The title itself says it all. I got an Eames lounge chair that needed some structural work. I got it at a cheap price and probably because of that I didn't inspect it thoroughly enough. The cushions looked fine except for a torn zipper on one of them. In fact, I didn't smell anything even when I lifted it down the stairs and into the car. Upon inspecting the chair cushions up close at home, I noticed an intense smell of urine on the seat and lower back cushions. I suspect it's the owner's dog's doing gone unnoticed.
Here's the damage. Seat cushion has horrible smell; no surface damage on the leather from the urine. However, the bottom side of the lower back cushion seems to have been corroded by the urine stain. It's almost like it's burned to a degree. Of course it smells like old pee as well. I'm both grossed out and heart broken too. I have no idea how long ago the assault was inflicted on the chair. It has the down and foam filling. Is there a way to resuscitate this poor thing? I need some immediate help!!!
Oh dear!
If its an early chair the cushion filling would be feather down which probably retains odour more than other materials. Also the cushion backing would be card, this would explain the way it has degraded.
If it was my chair I would do my very best to save the leather by contacting some professional cleaners.
I would discard the cushion filling and backing and replace with new. If it is an early chair you can fill the cushions with new down and a little bit of latex.
In the meantime I would place the chair in the garage.
Surprisingly the backing a of...
Surprisingly the backing a of both seem fine. In fact, I haven't taken out the filling to thoroughly inspect yet. I don't know if its wishful thinking to think that MAYBE it didn't penetrate into the filling. I'll find out later. If the filling is affected, can I soak the whole bag of down feather into a bucket of urine stain remover from a pet store and that rinse with thoroughly with water and air dry? I welcome other suggestions. And yes, it'll stay in the garage for a while.
Heard back from the previous...
Heard back from the previous owner. He said a cat accident happened a few months ago and he thought he'd cleaned it up well enough. Now that I think of it, the "burned" mark on the leather on the lower back cushion may not be related to the accident because if that was the reason, it should have also left a similar mark on the seat cushion, but it didn't. The thing is they had bought it used as well, so there may be things that I'll never find out. But for now, at least I know it's not human pee........ Wish me luck.....
Wash it..
If the down is in a seamed and finished bag then go ahead and wash it. Down washes easily in the washing machine on a gentle cycle. Toss in the dryer on a low cycle and add a tennis ball so the feathers don't clump. You can put the whole thing in a pillow case if you're concerned about losing a few feathers. Good luck..
Washing down
I've had down pillows that got washed infrequently, and line dried. There was a tendency for the down to clump, but the clumps were fairly easily worked out. And putting a tennis ball in the dryer as suggested might avoid that entirely.
So I second the idea of washing an internal pillow.
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You could de-skunk it like we do for a dog. Get it nice and wet, then soak in 1/2 gal vinegar, 1/2 box baking soda and a cup of peroxide. Then in a zippered pillow case run through the wash on an allergen setting. Pillow case will keep its shape if needed later to have another made in case of failure. (the seams may split if it is an older stain than may have weakened the fabric). Use a 5 gallon bucket for soaking since it tends to foam like Vesuvius. I rescued some very well made custom down couch cushions that way. Certainly worth a try.
So here's what I've found so...
So here's what I've found so far:
The back cushion looks pretty gross. The bottom part where it sits on seat cushion is corroded; the corrosion went into the bag of down/feathers, staining a portion of it black from the leather.
The seat cushion looks to be salvageable as there's no apparent stain on the leather or the filling. I'll get a black light to verify that. However, it still smells, though not as bad as the back cushion.
Both the seat and back cushion backings are fine.
Before reading everyone's post, I thought about throwing away the back cushion leather and filling since they look pretty dead. I'd be happy to share pictures if you guys want, but I just wasn't sure if people'd be grossed out by it. But now I may want to give it a final effort. I'll just cut out the corroded portion of the leather and see if the remainder can be used as a patch for other projects. Since I have nothing to lose with the back cushion filling, I'll just try to scrub off the black stain from the leather corrosion and soak it in a bucket of urine-removal chemical or home made solution as suggested and then wash and dry. Worse comes to worst if the black stain doesn't come off, I can cut the filling bag open and put the filling in a zippered pillow to go through the cleaning process, so that I can later on find a new bag for it.
As far as the seat cushion, I need more advice on getting the smell off the leather since I heard you're not supposed to just use chemicals or detergent to clean leather. The fun continues.....
I had a similar problem with...
I had a similar problem with a pair of chairs that belonged to my great aunt. Her very large dog used the front of one chair as a urinal when she became too ill to take it outside. She also smoked. I found OxiClean, mixed in water, to be helpful. Someone who saw the chairs before cleaning thought they had been reupholstered.
You could try
sprinkling the inside of the leather cushions with Bicarbonate of Soda. Leave it overnight and then hoover it out. Try a couple more times if it still smells. You can also try the Leather Master range of leather cleaners and restorers. I have saved quite a few no-hopers with their products and if it were mine I would replace the feather inserts entirely...not expensive to do.
Thanks everyone for your resp...
Thanks everyone for your responses. I got a UV light from Home Depot to see where the actual stains are on both the leather and filling. However, I couldn't really see any traces. Any thoughts on the proper way to use a black light?
I still haven't got around to cleaning the filling yet, but if that fails, where would be a good place to find down/feather filling? And is there a standard amount that I should get?
I really want to salvage the seat cushion, so I'll probably experiment more on the back cushion which is more damaged to see what works first.
Some black lights don't work so well
for picking up urine stains. I've heard it's a quality issue---the ones that do work cost a lot. My son rented a place that had a very strong cat urine smell in a carpeted room and his black light didn't show up anything but there was no mistaking the odor. (Landlord replaced the carpet, thank god.)
There are a lot of tips and products available online if you google "get rid of cat urine". The trick will be to find one that works but that doesn't discolor the leather.
An upholsterer can hook you up with some down fill, or search for it online. They sell it in cushion form.
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