Cheap, short term couch seats fix?

[Britan]

Hi all! I have a bit of a dilemma with my living room couches. I need them to last a year or two longer. However, they are terrible. I managed to re-stuff the back cushions just fine using old pillows I cannibalized, but my problem is the seats. Here's the current situation:

* The base is seat belt webbing type material in a grid. I think this part is mostly fine.
* Cushions are springs (half of which are popping out), wrapped in several disjoint pieces of (now torn) foam, covered by a very thin layer of (now ripped) batting. The adhesive keeping it all together has worn out and the result is a lumpy, spring-poking, uncomfortable mess.

What sort of filler can I use to get another year or two out of these couches? The cost of new foam puts it right out - I don't like these couches enough to spend $100+ on fixing them. The foam currently in the couches is pretty unusable - each cushion was originally made of several pieces of foam glued together, and even those pieces are now getting town. I've tried some band-aid solutions on the springs which only sort of helped. I don't know that simple poly-fill fluff is good enough. Any recommendations? Cheap places to get foam? Any resources on fixing springs? Any other cheap fillers I could use?

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

You could fold a thick duvet over a few times instead of the seats.

[TrMama]

I'd start by using pliers to bend the pointy parts of the spring back down, away from your behind. I wouldn't bother with replacing fillers until you can get this issue resolved, since the metal will just poke through whatever you pile on top.

Then I'd trawl Craigslist for a free (or very cheap) futon.

[Britan]

I'd start by using pliers to bend the pointy parts of the spring back down, away from your behind. I wouldn't bother with replacing fillers until you can get this issue resolved, since the metal will just poke through whatever you pile on top.

Then I'd trawl Craigslist for a free (or very cheap) futon.

Hmm maybe I will try this. The springs are not broken per se, but their "casing" is. I may try to really get them back where they belong. My other plan was to literally throw out the entire interior and replace it with ... Something I haven't figured out yet. :)

My area is quite high in the list of "top 10" most bedbug infested cities. So while I will CL many things, upholstered furniture is not one of them, sadly.

[TrMama]

I'd start by using pliers to bend the pointy parts of the spring back down, away from your behind. I wouldn't bother with replacing fillers until you can get this issue resolved, since the metal will just poke through whatever you pile on top.

Then I'd trawl Craigslist for a free (or very cheap) futon.

Hmm maybe I will try this. The springs are not broken per se, but their "casing" is. I may try to really get them back where they belong. My other plan was to literally throw out the entire interior and replace it with ... Something I haven't figured out yet. :)

My area is quite high in the list of "top 10" most bedbug infested cities. So while I will CL many things, upholstered furniture is not one of them, sadly.

Try using several layers of duct tape to "rebuild" the casing.

If you don't mind it being ugly, you could also look for some of those cushions sold for lawn furniture on clearance. Put those down and then cover the whole thing with a big sheet.

[Rural]

Buy some garage floor mats, cut to the size of the cushions, duct tape to them so it doesn't slide around, then throw a sheet or blanket over the whole thing.


Should be able to get the garage floor mats for $20 or so, and they should keep your butt spring-free.

[zolotiyeruki]

We have a kids-sized recliner that had a similar problem.  We solved it by putting a sheet of cardboard between the springs and the foam. That was...4 years ago, I think, and despite daily heavy use, it looks great.  I'd suggest you use cardboard with the glossy stuff on one side, since that seems to be a bit tougher.  We used part of a diaper box.

Option 2: people are always getting rid of sofas for free.  Snag the cushions from one, and use the foam.
Option 3: get a cheap foam mattress pad, and cut it to size
Option 4: get scraps of some sort of robust material (e.g. denim) to put on top of the springs, so the foam can't get cut by the springs

[Britan]

So what I ended up doing:

I opened up the couch cushion, and pulled the collection of springs out. Of about 88 springs, I completely removed just the ones that were way out of their casing (about 15) and stuffed those spaces with fluff left over from stuffing the back cushions. Then, I put the springs back in their laughable "foam" housing (about 1/4 inch of low density junk), and made sure to TURN the square of springs. The front had taken the most damage, so it is now the back. The back springs were mostly fine, so they are now the front. Then I added a bunch more fluff between the springs and the foam so you can't feel the springs as much and the cushion looks much more "full".

Overall it turned out pretty well. It could use some quilt batting over the whole thing but I'm too lazy to go and buy some. The whole thing just needs to last until we move in a year or two. Now just to do this same thing on the other cushions!

[meadow lark]

Good job!  Sounds like an excellent fix.  The whole bed bug issue makes it really hard.