Sofa has mildew smell after being in summerhouse.

[gardening_gal]

I recently acquired a sofa. At first glance it looked lovely, it was a light coloured material and it looked very clean.

It was a sectional job and the thing was in bits ready to transport.

It was only after I got it home that I realised it smelt of mildew. You couldn't smell it from a normal distance, it was only when you actually smelt the material. I'm assuming this was because it was in a summer house in someone's garden. I've yet to decide whether they were kind in passing it on and didn't realise it smelt, or they offered it knowing it was smelling but figured it was an easy way to get shot and they wouldn't have to dispose of it themselves.

I stripped the covers off it and they have been soaked in the bath in a strong vinegar solution then washed in the machine. They seem to be smell free now.

My problem is the actual back and seat cushions. The foam must have mildew spores deep within as I've sprayed them with neat vinegar and although the outside was soaking, once it all dried the smell was still there so it must be further in the foam.

I wondered if anyone else had ever had a similar problem or had any advice? I may have to dump the thing myself if I can't get rid of the smell. The cushions are large and a quick look on ebay for replacement foam suggested I'd be at least £100 to replace them all and I'm not doing that. I either get these ones clean or it's going.

I realise this isn't a true gardening question but it does have some relevance to garden issues so I hope it was ok to query this here.

[Nicos]

No idea really...but here are a couple of thoughts...

Can you put the foam cushions in the bath with a vinegar solution...one at a time and jump in there with them ..barefoot obviously!..like crushing grapes....being foam they should soak up the solution and then you could hose them down in the garden perhaps?

What would bicarbonate of soda do? I know that is used for cleaning and removing smells?

[Jeanied]

Bicarb first, rubbed in and left outside for a few days - brought in overnight- then vacuumed off. Followed by vinegar spritz, drying outside, again a few times on a sunny day.

Then you can give yourself permission to dump it having tried all the known and green solutions

[gardening_gal]

Thanks Nicos (and Jeanied - you posted just as I was replying to Nicos ). I tried rubbing bicarb in first and leaving it overnight before hoovering it off but it did nothing tbh.

I could try the bath route again but I'm worried about getting them dry. They are far too big to go in the dryer so they have to drip dry under their own steam. Even if I squashed most of the water out I think they would still hold a lot and take forever to dry which might start another smell off again.

That said, I don't really have much choice so will have to give *something* a go.

[Jeanied]

Come to think of it I have washed a foam cushion from a sofa before now - the cat peed on it! So I used bio washing powder, in the bath, doing the trampling with my feet. Then squeezed out as much as I could. Put outside to drain on a hot sunny day and put on my hot water tank to dry for a week or so.

[Bill HH]

If you cant smell it without rubbing your nose in it then dont do that, I think in time it will go away if its in a dry environment.

[mothhawk]

A lot of launderettes have a larger machine for washing duvets. If there is one near you, you could wash them in that. I know you can do them in the bath yourself, but my thought was that a machine would spin out a lot more water than you could squeeze out, so they would dry faster. They would also be thoroughly rinsed, which seems to take forever when you hand wash sponge.

Or a dry cleaner would do them for you. They have big machines for washing feather duvets.

[gardening_gal]

Thought I'd pop back with a wee update. I came across a tip on the internet from someone with regards to drying foam seat cushions.

The advice was to wash the cushion in the bath as had been suggested here, then put it in a space bag (vacuum storage bag) and use a wet 'n' dry vac to suck out the majority of the water.

So I gave it a go and washed one of the seat cushions in the bath, rinsed with more vinegar and stuck it (with much difficulty it has to be said!) into a jumbo space bag that I had in the cupboard. It removed lots of water and left the foam much lighter and easier to manage.

The foam is now in the smallest room in the house with both a heater and a dehumidifier going beside it so hopefully it should dry reasonably quickly.

If it dries ok and the smell is gone, I'll do the rest of the cushions and see if another go with the bicarb will make any difference to the back and bottom of the (padded) frame.

The forecast for tomorrow is sun so I'll get the whole thing outside to see if the sun helps too, as suggested.

Fingers crossed, I feel slightly more hopeful now.

Thanks everyone.

[Nicos]

Yeh!!!...fingers crossed here too!

...nothing like a bit of teamwork eh???

[iGrow]

Try Febreze - not so much faffing about!

[Dadam1]

I had something similar happen on my outdoor seating, was such a shame. Ended up buying a new one and purchasing some replacement sofa cushions made from reticulated foam as it doesn't get damp. So far so good.

[gardening_gal]

Lol. I wondered why this had been bumped. Gotta love a trier.

[veggiechicken]

Did you ever get rid of the smell - or has the sofa gone?

[gardening_gal]

Long gone. I just always got a whiff off it. However I did keep the two very large seat cushions, took the covers off them and put new (very loose 'that'll do type') covers on and the dog used them for years in the house and car.