Sofa care ·
Sofa care through a Kathmandu monsoon and a dry winter
Nepal puts a sofa through two opposite climates in six months. A twenty-minute routine at each change of season is all it takes.
What the monsoon actually does
Between June and September, indoor humidity in the valley sits high for weeks at a time. Three things follow. Upholstery fabric absorbs moisture from the air and holds it, which is how the faint musty smell in a closed room begins. Foam holds that moisture in its cells, and foam takes far longer to dry than fabric does. And timber takes up moisture and swells slightly, which is normally harmless in a seasoned frame and is exactly what makes an unseasoned frame start to creak.
Mildew needs three things: moisture, still air and time. You can remove two of them for free.
The monsoon routine
Once a week, on the driest day, open the windows in the room for two hours and let air move across the sofa. Pull the sofa fifteen centimetres away from the wall for that period — the back panel is where damp concentrates, because it is the surface with no airflow.
Take the loose cushions outside or to a bright window and stand them on edge for an hour. Vacuum the seat deck and the crevices; damp dust is what mildew grows on. If a wall behind the sofa is genuinely damp, keep a permanent five centimetre gap all season.
If something is spilled during the monsoon, dry it much more aggressively than you would in April. A patch that would air-dry in two hours in spring can stay damp for two days in August, and that is long enough for a smell to start.
What the dry winter does
From November the air reverses. Humidity drops sharply, timber releases the moisture it took up, and joints that were tight in August become fractionally loose. On a properly seasoned mortise-and-tenon frame this is invisible. On a stapled softwood frame it is the season the creak arrives.
Leather feels this most. Dry air pulls moisture out of hide, and dry hide becomes stiff and eventually cracks along fold lines. Condition leather in November and again in March, using the conditioner we supply with every leather piece. Twenty minutes, twice a year, and the leather will outlive the frame.
Sunlight, all year round
Winter sun in Nepal is low, bright and comes straight through a window onto whatever sits in front of it, and altitude makes the ultraviolet load higher than most people assume. Fabric fades unevenly, so what you notice is not a lighter sofa but a two-tone one.
Rotate loose cushions monthly so no single face takes all the light. If one end of the sofa sits in direct sun, turn the whole sofa around once a year. A light curtain drawn during the brightest three hours adds years to the cloth and costs almost nothing.
The seasonal checklist
Twice a year, at the start of the monsoon and again in November, do this in twenty minutes. Vacuum everything including under the cushions. Check the legs and tighten any that have loosened — leg bolts are the one fastener that genuinely works loose over time. Condition any leather. Rotate and swap the cushions end to end. Look underneath at the frame and the webbing for anything hanging or split. And check the Karigar Ledger label is still legible, because that serial is how we help you in year six.
When to call us instead
Call if a seat has developed a visible dip, if you hear a crack rather than a creak, if a leg has become loose in the frame rather than at the bolt, or if a seam has opened. All four are quick to fix early and expensive to fix late. Inside the valley we come to you; send a photograph and your ledger serial to 9849239091 first.
— Written in the workshop. Questions to 9849239091 on WhatsApp.