Outdoor cushion
A cover you may be able to wash and a filling you probably cannot. The fabric maker's first instruction about the cover is to ask the furniture maker.
Precautions
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
- Rinse thoroughly afterwards
- Test on an inconspicuous area first
In detail
An outdoor cushion is two components pretending to be one, and the boundary between them is where advice goes wrong. The cover may be a performance textile with published cleaning instructions. The filling is foam or fibre whose construction varies by manufacturer, and which — once soaked — is slow to dry in exactly the conditions that grow mildew. That is why the fabric manufacturer's machine-washing instruction opens by sending you elsewhere: SOME removable casings can be machine washed, but consult the FURNITURE manufacturer before removing the casing, because cushion construction varies. Where washing is permitted the parameters are narrow — close all zippers, cold water, delicate cycle, mild laundry detergent, one cup of bleach only for severe mildew, and air dry. Never machine dry. For a cover that does not come off, the same maker gives soak-and-lift rather than scrubbing: mild soap solution allowed to soak in, worked with a soft brush, rinsed thoroughly, air dried, and cleaned seam to seam rather than in a circle around the spill, because a partial clean leaves a water ring. Scrubbing, hard brushes, abrasives, steamers and steam irons are all excluded.
Related
- Outdoor cushion is made from Solution-dyed acrylic
- Outdoor cushion is commonly affected by Mould
Hacks and claims involving this
- Bleach ruins outdoor fabric Does not work
Sources for this page
Sources
Sunbrella Upholstery Care and Cleaning
Glen Raven, Inc. (Sunbrella), 2023 · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That some removable casings may be machine washed but the furniture manufacturer must be consulted first because cushion construction varies, that washing is cold on delicate with zips closed and the fabric air dried, that non-removable fabric is soaked and lifted rather than scrubbed and cleaned seam to seam, and that scrubbing, hard brushes, abrasives, steamers and steam irons are excluded. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Read in full: Outdoor Upholstery (removable and non-removable), Mold and Mildew, Indoor Upholstery, Helpful Hints, Retreating and Professional Cleaners. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. CleaningHQ expected a fabric manufacturer to prohibit bleach, as the wool guidance in this register does. This one specifies it, at a stated concentration, for its own fibre and for a reason — solution dyeing — that does not transfer to fabric dyed any other way. The catalogue therefore models the permission as a property of solution-dyed acrylic rather than of outdoor fabric, and the mildew-grows-on-the-dirt statement became the prevention answer for the whole family.
Last reviewed by a person on .