If your sofa cushions are hard and stiff, you should find the cause for this issue. Soft and comfortable sofas are the demand of every house owner. They spend most of their time on these comfy pieces of furniture.
Why are my Sofa Cushions So Hard? Most people face the problem of having a sofa that has too hard and stiff cushions. These cushions usually become hard with time due to wrong stuffing and hard and poor-quality mattress or foam. The fabric of the sofa plays a significant role in making them hard and uncomfortable.
Several sofa owners complain about the hardness of the sofa cushion. It causes so much pain and discomfort to them.
Sofa serves to be the most relaxed and comfortable statement piece in a home.
You can relax and relieves your body by resting on them after coming from a hard-working and tiring day. They are an essential part of the furniture now a day in every home setup.
Choosing the right sofa is usually not very tough, but it requires determination and skills to select the right sofa for your home. However, many people fail to find the right furniture and know the defect after bringing it.
The hard sofa can be a cause of destroying the posture of people sitting on it and can cause pain and body ache, especially back and joint pains.
Numerous reasons lead to destroying the comfort and firmness of sofa cushions, and each of them needs corrective techniques and approaches to save it.
There may be a single reason for this stiffness in some sofas. Some sofa cushions become hard due to several reasons.
Recognizing the actual reason behind it, you can eliminate the issue and get soft, firm, and comfy sofa cushions.
The hard fabric of sofa cushions
Fabric adds a look of neatness and cleanliness to the cushions with increasing the aesthetics of the sofa.
You can not just put on foam or stuffing directly onto the frame. Fabric is a must item that can make sofa cushions harder or softer.
Usually, people complain about hard cushions, but they do not recognize that the hardness comes from the cover fabric.
Most manufacturers cover sofa cushions with a hard, thick, and stiff fabric to make them look more stable and organized.
This approach comes out to add stiffness to the sofa-cushions because of the choice of cushion fabric.
Moreover, many buyers choose a thick and embroidered fabric for cushions to make them look more beautiful, results in increased hardness and your sofa uncomfortable.
Stuffing of cushions
Stuffing of cushions plays the most significant role in making a sofa comfortable and uncomfortable.
The cushion stuffing is the filling of cotton or wool inside the cushions to make them fluffy. Mostly, these fillings and stuffing become overloaded and result in the hardening of sofa cushions.
There is a capacity in every cushion, and when you fill them more than their filling capacity, they become too hard and stiff. You can never feel comfortable sitting on these cushions because of this overfilling.
Also, it depends on what kind of filling you are adding inside the sofa cushion. Some people avoid cotton and wool filling, and they choose cloth filling, which is too hard to sit on.
Hard foam
Many sofas are available in markets that make sofas with foam filling instead of soft woolen or cotton filling. These foams are usually very hard in the beginning and require some time to softens.
Also, the selection of foam can increase or decrease the hardness of cushions. Some foams are not too dense or stiff, while some are too rigid.
The thickness of the foam can also make the cushions uncomfortable and hardy. Usually, more thickened foam pieces take more time to become firm.
Less thick foams are better in terms of firmness. A foam that is more than 4 to 5 inches high comes out to be more rigid. High-strength Polyurethane is an example of the best quality sofa foam, but it is not in much use due to the hardness.
The frame of the cushion
Sometimes, the cushions are not hard, but the sofa-frame has such a design that makes the cushions harder.
The cushions have their specific place on the sofa frame, which serves to mold and reshapes cushions.
You can not make the back cushions stand without the support of the sofa-frame. For all these reasons, frames can determine the firm level, comfort level, and shape of cushions.
A furniture frame has two kinds of materials, wooden or metal. Also, iron rods and plywood sheet frames are more common nowadays, but all these can make sofas rigid if they have improper construction and design.
Hard wooden sheet behind cushions
Sometimes, it is not cushions that are stiff but the or wooden plywood sheet beneath these cushions that give an overall feel of hardness when sitting on them.
The addition of this wooden or plywood sheet is necessary to make the sofa stable.
It helps to place and settle cushions properly on it. These sheets can make the cushions hard that have less stuffing.
