Smelly new sofa

[sarah00001]

Hi, I just had a new sofa delivered. It smells quite a lot - a chemical smell - which will be fire retardant and other chemicals they coat new sofas in.

I know this is to be expected, but I worry about breathing it in when I'm pregnant. I plan to keep the window open as much as possible, but does anyone know roughly how long it takes for new sofa smells to fade?

Thanks, Sarah

[Monica101]

It's the off gassing which causes the smell. I'm quite paranoid about avoiding the fumes of new furniture and carpets.

Can you get someone to put it in another room? Apparently having the heating on with a window open speeds up the process but can take as long as 4 weeks.

It's the formaldehyde that gives off the smell, you will know when it's gone just by the smell. My carpet took about a month and is fine now.

[RainbowTortoise]

Plants can help neutralise the gases, such as spider plants, chrysanthemums and peace Lily's. All fairly cheap to buy and might help put your mind at rest a little, along with airing out the room.

We recently got a new carpet for my daughters bedroom and I have been airing the room and put a few plants in there (which actually look really nice )

[Mopmay]

You may find that you are much more sensitive to the smell now so most people will think it's not bad. My sense of smell went mad when pregnant. It was awful!!'

[PinkaColada]

I had the same problem. Still do sometimes. Some wise mumsnetters suggested using bicarb on it, let it rest and hoover it off. They then said spray it with diluted zoflora, I haven't done that bit yet. It had worked well. My smell lingered for weeks on end and was a huge MS trigger for me.

[Lunastarfish]

As mopmay said - the smell might not actually be that bad, your sense of smell will be heightened when pregnant. Does anyone else think the smell is very strong? If concerned I'd just keep the windows opened

[sarah00001]

Thank you everyone, these are great tips. Will definitely try the spider plants, putting the heating on with window open and the bicarb. Hopefully if I do all of these the smell will be a lot better after about a week!

[FlatWhiteThanks]

Hello, I need to buy a new sofa but I want to avoid ones that have that strong chemical 'new sofa' smell. Has anyone bought a two-seater sofa from Ikea that a) doesn't smell and b) is comfy? Thanks so much for your help. I'm driving myself mad Googling sofas and then finding that people have had trouble with the offgassing smell.