Thinking about sofa cushion foam replacement?

Sofa cushions never stay as plump as the day they were new. In fact many sofas feel a bit too firm when brand new but this is usually deliberate so once it’s been used a bit it becomes ideal. As time goes by all, seats start to lose their firmness, pocket springs inevitably wear out and snap and one day your cushions will start letting you and your furniture down.

Our blog is full of reasons not to throw your damaged furniture away and when it comes old cushions, guess what? It usually saves you time and money to get a foam replacement for cushions rather than buy a whole new item of furniture.

We get asked all kinds of questions when customers are exploring their options and we’ve been out to quite a few jobs where a DIY attempt to replace foams has gone wrong. To help you understand the art of foam replacement we’ve come up with some common questions and our answers and done a comparison of online prices versus our fully fitted service.

Cushion interiors will degrade over time

Is all foam the same?

No. Foams are certainly not all the same. There are different materials, densities and qualities of foam. It’s not too difficult to buy something that starts off great but quickly falls apart or something very expensive that’s designed for a function you don’t need. It’s important to ensure the foam that goes into your cushions is the right stuff, after all, fitting foams properly to cushions can be a big job and not one you should be repeating because the wrong foam was used.

Can I measure the foam size myself?

Yes and no. Of course most people would be fine taking a tape measure and reading off some numbers from the shape of the foam, but there are many pitfalls in measuring foams yourself. It’s easy to get it just a little wrong and not account for the style of the furniture and the way it needs to wear into the perfect shape. There are lots of details a trained upholsterer will take into account that the average DIY handy person would not know about. If you order the wrong size, you’ll be stuck with foams you can’t use. So if you want to get it right nice and simple, it’s best to get a furniture technician to measure the foam sizes.

Can I buy a block of foam and shape it myself?

Possibly. Shaping foam effectively is like any trade skill, if you have the tools and the skills you can do the job. You can get somewhere with a bread knife with some sorts of foam but if you want a smooth tidy finish and an accurate cut and especially if you need several foams to match, you need proper tools and training. If having an ideally shaped foam interior for your furniture is important to you, it’s probably best to get a professional to shape it to the right measurements. Foam shape or profile is more complex than getting clean cuts, different changes in gradient and curvature improve the performance and durability of a cushion interior and it usually takes an experienced upholsterer to understand the right profile for your needs and to fashion one to match your sofa cushions. For example we fashion a ‘Split dome’ profile for many 3 seater sofas, this shape allows for ideal comfort and durability after a bit of wear. We have yet to find an online retailer that offers this profile without making a more expensive custom request.

Many kinds of foam on the market

Can I just buy shaped foams off the internet?

Yes. Internet retailers sell foams according to your measurements and they’ll send you the type of foam you ask for. In addition to getting the measurements right (see above), you’ll need to be sure of the type of foam you need for your cushion. You also need to understand what covering and wrapping is required for best results, this adds to the prices and there are many options. When it arrives you’ll have to fit them (provided they’re the right size) and of course find a safe way to get rid of all your old foam. So buying your own foam online is an option and yet it’s just one part of getting the job done properly.

So what do you recommend?

Now this may not come as a surprise to you, but we’re sure a cushion interior replacement is best left to a professional. If your furniture is within our service area, Wefixanysofa are the best balance of cost, ease and quality. With our cushion foam replacement service an experienced technician will make the measurements, they will ensure the right foam for the job is selected and that it’s shaped right. We’ll come back out and professionally fit them to the cushions whether they be zip ups or traditional stitched cushions. When you place the job with us we take care of everything from start to finish, you need only make the enquiry, invite us in when we arrive and confirm you’re happy with our work at the end. It couldn’t be easier and you have the peace of mind that the work was done properly.

What about the cost?

It’s certainly easier to leave the job to us, but what about the cost? All cushions are different and the costs of repair will vary based on the type of cushion, foam, covering and the style of the cushions. So we’ll take a typical case as an example.

Example

In our example we’re replacing the seat cushions on a standard 3 seater sofa. This comprises of 2 L-shaped cushions (left and right) and the central seat cushion. We’re assuming these are loose cushions with zips at the back. Loose cushions could possibly be replaced in a DIY fashion, fitted cushions simply cannot be, you need an upholsterer to replace a fitted cushion interior.

Our example cushions with basic measurements

These are typical measurements for the seat cushions on a 3 seater sofa. This does not take profile into account. Online retailers offer some profile options but choosing which one is correct is a challenge. Looking at old worn out cushions isn’t much help as their shape has changed over the years. We are assuming we’re using Medium Grey 41M high quality foam and that it’ll need to be covered with a Stockinette and 10oz dacron wrap to reduce friction and internal wear. These are our typical products, online retailers may not use the best quality foams and wraps.

Price comparison table

The table below compares 3 popular online cushion foam retailers pricing for the foams themselves, the dacron and stockinette covers and delivery. Alongside them is our ‘all-in’ price to measure, order and fit ideal cushion interiors using the best quality materials and a profile ideal for your needs.

* This is the Wefixanysofa cost for the entire service including foams, measurements and fitting.

Buying online & fitting yourself

• Do the measuring
• Order the foams online, risk at least £135 (in our example)
• Check foams are right
• Fit them to your cushions
• No guarantee on size and fitting

Typical cost of ordering foams: Average in our example £145, lowest cost we found, £135.

Wefixanysofa

• Ideal foam
• Ideal size and shape
• Fitted properly
• No need to send the cushions off, we come to you

Full cost of service: £164.32
(including VAT, foams, wrappings, initial measurement visit and fitting visit)

Conclusion

So if you value your time, your furniture and you want the job doing right first time with minimum fuss, our cost to you (in the above example) is at most an extra £30 over a typical online foam purchase. In this typical example it means our entire service adds just 20% to the cost.

This is the simple point we wanted to make with this article, why do all the work and take all the risk to save 20% off the final cost of foam replacement when we are so very good at it and such good value for money. If you think we can help you with your cushions, we’d be delighted to hear from you, just contact us to get the ball rolling.

Wefixanysofa are the family run furniture repair experts based in the North West, trust us with your cushion interiors and we’ll show you why we’ve got 5 star reviews on Facebook, Google and Yell.

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Furniture Repair