to swim near the suction tip I move it away. It is easy to move around the pond as it has a handle on top and I can pull it along on the wheels. My pond is approximately 8 x 10, about 19 to 21 inches deep. When I do a partial water change I take it down anywhere from 3 to 6 inches. I bought my Thalia a few years ago at Lowe's. It needs a really big pot as the plant itself is 3/4 feet or taller and the bloom stalks shoot up six feet. The flowers are purple and smell and look something like lilac. The bees like them. The base of the stems are reddish and the leaves sort of blue/green. You can buy Thalia at Lilypons (online). It is a native plant. There are tropical versions too, but mine is hardy as I leave it in my Zone 7 pond all winter. I'll search around for a photo of it. Here is a link that might be useful: ShopVac Link

I'd rent a Rug Doctor, make sure it has upholstery attachments on board. Don't rent just the plain carpet scrubber. The attachment I used was a hose with a piece on top about 4 inches wide for doing upholstery. I used it on a nylon sofa that was pretty grubby. It got it looking brand-new. Good luck!

I professionally clean upholstery, most of the jobs are spot cleaning specific stains. I have about a dozen different cleaners, some of which work only on specific stains. My go-to cleaner is an enzyme + detergent. Enzymes are good for breaking up proteins in food and "body fluids" that are the most common stains I see. I also use it when I am just doing general cleaning (last year I did a high school cafeteria that had not been cleaned in 9 years, and even then, a lot of the stains were not removed 9 years ago.) On 80% of them, that's all I needed. On tough grease stains (think 20 years of hamburgers and french fries), I used a stronger emulsifier as a second treatment. But if you're just doing ordinary cleaning, look for a carpet and upholstery cleaning solution, e.g., Hoover or Bissell. Even a little Dawn and water would work pretty well. Do not use laundry detergents as they have "optical brighteners" that are not good for upholstery fabrics. Before you buy anything, check the cleaning code for W or WS. I can carefully water clean about 80% of S-coded fabric. But 100% cotton, rayon or silk are not good with water. Note too, that many of the "citrus" based cleaners work chemically like the "dry cleaning" solvents and are not effective on ordinary soiling. It all has to do with chemistry and solubility.

Did you ever find something for this? I have a dry clean only sofa and want to clean the arms. The fabric care says spot clean with water only and dry clean otherwise.