Question from petercsantoro@yahoo.com
I purchased an outdoor tablecloth for my teak table on our outdoor porch. I noticed the tablecloth is acrylic coated cotton. My family eats at the table all the time. Is this tablecloth toxic? Should I take it off and not allow my children to eat off of it? The problem is that all outdoor items, including furniture and cushions, seem to have chemicals or coatings of some sort. I have an outdoor teak sofa (on my screened in porch) and the cushions are polyurethane foam and polyester fabric ( called “Sunbrella” material). Would you recommend removing these cushions? Any suggestions on what to use instead? Thanks!
Debra’s Answer
Yes, virtually all fabrics designed to be “weatherproof,” that is, it’s OK to leave them out in the sun and rain, have some sort of plastics or synthetics involved.
Acrylic on a tablecloth is not that toxic, especially if you leave it outdoors where it will offgas quickly due to the weather. Personally, I minimize my use of plastic as much as possible, so I don’t buy these. I just bring a fresh cotton tablecloth out to my picnic table under the trees when I want to use it, then toss the tablecloth in the washer when I’m done.
As for the sofa cushions, the polyurethane foam is just as toxic and has just as much fire retardants as if they were used indoors to make a sofa or a mattress. I would remove the cushions myself. I don’t know what else to use that would be weatherproof.
Polyethylene or nylon would be the least toxic materials to use outdoors. You could make slipcovers for the cushions with Reflectix and then slipcover them with a nylon fabric and that should be fine, but I doubt you will find anything like this readymade.
