How To Get Smell Out Of Office Chair?

You typically sit on your office chair for long hours, whether it’s a hot summer day or a winter morning. And if you sweat, it’s not only your outfit getting soaked. More or less, the chair comes into contact with the sweat, germs, and bacteria you carry.

With time, the sweat stains on the chair dry up and emit a foul odor. Insects, germs, and microorganisms may also find a safe habitat.

But that’s not all. Food waste, unintentional spills, dust buildup, infestation from bed bugs, chocolate stains, pet fur, farts, etc., can also lead to an unpleasant odor. Apart from the health concerns, unpleasant smells hamper the work environment, damage concentration, and thus affect productivity.

So, you want to eliminate this smell in no time and might be wondering how to do so. We’re here to help with our all-inclusive guide on how to get the smell out of an office chair.

Key Takeaways

• Having foul odors from your office chair is irritating and harmful to your health, as germs and bacteria often cause it.
• To eliminate the foul smells, you can easily apply some home remedies, such as vinegar, baking soda, cleaning sprays, etc. However, if these remedies are ineffective, consider a deep cleaning.
• However, it’s best to hire professional cleaners once or twice a year.

Why makes your office chair smell bad?

Office chairs can smell unpleasant for various reasons, including moisture, sweat, bacteria, etc. In addition, the industrial materials used to make new chairs have a synthetic, plasticky smell.

There may be numerous causes, some of which we have included below:

• Lacking ventilation: A foul odor may develop due to numerous germs on the office chair fabric due to inadequate ventilation.
• Sweat: The most common odor source from most office seats is sweat. Additionally, office chairs may absorb body odor, which can be uncomfortable. Sweat wetness, dust buildup, and germs provide the ideal environment for unpleasant odors.
• Bacteria and Fungi: When you eat while seated on your office chair, bacteria and fungus are readily caught in the fabric. On the seats, food crumbs often land, leaving them wet and fostering the growth of germs and fungus.
• Chemicals: When you initially get your chair, it may smell because some manufacturers spray chemicals on their chairs to help preserve the materials. But after a few weeks, this odor normally disappears.
• Moisture: Deep beneath the chair’s cushion, mold and mildew may develop and produce musty smells.
• Bug infestation: Your office chair certainly stinks because of an infestation of some insects.

Step-by-step guide on how to get smell out of office chairs

Even though it might be irritating, cleaning office chairs to remove odors is not difficult. Depending on the kind and intensity, you can get rid of smells with a few methods. We’ll go through how you can do that.

The majority of the time, a simple cleaning with your home remedies is sufficient. But you must clean everything thoroughly if it doesn’t do the job. We will talk about both approaches.

Basic Cleaning

A simple cleaning takes a few pieces of equipment and ingredients, most of which are already in your house. It does not need you to use many technical approaches.

Check your chair’s tag before beginning

To avoid ruining the chair, read any manuals or brochures that come with the chair to see if there are any special cleaning recommendations.

Detect the odor type

Odors may accumulate in almost any area of a chair, and you need to find out where it’s coming from. You might ask some coworkers to smell the office chair if you’re having trouble identifying the source of the stink.

Let the chair dry in the sun

Particles that generate scents are broken down by the sun’s rays and the open air. Just be careful not to keep it out for too long, as it may degrade the material’s color and make it more fragile and likely to shatter.

Vacuuming

Odors in office chairs are sometimes the result of poor maintenance. Therefore, cleaning your office chair once a week will remove the dust, filth, and odor-causing particles. It is particularly effective if your chair is covered with fabric.

Wiping down with a dry cloth

A dry towel to wipe your office chair might help remove dust or debris. The wheels of your office chair are the section that contacts the floor the most. They probably have the strongest scent, then.

Steam cleaner

To remove filth, grime, and odor-causing substances from a surface, steam cleaners utilize heated water to saturate it. Fabrics and upholstery may be thoroughly cleaned with this mixture.

Lemon juice

Pour a little amount of the combinations onto an old cloth after mixing some lemon juice and cold water. Next, clean the surfaces with a clean cloth to avoid leaving any stains.

Vinegar

Despite its unpleasant smell, vinegar is effective in deodorizing clothes. And vinegar smell goes away as it dries. Fill a bottle with apple cider vinegar for dark clothes or white vinegar for white materials. Then add the same amount of water. Spray the chair with the vinegar solution, then let it air dry outside or in direct sunshine. Before using, make sure to dry the chair since the vinegar odor can still be there.

