How to Clean Office Chairs

Whether you're looking to remove a stain from your  office chair or simply want to polish it up, you've come to the right place. 

In this article, we will show you how to maintain and clean office chairs that are made out of leather and mesh, alike.

Supplies You Will Need

First and foremost, before you start cleaning your chair, you need to gather the following supplies:

• Microfiber cloth
• Distilled water
• Liquid soap or detergent
• Duct tape
• Screw driver
• Metal lubricant

These items are important because they allow you to efficiently clean your office chair without ruining any of its materials or parts. For chairs with leather upholstery, you should also grab a leather conditioner and cleaner.

Cleaning Your Leather Office Chair

If your office chair is made out of leather, below is a breakdown of how you can get rid of stains and spills, keep the upholstery in a brand-new state, and clean its different parts, respectively.

Before you begin, check the type of leather that's on your chair. Unfinished aniline-dyed leather is very sensitive and must only be cleaned by professionals.

Otherwise, you may risk getting it permanently damaged.

Meanwhile, you can personally clean chairs that are made from pigmented leather at your home or office.

Taking Care of Spills and Stains

The following steps will show you how to remove stains from leather chairs that were accidentally spilled with water:

1. Use the distilled water to dampen the microfiber cloth.
2. Gently and delicately wipe the stain in circles until it's gone, starting from its center and move outwards.
3. Give the chair enough time to dry. After that, if the stain is still visible, you want to repeat the previous step.
4. When the leather dries and you can no longer see the stain, apply leather conditioner. Since each product is used differently, you should follow the instructions that come with the leather conditioner that you bought.

Grease stains, on the other hand, are a bit more difficult to eliminate. Nonetheless, here are the steps for wiping them off:

1. Place a clean piece of microfiber cloth on the stain to absorb as much grease as possible.
2. Combine a small amount of dish soap with distilled water.
3. Grab a new microfiber cloth, dampen it with the dish soap and distilled water mix, and then gently wipe the stain in a single direction.
4. Repeat step 3 with a clean cloth that's dampened with water (and isn't combined with soap).
5. Fetch a dry piece of microfiber cloth and pat it. If the greasy stain is still there, repeat steps 1 through 4 until you get rid of it.
6. Once the stain is fully eradicated, you can grab your leather conditioner, read the product directions, and use it accordingly.

Lastly, but certainly not least, is that if your leather office chair somehow got stained with ink, you need to buy an ink-removal stick that's specifically designed for cleaning leather.

Follow the instructions that are on the label or product guide to get the ink stain out. Afterwards, apply the leather conditioner.

Freshening Up the Upholstery

Keeping a leather office chair in a pristine state is just as important as cleaning it when it gets stained.

These steps will show you how to clean leather so it looks brand new:

1. When you're done cleaning off the stains, vacuum or dust any dirt that's on the chair.
2. Grab a leather cleaner and spray it on the microfiber cloth (but not on the leather upholstery itself).
3. Gently wipe all areas of the leather upholstery with the cloth.
4. Apply leather conditioner per the manufacturer's instructions. If the leather cleaner that you initially used is a two-in-one cleaner and conditioner product, you may skip this step.
5. Finally, allow your leather office chair to dry for several hours before sitting on it again. Here, you want to avoid exposing the chair to sunlight since this might damage the leather.

Bear in mind that this mainly covers freshening up the leather upholstery of your chair. That is to say that the non-leather parts are cleaned and maintained in other ways.

Cleaning the Wheels, Arms, and Legs

Here is what you need to do to wash and polish your office chair's wheels, arms, and legs:

1. Take the casters apart with a screwdriver or, when this is not possible, turn the chair upside down.
2. To remove hair from office chair wheels, arms, and/or legs (as well as debris and dirt), wrap them with duct tape and then rip it off. If this doesn't get rid of all the hair and debris, tweezers and/or clippers can be helpful, too.
3. For chairs with detachable casters, arms, and legs, mix soap detergent and water in a bathtub, bucket, or large bowl. After that, place the detachable parts in the solution for 15 minutes to soak.
4. Dry the casters, arms, and legs so that they don't get rusty.
5. Add lubricant to the metal parts.

At times, your office chair's arms could be made out of leather. When this is the case, you want to take care of them by following the same steps for cleaning the leather parts and upholstery.

After all, leather can easily get worn down because it's much more sensitive than other types of materials.

Cleaning Your Mesh Office Chair

Alongside leather, mesh is one of the most common fabrics that office chairs are made of.

However, unlike leather, mesh is relatively simpler to clean and maintain.

Taking Care of Spills and Stains

First and foremost, if you want to know how to get stains out of mesh in an easy and time-efficient way, read the tag.

Your office chair's tag will tell you whether you can wash the mesh in the laundry machine.

When the tag instructs you to wash it by hand or it isn't possible to detach the mesh part from the chair, you should follow these steps:

1. Combine water and liquid soap to create a solution.
2. Dampen a piece of cloth with the water and soap mixture.
3. Wipe and rub the stain with the cloth until it gets lighter and eventually goes away.
4. For stubborn stains that won't come off, consider spraying them with a dry cleaning solvent that's specifically made for mesh materials.
5. Leave the chair or its mesh parts to dry in the sun.

In comparison to leather, mesh doesn't get ruined or worn out by the sunlight.

Freshening Up the Upholstery

If you are already familiar with how to protect and clean your patio furniture (which is typically made from mesh), polishing your office chair should be a piece of cake.

Having said that, even those who never cleaned mesh before can freshen up their office chair's upholstery in three simple steps:

1. Place the chair in a ventilated location where fresh air is regularly flowing. This could be in your yard or a room with an open window.
2. Spray the upholstery with a product that protects mesh textiles against wear and tear and follow the instructions that come with it.
3. In the same ventilated area, let the chair sit for about 6 to 12 hours until it dries out.

Cleaning the Wheels, Arms, and Legs

If any of these parts are made out of mesh, you can take care of cleaning and freshening them up alongside the upholstery.

Since most office chair wheels, arms, and legs have similar materials (primarily plastic and steel), you may clean them by following the steps that we outlined for leather chairs.

At the same time, you should scrub the leather and mesh parts by diligently using the guidelines that specifically apply to each of them. In turn, you will get your desired cleaning results and preserve the quality of your chair.

This is important whether your goal is to remove a stain from your office chair or merely polish it up.