DIY Couch Deep-Clean

This is the story of how I saved my couch from more than a year’s worth of old, dried, stained, super smelly cat urine. Sit back, this is a long post.

If you’re a cat owner, then no doubt you know how hard it is to get rid of the smell of cat urine. A couch as bad as mine, many people would just throw out. It was B-A-D! Smell-up-my-whole-living-room-bad. The girl responsible for the smell had to find a new home because after months of vet visits and in-depth home observations, the cause of her peeing could not be identified. It was a tough decision, but she’s in a nurturing rehab environment now.

I’m going back to university in a month and can’t afford a new couch, so I found a way to clean and deodorize mine. It’s been a month of hot, humid weather (the weather in which cat stench thrives), and so far no odour!

The supplies: 

• Hydrogen Peroxide – one 500mL bottle for each cushion, and each back cushion, and one bottle for throw pillows, plus one extra bottle. I went through 6 bottles. Please test your couch’s and pillow cover’s fabrics for colour fastness before starting this process! 
• Dawn Dish Soap – about quarter of their standard sized bottle. 
• Arm & Hammer Baking Soda – one 500g box.
• Other things not pictured: large plastic bags, a standard cleaning bucket (I think mine is 10qt) hot water (hot from the tap, not boiling), duct tape, a watering can, and a tarp.

The process: 

This is going to take a couple weeks, so be patient! It’s totally worth it!

Day One

 

Remove all of the cushions and pillows from your couch and remove all of the covers from the cushions and pillows. The covers can be machine washed. I put my regular laundry soap in the dispenser, poured about ¼ cup baking soda directly on the covers, and filled the bleach dispenser with hydrogen peroxide. I ran it through the cycle I use for all my laundry, which is the warm (not hot) cycle.

Put each of your cushions in its own large plastic bag (I got generic garbage bags measuring 35”x50” from my local grocery store), and your throw pillows together in one bag.

Pour one full bottle of hydrogen peroxide into your bucket. Squirt a good amount of dish soap into the bucket – I didn’t measure, but I’d say it was about 3tbs. Pour about ¼ cup of baking soda in the bucket. Fill the bucket the rest of the way with hot water from the tap.

Dump the bucketful over one of the cushions inside its bag. Fill the bucket with hot water and dump that in the bag too.

If the bag is too small to tie closed, like it was for my seat cushions, seal the bag closed using duct tape (not painter’s tape, which is what’s pictured below). If you can tie the bag closed, do that! You want to make sure the bag is pretty well sealed so that the water doesn’t leak or evaporate.

Repeat with all your other bags of cushions and pillows.

 

Let these bags sit for 2 days, moving them around half way through to make sure the water gets all over the cushions. I know, that’s a long time, but they need to soak all the way through for an extended period of time. I set mine up in my kitchen at 6pm on a Saturday, and opened them at 11am on the following Monday (what a way to spend your long weekend...).

In the mean time, fill a watering can with the same mixture (my watering can was much smaller than my bucket, so I had to reduce the measurements, but maintain the ratio of ingredients – Yay Math!). Unload the mixture directly onto your couch (like the springy seat that the cushions sit on... The internet tells me it’s called the “deck”... as well as up the back and arms). Let it air dry completely, which took my couch about one day.

 

Day Two

My couch still had a little bit of odour after drying, so I soaked it again. It was all good on day three! If your couch still smells on day three, move the couch and check that the floor under the couch hasn’t been affected by your kitty’s business.

Your cushions are still soaking; go flip them at some point.

 

Day Three

Time to take those cushions and pillows out of their bags! This was a task when I did it, so I hope you figure out a slightly more graceful way to do it yourself. I carried my bags, one at a time, to my bathtub, ripped open the bag, and let the excess water drain out as I removed the cushion from the bag.

 

I then climbed in the bathtub and walked all over my cushion, trying to squish out as much water as I could. The reason this didn’t go so well is two-fold: 1) my cushions are bigger than my bathtub, so I had to fight with them to keep them in the tub. 2) my cushions have a water repellent fabric over them, which did not work to keep the cat urine out, but sure worked to keep the water in!

Regardless, I stomped away until I could stomp no more. Then I stood the cushions up on a tarp (ideally outside in the sun, but that wasn’t possible for me) and left them to dry.

Drying takes a crazy long time. You have to be sure to let them dry all the way through, or else you can get into mould issues, and who wants to follow up cat urine issues with mould issues?!?! Even though they were dry to the touch after 4 days, I let my cushions sit for two weeks before I put their covers back on. This is how my spare room looked for two weeks:

Like my rigging job with the back cushions slung over my broom and mop handles? I fancy myself a smart cookie once in a while.

I also had a fan running non-stop for the first 4 days, to help the drying process. 

Last Step!

Congratulations! Your couch is odour-free, your covers are odour-free, and your cushions which are finally dry and odour-free! WOO-HOO!! Put your couch back together, give yourself a pat on the back, and have a seat. Watch a movie or something. Just make sure your cat does all future business in the litter box!