Short answer: yes — of everything in your garden set, the cushions are the parts that need storing. Frames shrug off weather; foam and fabric do not. Mould spores wake up at roughly 10 °C and 65% relative humidity, which is not a tropical jungle — it is a normal October night in most of Europe and North America. A damp cushion left on the sofa through one of those nights has already started the clock.
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The habit that works: cushions come in whenever the evening forecast dips under 10 °C or the day's rain has not dried by dusk. In practice that means cushions live indoors from about mid-autumn to mid-spring in most temperate climates, and come in most evenings in the shoulder seasons.
The storage rules, in order of importance
| Rule | Number | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dry before storing | 0% trapped moisture | One wet cushion in a closed box mildews the whole box |
| Airflow in storage | 30 cm gap around the stack | Sealed bags trap the last few percent of damp |
| No long compression | 3 months max | Vacuum bags squeeze out loft — expect ~20% less bounce |
| Off concrete floors | Any shelf or pallet | Concrete wicks cold and condensation upward |
Dry them properly first — the 24-hour rule
"Dry" means dry through the core, not dry to the touch. After rain, stand cushions on edge in a breezy, shaded spot for a full 24 hours; standing on edge drains in about a third of the time of flat-stacking. A cushion that feels dry on the cover can still hold a cup of water in the foam, and that cup is exactly what mould eats. If in doubt, an extra day outside costs nothing; a mouldy foam core costs the cushion.
Where to put them
- Indoors wins: a dry loft shelf, under-bed space or the top of a wardrobe. Unheated rooms are fine as long as air moves and nothing drips.
- A garden storage box works if it is genuinely watertight and vented — check that the lid overhang keeps driving rain out, and drop in two or three silica tubs (swap them mid-winter). Keep the box off the ground by a couple of centimetres.
- Garage or shed: fine if it stays dry, risky if it shares space with a dryer, kettle or any moisture source. Shed roofs breathe damp air in winter.
- Never: sealed bin bags, vacuum bags for a full winter, or a pile under a tarp. Each is a mould nursery with extra steps.
The compression trap
Vacuum-compressed storage is tempting — six cushions become one flat brick. But foam is an open structure, and held compressed for months it stops springing back fully; 3 months of compression costs roughly 20% of its bounce, and longer can flatten it for good. If space is desperate, compress to half thickness for at most a season, and let cushions rest 48 hours before first use. Better yet, store them upright like books, stacked no more than three or four high.
And in high summer?
Even July has rules: bring cushions in overnight if the nights are dewy, and always before a multi-day trip — a week of dew plus morning shade is how spot-mildew happens in the sunniest month. The 10-second test at dusk: put your hand flat on a cushion. Damp at dusk is a soaked cushion by morning, and tomorrow's sun will not fully undo it.
Keep reading
More dimension guides are in the collection, and the full index is on the furnolio journal.
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