Leather
Leather furniture and NYC radiator heat don't mix well without some proactive care. Here's how to keep a leather sofa or chair from drying out and cracking over a New York winter.
Leather is a natural material that needs a certain amount of moisture to stay supple. Steam radiator heat, which runs dry all winter, pulls moisture out of leather furniture positioned nearby, leading to stiffness and eventually cracking.
Where possible, keeping leather furniture a reasonable distance from radiators and direct sunlight through a window reduces the moisture loss that leads to premature aging.
Given the dry heat NYC apartments see all winter, conditioning leather furniture every 6 months (rather than the sometimes-recommended annual schedule) is a reasonable adjustment for local conditions.
Stiffness to the touch, a dull or chalky look replacing the original sheen, or the beginning of fine surface cracking are all signs that conditioning is overdue.
A proper conditioning treatment restores moisture to the leather and helps it stay flexible, which prevents cracking that's otherwise very difficult to reverse once it starts.
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NYC radiator heat is a genuine, ongoing threat to leather furniture, but positioning and a slightly more frequent conditioning schedule than typically recommended elsewhere goes a long way toward preventing damage.
Questions?
There's no exact distance, but leather furniture directly against or very near a radiator will dry out faster than furniture even a few feet away.
No, leather needs a specific conditioning product formulated for its material, not general furniture polish.
Minor surface dryness can often be improved with conditioning, but deep structural cracks usually need a specialist repair rather than conditioning alone.
Yes, aniline leather (less processed, more natural-looking) is generally more vulnerable to drying out than pigmented leather, which has a protective surface coating.
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