Dried Foam is nasty.

February 10, 2009 11:15 AM

Help me remove some nasty, dried upholstery foam from a Church pew.

I have a church pew with an upholstered seat. The upholstery is old, torn up by my cats, and ugly, while the wood underneath is gorgeous. So, I'm ripping it up.

The bad news: There's a 1"-1.5" layer of upholstery foam underneath the upholstery, and it's dried to a hard crust. It doesn't come of easily, and when it does, it basically turns to dust. I've scraped about a third of it off so far, but I'm looking for a better solution for the rest. Please tell me there's some sort of chemical that will dissolve all the foam? Something that will re-dampen the foam enough so that I can tear it off in big chunks? I just don't want to spend hours scraping this stuff off.

posted by god hates math to home & garden (9 comments total)

A couple of things to try:

Cover it with ice cubes until the foam also hardens. It may be easier to "crack and peel" at that point.

Many carpet cleaners are good for "dissolving" petroleum based substances. Give it a bath in carpet cleaner, let it sit for several hours, then it may come off easier.

Good luck to you.
posted by netbros at 11:36 AM on February 10

Many variables here. If wood is beautiful and the finish beautiful, be very careful. I wouldn't douse that dried up foam with anything until you ponder more carefully how the wood finish of the pew is to be affected by removing the foam (under any method of removal).

Are you trying NOT to have to sand all the pew surfaces? If so, is that foam coming up off the wood finish just fine when you do spend hours and hours scraping it off by hand (using I assume a nonintrusive scraper, like wood)? Or have you not tried that, and are wondering if a solution will get the foam off w/o hard work? If the latter, try this FIRST: choose a fairly outoftheway spot, and scrape foam by hand down to closest you can get to the wood finish w/o hurting the wood. Then if you think that finish is of a pretty hard type, try to see if all of the adherant layer of the foam will lift off by going carefully underneath it with a good flat edge. If no-go, then test by just wetting the remaining residue w/ plain water. Wait about 5 minutes. Check all time to see that the water is not "milking out" the finish (turning it whitish). You may end up sanding the pew anyway, and applying a new finish. Finishing is fun for many folks. Think on it.
posted by yazi at 12:11 PM on February 10

I (accidentally) dissolved some foam in a craft project when I was little by using acetone. It ate right through. Maybe try some acetone?
posted by phunniemee at 12:19 PM on February 10

I wouldn't douse that dried up foam with anything until you ponder more carefully how the wood finish of the pew is to be affected by removing the foam

Yeah, that's why I haven't seriously pursued dissolving the foam yet. I'm definitely scared that the finish will be affected. As of yet, I don't think I've done any damage to the finish. I've been using a silicon scraper to break the foam into the biggest chunks possible, and scrape away what's left. The problem is that the chunks, when they come off, aren't coming cleanly off of the finish - so wherever I remove any foam, there's a thin layer still attached to the pew, which I have to scrape off. It's painstaking, and pretty unpleasant.

I'm not totally opposed to sanding and refinishing the pew once I'm done with it - it would just be a bit of a pain, as the sides and back would still be fine, and I would have a hell of a time matching the seat to the rest of the pew.
posted by god hates math at 12:40 PM on February 10

Water, just get it wet, the wood wont be harmed. Chances are that it is not finished, or finished with shellac, which you would want to remove anyway, as it does not really withstand daily usage.

You'll be scraping the shit off, if its stuck to the wood, water will make it more pliable.
posted by Max Power at 12:40 PM on February 10

Chances are that it is not finished, or finished with shellac

The upholstery was added after the fact - some foam, some rivets, and a small amount of coarse red fabric. The finish under the foam is the same as on the rest of the piece.
posted by god hates math at 12:54 PM on February 10

Well water wont hurt it, neither would naptha, which would probably be better.

You are gonna make a mess, if you are concerned with the integrity of the rest of the peice tape it off with wax paper.

Get all the crap you can from the foam off, leave the sticky stuff then try water, or naptha, ( i love that shit, wear gloves).
posted by Max Power at 2:20 PM on February 10

Goo Gone will make the scraping easier, if none of these suggestions work. A little goes a fairly long way.
posted by orrnyereg at 2:59 PM on February 10

Yeah, test Goo Gone on a little hidden patch of the finish (maybe under the seat?) to see if it affects the wood. That stuff has worked wonders on projects like these.
posted by barnone at 3:43 PM on February 10