Tea tree oil

Lavender and tea tree oil both include fragrant plant oils. Applying it to surfaces made of cloth will make it function best. Apply a few drops to the chair’s fabric, rub in, and leave on for an hour. Then, use a clean towel to wipe up any remaining liquid, but avoid touching any leather surfaces.

Hand-sanitizer

A great disinfectant component to destroy bacteria, hand sanitizer is easily available nowadays. To get rid of the odor, spray hand sanitizer. You should use a cloth to wipe down the chair.

Cleaning sprays

To add an additional degree of cleanliness and remove odors from your office chair, you can think about applying a cleaning spray on a cloth.

Rubbing alcohol

A bit more potent than vinegar as a cleanser, rubbing alcohol also has a more intense and lingering scent. However, only apply the alcohol in a properly ventilated area, and wear a mask while doing so.

See Also: How To Fix A Squeaky Office Chair?

Deep Cleaning

You could think about cleaning thoroughly if the simple washing does not eliminate the scent from your office chair. You may need to purchase additional supplies for this, but you will need to do some more work.

Soap and water

To fully clean the office chair’s cushion, thoroughly scrub the cushion with soap and water after soaking. Press on to release the water and remove it using a towel, sponge, or cloth afterward.

For one or two days later, let it air dry. This should eliminate the dirt and grime, leaving it clean and fresh.

Baking soda

Baking soda combined with essential oils can be used as a fabric cleaner and other cleansers. So, it can be used effectively as a deep cleaner and help get rid of foul odors from office chairs.

Apply baking soda to your chair and stinky parts for about 20 minutes. You can also let it stay for about a day or more to get a better result.

Rubbing with a dryer sheet

Dryer sheets frequently have pleasant scents and aid in softening clothing and linens. Grab a sponge and a dryer sheet, then massage them around the chair’s surface. This removes the fabric softener’s ingredients and may help combat smells by masking them with their fragrance.

Dry-cleaning ingredients

You need a dry-cleaning solvent for chairs if they cannot be cleaned with water. You can consider this like using baking soda on steroids.

Disinfecting the chair

One of the best ways to stop unpleasant odors from coming from your office chair while keeping it clean is to disinfect the chair regularly using wipes or sprays.

Professional cleaning

Cleaning your office chair should eventually revive it if you’ve tried other methods and it still needs deeper cleaning. You may hire cleaning services and transfer all the difficulties to them.

See Also: How Long Should An Office Chair Last?

Can you clean chemical smell from a new chair?

New chairs have a chemical smell to them. This VOC is (a volatile organic compound). These VOCs release chemical vapors are known as off-gassing when they evaporate at ambient temperature.

These chemical odors might be hazardous for people with sensitive skin and cause headaches and rashes.

So, here’s how to eliminate that odor:

• Give the chair some exposure to the sun. You might also set it below a fan.
• Your new chair won’t hold up well to sunshine if it’s made of leather. Put the office chair in the shadow and point a powerful fan in its general direction.

Do you often need To clean your office chair?

Depending on the chair material, it’s important to clean it frequently. For instance, fabric chairs could need more regular vacuuming and shampooing than leather seats, which can be wiped off with a wet cloth once a week.

It’s usually time to clean if you detect a scent coming from your chair. Vacuum the material, then use a cotton cloth to clean it. Use mild soap and water to wash the chair’s arms, base, and any accessories.

Additionally, you can do a thorough cleaning, which involves some of the steps we have previously covered in this post.

See Also: How To Get Hair Out Of Office Chair Wheels?

Some tips to prevent your office chair from getting smelly

Even though most office employees are used to smelling things, a musty odor in your chair might be unpleasant. The easiest approach to guarantee that your office chair is always smell-free is to adopt a plan for cleaning it.

The best techniques to keep your office chair clean are as follows:

• Immediately use a duster and dry cloth to clean up any food or water spills.
• Avoid consuming food or beverages at your home office.
• Your office chair should not be exposed to dampness.
• Depending on your spending limit, consider putting in a humidifier or dehumidifier.
• Do not smoke in your office room.
• Think about purchasing a cushion cover for protection.
• Wheels, joints, and mechanics of office chairs should be oiled every six months.
• To get rid of persistent microorganisms in the air, often get your workplace professionally deep cleaned.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

Because germs and bacteria often bring on scents from office chairs, they are unpleasant and dangerous to your health.

You may use various natural solutions to eliminate bad odors, such as vinegar, baking soda, cleaning sprays, etc. But if none of these cure work, think about getting a complete cleaning. However, if you can employ cleaning professionals only once or twice a year, that’s the best.