If vinyl weave fabric cushions,and colorfast, you might do as I do and wearing long dish gloves, strongly spray cushions top to bottom with hot bleach/water/dawn, (1 cup bleach, 1/4 cup Dawn, 1 gallon hot water mixture), on both sides, scrub with a stiff nylon brush, set cushions in sun for 1 hour, turn for another hour, then rinse with lots of warm water, and let dry in sun.
If cotton like fabric and colorfast, reduce sun time to 30 min each side and rinse longer with more water. Apply Scotchgard all over (outdoors) after last step, if you can, when totally dry to retard additional mildew attaching from the "spores" blowing in from other areas/things.
Hang to drip dry once rinsed, turning after one side is dry. Try to keep them dry and in a sunny area, under a patio umbrella when precipitation is falling.
This is all I do for mine and they are fine. Most are stuffed with poly, which will never be completely nor "perfectly" clean, but what you do will certainly help a great deal and keep the mildew growth to a minimum, and you will likely have to do it each year.
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Request: Cleaning Outdoor Furniture
Archived on 01/23/2007
I have outdoor chairs with cloth cushions. They need to be cleaned before putting them away for the winter. If you have cleaned yours with something and it was successfull, please tell me about it.
Thank you,
Eletha from Waterford, CA
Answers:
RE: Cleaning Outdoor Furniture
I vaccuum my cushions (they aren't dirty but dusty) give them a shot of Lysol (let dry) and bag them in plastic outdoor bags. Then wipe down my chairs and stack them to put in the garage. I did this last year and when spring came around they were ready to just be taken out and placed on my chairs. Happy winterizing! (10/19/2005)
By Jennifer,CA
RE: Cleaning Outdoor Furniture
Try using a bathroom mold remover cleaning formula like lysol or other. It worked great on my PVC chairs and platic seating. Test for color fastness first on fabrics. (10/28/2005)
