If your table sits anywhere near sunlight, food, drinks, pets, or kids, a pool table cover is one of the cheapest ways to protect a table that costs thousands of dollars and takes real time to refelt properly.
We get this question a lot from customers picking up a new table or scheduling a refelt, and the honest answer depends less on the table and more on the room it lives in. Here’s how to think it through.
Do You Need a Pool Table Cover for Your Room?
If your table is in a finished basement with no windows and no foot traffic when it’s not in use, a cover is nice-to-have but not urgent. If it’s in a family room, sunroom, or anywhere near a window, a bar cart, or a couch where people set down drinks, a cover moves from nice-to-have to genuinely worth it. We’ve refelted plenty of tables that didn’t need to be redone yet — they just had a drink spill, a sun-faded patch, or a layer of dust ground into the nap from months of uncovered sitting.
Three things typically decide the answer for a given household:
- Sunlight exposure. UV fades cloth unevenly, and once one section is lighter than the rest, there’s no fixing it short of a refelt.
- Foot traffic near the table. Game rooms that double as party space or hangout areas see more spills and dust than a dedicated, closed-off room.
- Pets. Cats especially treat an open pool table like furniture, and claws snag cloth fibers fast.
If any of those apply to you, the case for a cover is straightforward.
What a Pool Cover Actually Protects Against
A cover isn’t just about keeping dust off — it’s protecting the two things that are expensive to fix: the cloth and the slate underneath it.
Spills and Stains
Cloth absorbs liquid fast, and once a stain sets into wool cloth, it doesn’t come out — there’s no cleaning method that lifts a set-in stain without leaving a mark or a texture change behind. This is the most common damage we see on tables that double as party space, where a drink gets set on the rail and eventually tips or sweats onto the cloth. A cover stops the spill before it ever reaches the surface, which matters because by the time you notice a spill on bare cloth, it’s usually already soaked in.
Sun Fading
Direct or even indirect sunlight through a window will bleach cloth unevenly over months — not all at once, which is what makes it sneaky. You won’t notice it happening day to day, but eventually there’s a visibly lighter patch shaped exactly like whatever sunlight was hitting the table, and it’s permanent. Rooms with south-facing windows or skylights are the most common cause we see, even when the table isn’t in direct sun for more than a few hours a day. If the fading has already set in, a cover won’t reverse it — that’s a job for pool table service, not prevention.
Dust and Pet Hair
Dust grinds into the nap over time and changes how the ball rolls, especially on worsted cloth where a smooth, consistent surface is the whole point. It’s a slower kind of damage than a spill, but it’s just as real — a table that sits uncovered for months starts to play noticeably different even though nothing was ever spilled on it. Pet hair is its own problem on top of that; cats in particular treat an open table like a bed, and claws catch and pull at cloth fibers in a way that’s hard to reverse.
Moisture
In rooms without climate control — garages, unfinished basements, sunrooms with big temperature swings — humidity can affect both the cloth and the slate bed underneath it. Cloth can hold onto dampness longer than you’d expect, and slate seams are sensitive to the kind of expansion and contraction that comes with swinging humidity. A cover adds a layer of protection against those swings between uses, which matters most in exactly the rooms where people are least likely to think about it.
This is really about how to protect a pool table when not in use, and a cover is the single easiest habit that covers all four of these risks at once, especially if your table sits idle for stretches at a time.
Pool Table Cover Material: What to Look For
Not all covers are built the same, and the material matters more than most people expect.
- Fitted vinyl covers are the most common and the most protective against spills — they’re waterproof and drape the full table, including the rails. Look for one with a soft backing where it touches the cloth, so it doesn’t create friction marks over time.
- Fabric or flannel-backed covers breathe better in humid rooms, which matters if your table lives somewhere without consistent air conditioning, but they won’t stop a spill from a spilled drink the way vinyl will.
- Naugahyde or leather-look covers hold up well and match a finished game room aesthetic better than a plain vinyl tarp, if appearance matters to you.
Whatever pool table cover material you choose, make sure it’s cut for your table’s actual size rather than a generic “one size fits most” cover — a loose cover shifts and doesn’t protect the corners and pockets where damage tends to start.
Does Pool Table Cloth Need Cleaning Even With a Cover?
Yes — a cover cuts down on spills, dust, and fading, but it’s not a substitute for actually maintaining the cloth underneath. Chalk dust and skin oils build up on the surface every time the table is played, cover or no cover, and left alone that buildup works into the nap and slows the cloth down over time. A cover protects the cloth between games — it doesn’t undo the wear that happens during them.
The good news is that regular cleaning is quick once it’s part of the routine, and it’s the difference between cloth that plays well for years and cloth that needs an early refelt. If you’re not sure how often to brush and vacuum your table or what to avoid, our guide on how to clean pool table cloth walks through the full routine step by step.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a pool table need a cover if it’s in a finished basement?
Not urgently, but it still helps. Even a finished, windowless basement collects dust, and if the room ever doubles as a party space, a cover protects against the occasional spill or bumped drink.
What happens if you don’t cover a pool table?
Over time, uncovered cloth collects dust and pet hair, fades unevenly if it gets any sunlight, and is fully exposed to the next spilled drink or dropped snack. None of that happens overnight, but it adds up and shortens how long the cloth looks and plays well.
Can you use any tablecloth or tarp as a pool table cover?
You can in a pinch, but a generic tarp won’t be cut to fit the rails and pockets, and cheap plastic can trap moisture against the cloth rather than protecting it. A cover made for pool tables fits snugly and is designed to breathe or seal appropriately depending on the material.
How often should you use the cover?
Anytime the table isn’t actively being played on for more than a day or two. Some households cover it every time, others just during parties or when the room sees more foot traffic than usual — either habit is better than none.
Protecting Your Investment, the Right Way
We’ve been refelting and servicing tables across the Delaware Valley since 1982, and the tables that need work the least are almost always the ones that get covered between uses. It’s a small habit that saves a full refelt down the road — and if your cloth is already past the point a cover can help, our in-house crew handles cleaning and recovering pool table cloth start to finish, no third-party freight involved.
If you’re not sure what condition your table’s in or want to talk through options, reach out through our contact page or stop by the Colmar showroom, located at 515 Bethlehem Pike, Colmar, PA 18915.
