New couch? Off gassing?

[HalfInsane]

So I'm getting a new couch delivered this Saturday. I'll be keeping it in the spare room/office away from Pixel since I'm sure it'll be good and drenched in fire retardants and who knows what else (I specified NO STAIN GUARD but who knows what other nastiness they coat new furniture in).

But, you know... I am looking forward to actually being able to USE my couch. So, I was wondering if anyone else had an experience buying new furniture? How long did you wait before putting it in a room with your birds? Any noticeable smell? Techniques for getting some of the chemicals out of the fabric/speeding up the off gassing process?

 

[Pinkbirdy]

Funny your posting this ,Im getting a couch and loveseat thusday. I wanted no stain gard either.Im putting couch covers on them [and opening the windows]

 

[HalfInsane]

Will they be in the same room as the birds? You'll have to let me know if you notice any sort of smell.

I wish I could open the windows but we're having an abnormally cold spring so probably not an option. I think I might rent a carpet/upholstery cleaner and wash the whole thing down (with just water of course).

 

[Pinkbirdy]

Yes [I have a double livingroom] So me, the new furniture and the birds are in the same room. All is well its day 2. No chemical smell for me.

 

[HalfInsane]

Awesome, good to know, and thanks . My house is quite small (550 square feet) but it actually looks like the weather will be warm this weekend so I can open the windows.

I know I probably worry too much but it's hard when you read all these horror stories online of people having their birds die because they bought -insert seemingly innocent product here-

 

[Pinkbirdy]

I know what you mean I was worried too. Last week they delivered the wrong stuff (and that was leather]. We lived with it for a week .Now we have microfiber.Both were fine with the birds.

 

[HalfInsane]

Well they delivered my couch today. And my god... It absolutely STINKS. I have a headache from sitting on it for 15 minutes. Needless to say Pixel is no where near it.

Mine is fabric. I think the main reason it smells so bad is that I custom ordered it they put it together and shipped it within the same week. So it didn't have time to air out like furniture one might buy off the floor at the store would. I need to figure out what the fabric is made out of and see how extreme I can go in attempting to wash it. I'll be pulling all the seat and back cushion covers off and washing those and going over the rest with an upholstery cleaner... hopefully that'll reduce the smell.

I'm glad you had better luck, Pinkybird. I'm not looking forward to waiting for this couch to stop stinking

 

[weco]

Be careful that your covers don't shrink.....I have a client that had her housekeeper wash the covers on her couch & her loveseat.....washed in cold water.....then found out that they were only supposed to be dry cleaned.....a couple of thousand $$$ of junk until she had both reupholstered.....

You might also contact the manufacturer & find out what fire retardants were used on the foam cushions.....

Good luck.....

 

[HalfInsane]

Be careful that your covers don't shrink.....I have a client that had her housekeeper wash the covers on her couch & her loveseat.....washed in cold water.....then found out that they were only supposed to be dry cleaned.....a couple of thousand $$$ of junk until she had both reupholstered.....

You might also contact the manufacturer & find out what fire retardants were used on the foam cushions.....

Good luck.....

Good point, thanks for the warning... I'll have to hold off on washing for now. I'm hoping its polyester since you can wash that no problem. Cotton or rayon though I'm out of luck. I did email the manufacturing, but the foam itself actually has very little smell. It's definitely the fabric itself that smells.