Wear and Tear: Top Ten Things that Cause Premature Aging

by Nick, Digital Specialist | May 11, 2023

No one likes to talk about this but it’s really important. Here we have complied a list of the top 10 items of wear and tear that cause premature aging of furniture. This list comes from the over 70 years Suburban Furniture has been around as well as from our network of 100s of furniture stores across the country.  We’ve pretty much seen it all. That being said, we think of furniture as an investment, something our customers should feel proud of and enjoy for many years to come. It troubles us if a customer calls and says their sofa might not be holding up as expected. Do some sofas hold up better than others based on quality? Certainly. Are there some times defects, yes. But more often than not if furniture is not wearing well it is something that could have been prevented with a little TLC. Well here’s our answer. Mind the top 10 causes of premature aging of furniture.

#1 Lack of or no regular furniture maintenance. Like your car and your home, both things that require regular maintenance in order to function properly and not break down, so does furniture. Furniture maintenance involves cleaning, vacuuming, rotating, flipping, and fluffing back cushions.  Too often we see this is the thing most neglected and then your sofa looks like this. Please if you have not already watched our Regular Maintenance blogs and videos, please do so. 

#2 Pet soiling and damage. We were tempted to put this as #1 since it’s so prevalent, but since there’s no substitute for regular maintenance, it grabs the #2 spot.  We love pets. We really do and we know you do too. But it seems a trend lately to allow pets on the furniture. Cuddling with your pet is  great but your pet brings to the upholstery, hair and fur, dander, oil and dirt.  They come from their walk in the mud outside and jump right into their favorite spot on the couch. In a very short time pets on furniture will soil the fabric in a way that will set and will be very difficult to remove. On some fabrics pet hair will imbed into the fabric fibers and is very difficult to remove. Sorry to be a bummer about this but unless you are willing to cover the furniture and vacuum at least weekly, pet soiling will take its toll. We have also seen pet nails create pulls and scratches in fabric.  

#3 Food and beverage fabric stains and degradation. Food and beverages can be oily and acidic and contain staining color.  Eating on your upholstery without protecting it can stain and also eat away at fabric. If you plan on eating or drinking on your sectional, you should seriously consider covering the piece as well as getting a furniture care protection plan.

#4 General human soiling. Dirt and oils from clothes can transfer from the clothes to the furniture. You don’t see the effects until it has already set in. We call this accumulation and it causes general soiling. Only a professional cleaning can reverse some of the effects. Wait too long and it can set in permanently. Be mindful of kids’ clothes after playtime or if someone in the home works around dirt or oil that might be bringing it in on their clothes. 

#5 Sharp objects, toys and other general items left on upholstery. We have seen sharp objects puncture fabric, toys and other objects leave marks on fabric and heavy items stretch fabric. Some of our customers have suggested keeping a box or a tray nearby to collect random items that could damage fabric. 

#6 Surface scratches from sliding. We are talking about sliding objects across wood surfaces.  Do this once or twice and probably you’re good. Do it hundreds or thousands of times across an unprotected wood surface, and guess what? Scratches. So either lift those items or put something under them like coasters, trivets, placemats or even a book.

#7 Sitting on ottomans and reclining footrests.  Okay, so this has to do with sitting on things that aren’t made to be sat on. Ottomans and reclining footrests are meant for feet. They cannot handle someone’s full body weight. Sitting on an ottoman creates sagging in the middle and sitting on a reclining footrest bends the metal mechanism.    

#8 Hair oils and hair product transfer. This generally applies to recliners where someone could be reclining for hours on end in the same position.  If someone uses hair products with chemicals or oils or even just from the head and hair’s natural oils, these oils can transfer to the fabric right where the head is resting on.  

#9 Sun fading.  This is pretty self explanatory.  Put something in the sun…it fades.  Your furniture is no different and that includes wood products too. But especially fabric. Because fabrics have color added to them, they are subject to fading. If you can avoid direct sunlight on your furniture, all the better. If not, keep it covered during the prime times the sun is beaming down. 

#10 Dye transfer from new clothes and blankets.  We very rarely see this but it does happen.  New jeans…unless they have been prewashed a bunch of times, you run the risk of blue dye transfer from your jeans on to the fabric of that brand new sofa you just bought. This can happen with other new clothes too. Most blankets are synthetic fiber these days which don’t often transfer dye, but if you have a brand new pretty colorful cotton blanket it could bleed color.

#11 Pilling. No one LIKES pilling…those little annoying fabric balls. But it does happen occasionally...and it is not a defect in the fabric. It is such an extensive topic we created a whole separate blog and video about pilling, why it happens and how to manage it. If you start to see pilling, you want to jump on it quickly. So check that out in the Learning Center. 

#12 Sliding furniture on your hardwood floor, carpet or tile. This one is not about keeping your furniture looking great but your flooring great. Furniture can be extremely heavy, especially reclining furniture. If you slide it to move it you run the risk of scratching the hardwood, scuffing or scraping the tile or pulling the carpet.  So lift, lift, lift your furniture to move it whenever possible. 

Anyway, that’s your wear and tear top 10. 

At Suburban Furniture we’re all about smiley faces, not frowny faces. So any info we can give you to keep your furniture looking great for years to come we’re going to do so. As always, if you have additional questions about furniture care email us at service@suburbanfurn.com and check out other educational articles and videos online at the Suburban Furniture Learning Center.