Hi all,
Thought I would share what I was up to at the weekend. When we bought 'Esther' the Puck a week or so ago I was a bit concerned about the rather unpleasant smells inside. We tracked the most obvious one to the fridge, which was just awful, but the seats and curtains really needed some attention too.
Cleaning hard surfaces is easy really as long as you don't go bananas or use inappropriate products, but I wasn't so sure about tackling the seats, as I've never been near any upholstery jobs before. I was pretty sure they had 21 years of dirt, flakes of skin and sweat ground-in to them, and had also suffered from owners who either just didn't care, or didn't know how to keep them nice.
I did the sensible thing and searched this very forum to find some advice, and found that taking the covers off the seats wasn't beyond the realms of my imagination at all, so I set about them with a staple remover. Here's my 'how to' guide based on what I did after that.
Tools needed: A good staple remover, a good staple gun that will fire 8mm staples into material and wood, about a thousand staples, a can of 'spray' contact adhesive, Dettol 'All in One' disinfectant spray, access to a washing machine, & a few days of nice weather! (You may need some indoor space to dry everything if you don't get the weather so do assess the amount of component parts your seating will break down to).
Step 1: Take lots of pictures
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These will prove invaluable on reassembly. Have a good look at how your covers are attached to the wooden bases & see how the material is folded to make it fit. Note the amount of material that is stretched onto the wood on each side. Have a look at where the seams are etc.
Step 2: Remove those staples
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This proved to be incredibly tedious, but looking back on it I reckon it was the only real bit of 'hard' work involved. A fairly good quality remover tool should help here.
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Step 3: Time to survey (and take more photos...)
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Once every cushion was uncovered I could see what I was dealing with. The dirt from 21 years of sitting and sleeping had truly taken its toll, and the tops were possibly growing some rare bacteria! Ew!
On the Puck, the base cushions for the main seats are made up of a foam 'box', with some protector material to stop the springs coming through. Note which face is adjacent to the springs at this point also, as one side is water resistant. The end base cushion is foam over wood, and the seat backs are foam in a zipped cover. Other models may vary, but I'm guessing this is the norm.
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At this point I discovered that the factory glue keeping the foam 'box' together was a bit hit and miss, and that some places were already separated and others literally wouldn't budge. So various techniques were used here to persuade the foam apart without too much damage. I figured some damage was acceptable, and I found could be repaired with more glue later but do go very carefully here. The top and bottom sections could be peeled up as in the picture and then the thicker bits could be stretched out gently to release the springs, without tearing them (although one or two did come apart). Again, take pictures to make sure you know what goes where.
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Step 4: Get 'em in the wash!
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I was unsure as to the best way to clean the foam. A search on the net told me not to put it in the washing machine, but after an experiment in the bath I decided it needed to be spun out anyway or it would take an age to dry. So I bit the bullet and stuck it in the machine on a cool wash. This took a bit of time as you can't stuff too much in as it will 'squeak' against the door, possibly causing damage, but also I didn't want to put too little in and risk damage by the mechanical action of the machine itself (as warned on the web). The thicker sections (without the springs inside) had to go in on their own, and the whole lot took quite a few runs to complete including the covers themselves. A good idea would be to measure everything at this stage just in case. Worst case scenario here would be to have new foam cut from the old, but it was more expensive than I thought when I checked...yikes!
The protective matting over the springs was not washed, as it looked like it might fall to pieces if it was. Instead the other half treated it with Dettol 'All in One' disinfectant spray, which seemed to kill any bacteria causing a smell and left them useable again. I'm sure this matting could be found by searching for an upholsterer suppler if it's too far gone.
Step 5: Get 'em on the line!
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I suppose this might sound obvious, but the foam needs to be completely dry before you put it all back together, or you are just inviting more mould into your van! I left it all in the conservatory overnight and also put it outside to dry on a very hot day. I would recommend you make sure everything is bone dry before reassembly.
Step 6: The rebuild
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Keeping the bits organised is key here. It might sound obvious but you need to make sure you haven't mixed up the parts of the respective cushions, so gather the parts from each cushion together ready. I found that there were tell-tale marks from old glue and the scarring of my disassembly that helped me to know where the bits went. I then laid them out with the board on top to make sure I knew I had the right size sections together.
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If there were was some foam that was still stuck to another bit after pulling apart, it seemed logical to match it all back up like a jigsaw:
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The spray glue is easy to use if you go careful. I thought it best to stick one end of the main section first, then when that's dry carefully work down the long edges making sure not to stretch the foam too much:
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Putting the covers back on and stapling was actually a lot less scary than I thought. The old staples had left some rusty marks on the material, and I carefully lined these up with the old puncture marks. Not an exact science of course, but I'd looked at the folds of the covers and worked out which way they were oriented, so it went quite well really. I held areas in the middle with a couple of staples and then brought more sections into place carefully, checking where the seams were all the way along.
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The end results were very pleasing. To be honest I would be confident enough to pull them all off again when the time ever comes to have new covers made (using these as patterns) and fit them all again myself. Really not as scary as I thought. But then of course these were only in need of a clean and had actually worn rather well for their age, so only really need to be changed if a new, more 'fashionable' pattern is required. I'm sure they will do for now - but that carpet is definitely going!
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