It means you have to inspect not only the cushion but the framing and underneath sheets to identify the cause of hardness in a sofa cushion.
Also, the stuffing of the cushion compresses with time due to this sheet.
Leather sofa cushions
Leather is the ideal choice of fabric for sofa cushions as it looks utterly beautiful. Leather cushions can give a costly look to a cheaper sofa.
Also, they can increase the overall quality of the sofa set. Also, it is more durable and lasts longer when you provide the required care.
Despite these benefits, leather cushions are more in hardness and are slightly uncomfortable, especially on starting days.
It requires several types and creams to softens them until then they remain stiff. The packing of stuffing or foam inside the leather fabric is too tight.
A person who is not habitual of sitting on hard surfaces can never rest on these cushions. Also, it can cause back pains in the beginning because of hardness.
New sofa
Generally, the issues arise in the beginning and resolve with time and use. The reason behind this hardness is not too complex to understand, but it is a simple fact.
In the starting, the cushions are tightly-packed or stuff that is necessary to satisfy the customer. When a customer sees that the sofa looks nicely-made and well organized, he thinks and assumes long-term use.
This impression gives benefit to both seller and buyer. When he brings it home and sits for a relatively long time on it, he feels discomfort.
Remember, this stiffness does not remain a lifetime, and the cushions automatically start to soften down when you use them for several hours a day.
Wrong choice of sofa cushion
The wrong choice does not mean a low-quality or cheap sofa. It defines the compatibility of sofa cushions with its owners.
On a shorter note, we can say, not all cushion types and stuffing can suit everyone.
It depends on a person’s habit, posture, and requirement, which cushion is better for him. On should consider his need and capacity and then select a sofa.
A person with back pains and posture issues will face problems while sitting on the hardy or more stuffed cushion. He thinks and complains that the sofa-cushions are too hard, but they are not.
It is his body resistance and capability that do not match with the cushions stuff. The same cushions will appear much softer and comfortable to other people that do not have such issues.
Hidden items beneath the sofa
It is a common habit in most households that people store many things inside the sofa. Then they complain about the hardness of the sofa cushion.
You should understand that the cushions are soft and firm. When you push them or apply pressure of hard or extended objects on them, they will lose their firmness and become rigid.
It is the common practice in almost every household to fill up the storage space inside the sofa more than its capacity.
It causes the cushions to lose their shape and become stiff when you keep such objects for more time inside them.
Sofa cover sheets
The trend of covering sofa cushions with sheets is famous, to protect them from tearing or damaging.
Almost every person follows this practice to keep the original upholstery safe. These sheets are usually cotton sheets, stretchy-fabric sheets, silk sheets, or thick and hard-fabric sheets.
Not all are stiff, but the thick-fabric sheets have a rough and warm look that can make the cushions less soft and firm than before.
When these cushions already have a hardy upholstery, and you add up another thick-fabric sheet on it, it will result in stiffness.
Spring inside sofa cushions
Many sofa cushions have spring inside them to create a better sitting position and make them more relief-providing sofa-cushions.
These springs provide more comfort and a relaxed sitting arrangement, but they can come up as trouble.
With time and use, the stuffing or foam compresses, the springs start poking and irritating the people sitting on it.
These metal springs are too rigid, and a person feels so much discomfort and trouble sitting on such cushions. The hardness also depends on the number and size of springs in a sofa cushion.
You can say a cushion having smaller-sized or few springs is tolerable to some extend.
If cushions have large and more springs in them, the hardness reaches a high level. You can easily repair broken springs in a sofa.
Old sofas cushions are hard
It is a simple phenomenon that any object or thing deteriorates and damages with time and use, and so are sofas. They have a life and capacity to hold firmness and provide comfortable sitting.
As time passes, several problems arise with the quality, material, and filling of the cushion. The fabric may tear, the mattress or foam compresses, the filling loses shape and firmness, and many others.
You can face a single issue or several with the cushions that ultimately lead to the hardy and stiff seating places.
You can renew the sofa cushions or can change them with a new one because these cushions will never offer you soft and comfy rest.
Related Articles:
Are armless sofas comfortable?
What is the sofa bed mechanism?
How are inflatable sofas comfortable?
