The Complete Guide to Outdoor Furniture for Offices

You use the chairs in your office every day, and they’re bound to get dirty even if you’re careful. To ensure your chairs look their best year after year, take these tips for the regular cleaning and maintenance of all upholstery types.

General Chair Care

Always test cleaning techniques on an inconspicuous spot first. Try the bottom of the chair, the back, or anywhere else that doesn’t show. Make sure you test an unseen spot before you try a new cleaning method on the whole chair. Even if you only use a mild soap, you never know how certain substances might react with your specific chair. Testing a hidden spot first will ensure you don’t damage an important part of the furniture.

Remove stains immediately. The longer a stain sits, the harder it is to remove. Do yourself a favor and clean it up now.

Beware of breathing in harsh chemicals. If using a cleaning agent that has a strong scent or chemical smell, only clean in a well-ventilated area.

Always check your chair for a tag with cleaning instructions. Most office chairs have a tag under the seat that outlines care tips. Look there first before beginning any cleaning.

How to Clean Office Chairs

Fabric upholstery can usually be cleaned using water-based cleaning agents or water-free solvents. First, vacuum any crumbs that may be hiding in cracks and crevasses. If you don’t have a vacuum cleaner handy, use a can of compressed air. Next, mix a few drops of mild soap in a bucket of water. Using a soft, lint-free cloth, wipe this on your test spot first. If it looks good, wipe down the entire chair, then use a second lint-free cloth to wipe it dry.

Genuine leather upholstery can be cleaned in 1 of 3 ways: store-bought leather cleaner, vinegar and linseed oil, or rubbing alcohol and water. For a more detailed description of how to clean and maintain a leather office chair, read our guide to cleaning and maintaining leather furniture here. 

Faux leather and vinyl are easier to care for than real leather. In many cases, you can clean faux leather and vinyl using water-based cleaners in the same manner as fabric upholstery, and many vinyl options can even be cleaned with bleach solutions. Double-check the tag on your chair for any special instructions to avoid damage. Read our guide to leather upholstery to learn more.

Mesh chairs should be vacuumed regularly, as crumbs tend to get caught in the little spaces. Any remaining dirt or stains can be removed using a damp cloth, but do not drag the cloth across the mesh, as this can cause the material to fray. Instead, dab any problem areas until clean.

Plastic chairs can be cleaned with soap and water, but avoid using bleach, which can damage the material. For stains, dampen a soft cloth with white distilled vinegar and wipe. Baking soda on a wet sponge can also create a mild abrasive that eats away stains without damaging your plastic.

Wood chairs need cleaning too! Regularly wipe down your wood chairs with a dry lint-free cloth. For deeper cleaning, choose a wood polish and apply it to the chair in small amounts using a cloth. Like with your upholstery, you’ll want to test your polish on an inconspicuous area before going over the entire piece of furniture.

What is active seating? Active seating allows you to move around while sitting. While you may have heard that sitting is the new smoking, you may not know that extended periods of standing also have negative health effects. To combat this, we recommend keeping at least one type of active chair or stool at your desk to sit at when you aren’t standing or relaxing at work. Below you'll find some of the most popular types of active seating available. 

Leaning Stools

A leaning stool or perch stool is a stool seat on a long, pole-like base that forces the user to lean back and shift his or her weight back and forth to maintain a stable seated position. We recommend using a stabilizing footrest along with your leaning stool to prevent your feet from sliding while you lean. Some options even come with a built-in anti-fatigue mat for optimal comfort. Tall or short? No need to worry. All leaning stools come with an integrated seat height adjustment, so you'll be able to find your ideal seated position with a flick of your wrist.

Balancing Stools

Like leaning stools, balancing stools consist of a height-adjustable seat that points straight up like a standard stool. The difference? Balancing stools sit atop a wobbling base, forcing the user to shift his or her weight to sit upright. The flexible base allows the user to adjust the angle of the seat any which way, allowing for an active sitting experience that promotes fidgeting and a greater range of motion while seated. Like leaning stools, balancing stools are available in an assortment of upholstery types, including fabric and faux leather.

Ball Chairs

Possibly the most well-known product on this list, the ball chair allows users to bounce and lean while they sit. These balls have been used as chairs for years already, but if your exercise ball is always bouncing away from your desk, you may want to go for an option specifically designed for use in an office setting. For example. the Zenergy ball chair by Safco has 4 legs and feet that keep the unit in place at your desk so you can bounce with freedom while you work.

Kneeling Chairs

A kneeling chair may look challenging, but this ergonomic seating option is designed to encourage proper posture. The position of the seat and knee pads forces your body into a forward position, causing you to have to balance to sit up straight. Kneeling chairs have been known to reduce the pressure from long-term sitting, allowing your diaphragm to move efficiently, thereby promoting better breathing and blood circulation.

