I cleaned a wooden chair and now it's all sticky...help.

[PippiL]

I'm at my parents house in France. They have ikea poang chairs. The ones with wooden arms.

They were almost grey with dirt, probably loads of suncream. It was disturbing me as all the flies are attracted to it.

So I just wiped it down with a damp cloth. Now the really dirty bits are all sticky. The bits that werent so dirty aren't bad at all.

What do I do, oh wise ones?

Do I need to get more of the dirt off, or stop now before I ruin it altogether?

it might be greasy dirt, and wiping it may have softened the surface. If you keep on cleaning it you might take the rest of the dirt off, but the water will wet the wood.

Do you think it is bare wood, or varnished, waxed or oiled? outdoor timber is often oiled.

Do you have any babywipes? You have more than likely just taken the top layer of dirt off and they sticky under layer is now visible. It should (theoretically) not be the wood itself as the arms on the Poang chairs are varnished.

If no babywipes, they a little hot soapy water should do the trick.

It's ikea, so I'd say varnish!

The worst bits are where arms rest on the wood. Otherwise it looks ok.

To be honest, I'm not sure it's that much worse than before I cleaned it, but I feel responsible that when they come back I should point it out and help to find a solution to fixing it.

I googled it and found stuff about wood oil, particlularly lemon oil. But not sure if that would work on a varnished surface.

I agree. Baby wipes.

It is definitely greasy dirt. I did try baby wipes, but it made it much more sticky.

I'm thinking maybe I continue baby wiping on a small test patch on the side and see what happens?

Like piglet says I don't want to get the wood too wet, or remove the varnish.

I think you can probably be a little firmer with it - I have had to scrub ours a couple of times to get stuff off the arms. Maybe a scouring sponge (with the green bit on the top) and some neat soap then wipe off with wet cloth?

if it's greasy then a little bit of washing up liquid should do the trick.

I'm such a chicken.

Might point it out to my mum when she arrives laterr today and suggest that I help her clean them properly. That way if I really cock it up I won't get all the blame!

Just did the side of one arm and it is much better but still sticky.

To be honest, they arent much into cleaning and the house is always cleaner after I've been than when we arrived. But I think the years of sweat and suncream need to be removed from these chairs.