Wet sofa - yikes!!

May 11, 2006 6:39 PM

How do I dry out a wet sofa?

I forgot to close the window before I went out to dinner tonight and there was a torrential downpour during the two hours that I was gone. When I came back, the entire back of my roomate's sofa and much of the front of the cushion (which is not removeable) and some of the pillows were DRENCHED (along with my stereo -- which I am hoping will dry out and be fine in a few days). I threw the throw pillows in the dryer and they should be fine, but what do I do about the actual sofa? Will letting it air dry be fine or will it get mildewy? A friend suggested the hair dryer but I feel like that would not be very effective given that it already takes 1/2 an hour to dry just my hair every day. This is my roommate's sofa and while the window's been open all day and I have no idea which of us opened it and when, I feel liable for any potential damages b/c it was raining when I left and I didn't close the window, and I'm poor and really don't want to have to buy her a new sofa or pay for steam cleaning. Any suggestions?

posted by echo0720 to Home & Garden (8 answers total)

Can you borrow a couple of powerful fans from friends?
posted by iconomy at 7:03 PM on May 11, 2006

Rent or borrow a steam cleaner to suck the water out of it.
posted by rhapsodie at 7:07 PM on May 11, 2006

Any way you could get it outside to sit in the sun for a day or 2? Balcony, porch, back yard, fire escape, whatever? Strong sunshine might dry it out fairly quickly, and the UV will help kill any microbes that are trying to set up housekeeping in your damp upholstery. Good luck!
posted by Quietgal at 8:38 PM on May 11, 2006

It's not just the fabric and filling. It's the metal inside, and if the sofa got wet enough it can begin to rust. That's one of the differences between indoor and outdoor furniture – even if it's left outside and the temperature gets below the dewpoint, condensation can begin on the metallic understructure of the sofa, and that begins the rusting process.

I would set the sofa, sans cushions, outside in the sun and put a couple of fans on it at the same time. Turn it upside down for a while too, to make sure you're getting the understructure dry. When you're sure it's dry, set it in your garage or another indoor area and run the fans for another day or more, just to be sure. Don't be fooled when it appears dry, because it's probably not dry inside.

Good luck!
posted by lambchop1 at 10:11 PM on May 11, 2006

Another option is to run the airconditioner (if available) at full-blast, and put a space heater near the couch. The AC will dry the air.
posted by malp at 6:08 AM on May 12, 2006

Thank you for the excellent options, the only problems (that I should've clarified) are
(a) we live on the 9th floor of an apartment building with no balcony/garage
(b) our air conditioning hasn't been turned on yet
(c) there's no one around that has industrial fans, we have two small ones that we tried last night

The sun is shining today, and the sofa's set right in front of the huge windows that caused it to get rained on, so hopefully that will help. As of this morning, the fabric seemed dry and I couldn't see any visible damage, so hopefully it's all good.

Thanks!
If it gets stinky though, steam cleaning is an option, so thank you for that suggestion!
posted by echo0720 at 6:45 AM on May 12, 2006

A shop vac might be powerful enough to suck water out of it.

Or maybe a dehumidifier? Put a tarp over the couch and dehumidifier, so that it is only working in the small enclosed space, and let it run for a few hours?
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:02 AM on May 12, 2006

There are various services that clean up after floods and fires, you might want to call one to see if they can help (Servpro is one such service, there are many). You can also rent heavy duty fans used to dry out carpets after flooding, check a nearby rental place for those.
posted by redheadeb at 2:03 PM on May 12, 2006