Whether you’re furnishing a new healthcare facility or replacing old furniture in a hospital or private practice, knowing your textiles is crucial to the well-being of staff and patients alike. To help make your purchasing experience as easy as possible, we’re breaking down the pros and cons of commonly used seating textiles. This list is ranked from worst to best in terms of appropriateness for a healthcare setting.

Fabric

Fabric is a woven textile that is not considered appropriate for healthcare settings. The major benefit of fabric is aesthetic: it comes in many color and pattern options. 

Although the appearance of fabric creates a welcoming, homey aesthetic that most medical facilities seek, the good far outweighs the bad in the case of this material. Because fabric is woven, it is porous—fluids can seep into the chair easily and become nearly impossible to remove. This creates an infection control nightmare as fabric will likely harbor bacteria and bedbugs. 

In addition to the health hazards associated with this textile, fabric is not durable enough to withstand regular use in a busy healthcare facility.

Benefits

• Unlimited color and pattern choices

• Welcoming, homelike aesthetic

Challenges

• Porous

• Not very cleanable or durable

• Harbors bedbugs and bacteria

Crypton Fabric

Crypton fabric is specially manufactured with a fluid-resistant backing that makes it more like vinyl than the fabrics it so closely resembles. This textile has the same large range of color and pattern options as fabrics, but it’s much more acceptable for a healthcare setting as fluids cannot seep into the chair as they can with fabric. However, this material is still semipermeable and can hold unwanted odors. 

Crypton requires specific cleaners for regular maintenance, as it can degrade quickly if cleaned improperly, so staff must be well-trained on the correct cleaner to use on this material. This textile can also be expensive and is not the most durable option. Due to this, Crypton is often used on the backs of chairs in low-abuse settings such as private practices and senior living centers.

Benefits

• Same range of color and pattern options as fabric

• Fluid-resistant backing is healthier than fabric options

• Good choice for chair backrests that receive less wear

Challenges

• Semipermeable

• Requires special cleaners and can degrade quickly if cleaned improperly

• Expensive

• Can hold odors

PVC-Free Vinyl

PVC-free vinyl is an impermeable and eco-friendly textile ideal for inpatient and acute care facilities. Because it’s PVC-free, this material emits no off-gas, making it a great choice where indoor air quality is a concern. In addition, this textile has a soft, comfortable feel. Unfortunately, the color palette is limited. Though relatively easy to clean, PVC-free vinyl is fragile and can degrade quickly and pucker if not maintained correctly.

Benefits

• Impermeable

• Emits no off-gas and is great for indoor air quality

• Soft, comfortable feel

Challenges

• Fragile and will degrade quickly if not properly cared for

• Can pucker

• Limited aesthetically—only solid colors are available

Vinyl

Like PVC-free vinyl, regular vinyl is commonly used in inpatient and acute care facilities, including typical hospital settings. Vinyl is also impermeable and Greenguard Certified for better indoor air quality, but this material is much more durable and easy to maintain. 

You should note that over-bleaching can lead to the breakdown of plasticizers (the additive used to make vinyl soft and pliable), and the stripping of plasticizers can lead to cracking and ripping that The Joint Commission will quickly write up as a violation. On the plus side, vinyl is available in a much wider range of colors and patterns than PVC-free vinyl. Bedbugs and bacteria contamination are less of a concern with this textile, though these may still thrive in the seams of the material.

Benefits

• Impermeable

• Greenguard Certified for better indoor air quality

• Many patterns and colors available

• Durable with good light resistance

• Easy to clean (though this varies depending on manufacturer)

Challenges

• Can degrade if over-bleached

• Seams can harbor bedbugs and bacteria

IC+

Ideal for emergency departments, IC+ is the top-of-the-line choice for high-traffic hospitals that require the very best in durability and cleanliness. Healthcentric is the only company that manufactures IC+. The treatment is applied via a spraying technique rather than sewn. As a result, IC+ has no seams for bacteria and bedbugs to thrive in, making it the best choice to prevent the spread of infection. 

This material is also 10 times stronger than vinyl, completely impermeable, does not degrade, and has a very high abuse rate, making it ideal for busy emergency rooms that see patients with a vast range of ailments. Not only will this material not rip or crack, but it’s also safe to clean even with harsh bleaches. 

IC+ is truly the best option available for healthcare facilities, but it is worth noting that color options are limited, and this material is not the most comfortable for patients due to its durable build.

Benefits

• 10 times stronger than vinyl

• Does not degrade

• Seamless design does not harbor bedbugs or bacteria

• Highest abuse rate

• Easy to clean

Challenges

• Not the most comfortable

• Very limited color palette