The fabric is what the committee sees. The foam is what they will feel in ten years.
The part nobody names
Every reupholstery quote names the fabric. Almost none name the foam. The foam is most of whether the job still feels right in ten years.
Density (pounds per cubic foot) decides how long foam lasts. ILD decides how firm it feels. They are independent, and a quote needs both.
We use 2.8 lb high-resiliency foam at three ILDs — softer in the back, firmer in the seat, firmest in the kneeler — and we write it into the contract.
Density is the weight of a cubic foot of foam. It is the best single predictor of how many compressions the foam survives before it loses height.
ILD (indentation load deflection) is the force needed to compress a sample by a quarter. Low numbers are soft; high numbers are firm. A pew is not a sofa — people sit upright on it for an hour, then stand and kneel — so it wants three different firmnesses:
A quote that uses one foam for the whole pew has chosen either a seat that is too soft or a back that is too hard. Usually the former, because soft sells on the showroom floor.
A layer of polyester batting over the foam softens the edge, stops the fabric abrading directly on the foam, and gives the seat its crown. It is cheap, it is the step most often skipped, and it is the difference between a seat that looks upholstered and one that looks like a board with fabric on it.
Foam density in pounds per cubic foot, ILD for seat and back separately, whether it is HR foam, and whether there is a Dacron wrap. If the answer to any of those is a blank look, the foam is 1.5 lb.
Ours is on the reupholstery page, with the data sheet available on request, and it goes into the contract so the committee is comparing the same thing across quotes.
Questions we get asked
No. Firmness (ILD) and durability (density) are separate. A firm 1.5 lb foam collapses just as fast as a soft one; it just starts out harder.
Memory foam is temperature-sensitive and slow to recover — wrong for a seat people stand up from every few minutes. Latex is durable but expensive and heavy. HR polyurethane is the right material for pews.
Only if the fabric is sound and can be released and re-stretched, which is rare on pews older than ten years. Usually the fabric is done at the same time, and the labor overlaps almost completely.
Yes, and it does: CAL 117-2013 or the equivalent. We carry the certificate. Ask your fire marshal which standard applies to your building.
Every quote we write names the density and ILD. If yours does not, ask why.
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