REPAIRING A CHAIR SEAT


Probrably the most important part of a chair is where you sit. A wooden chair seat that is split or needs to be replaced will be an obvious spot to perform repairs.

Split Seats


Split chair seats can be repaired with a series of 3mm dowels (wooden pegs) along the break and reinforced with metal mending plates. The seat must be completely removed for doweling.




Drill holes for the dowels in each side of the broken seat, about 25mm deep (or as deep as possible) and spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart. A doweling jig is used, clamped to the broken seat, to drill the dowel holes. We cut and score each dowel , 6mm less than the total length of the dowel holes. 


Glue is applied to one end of each dowel, and inserted into the holes along one side of the broken seat; then glue is applied to the protruding dowel ends and to the broken edge,  the two parts are then joined. The pieces of the seat are tapped together with a rubber or wooden mallet, and any excess glue wiped off. The glued seat lightly clamped and left to dry for at least two days. For extra strength, metal mending plates can be added to span the break, like the one above -- four plates is adequate. Finally, the chair is reassembled .



Inserting Chair Seats


Chair seats set in or on frames are usually boards or plywood covered with padding and cloth. These seats seldom split, but when they do the simplest solution is to replace the seat with a new piece of plywood -- 8mm thickness is best. If 8mm plywood won't fit properly after the padding has been added, 6mm plywood can be used, but anything less than this will not provide the needed support. The old chair seat is used as a  pattern to cut out the new one. 


Padded chair seats are usually held to the frame with screws driven through glue blocks. all fasteners are removed, and replaced the same way to hold the new chair seat. 

If the upholstery on insert seats is worn or damaged, it can easily be replaced as interior chairs are usually padded with cotton batting. Some chairs have foam padding or a combination of foam and cotton. Both types of padding are available precut for chair seats. For most chairs, the padding should be about 15mm to 25mm thick.


To recover an insert chair seat, it must be removed from the chair. The seat is usually a piece of plywood, held to the chair frame by screws; the screws may be counterbored into the frame or may go up through the corner glue blocks. The tacks or staples that hold the old upholstery fabric to the seat are removed, and the fabric is lifted off. The chair is refinished, if necessary, before proceeding further. 


Using the old fabric as a pattern, new fabric is cut to fit. If the old padding on the chair seat is in good shape, it can be reused; if it's damaged, it is replaced with new padding. It may be possible to fluff and smooth old cotton padding; if it's badly flattened, a layer of foam padding may be added to build the seat cushion up to 15 to 25mm.


The new fabric is laid flat, wrong side up, and center the padded seat on it upside down. The edges of the fabric are folded up over the seat, stretching it firmly onto the plywood;  the fabric is taped firmly down with masking tape. Starting at the center of one side, the fabric is folded under and attached to the seat with a staple gun using heavy-duty staples. If the new fabric is very heavy, flathead upholstery tacks will be more secure. Staples or tacks are set 25mm to 35mm apart along the side of the seat. 




When the first side is completely attached, the fabric is restretched; then stapled or tacked  to the opposite side. The seat is turned over and the padding is smoothed out, making sure the fabric is straight, with no wrinkles. Then the seat is turned over again, and the other two sides fastened. At the corners, the fabric is folded in to miter it neatly; if necessary, each layer is stapled or tacked separately. Finally, a scrap piece of the new fabric is stapled under the seat, in case repairs are necessary in the future. The chair seat is replaced in the frame, and resecured. All the screws are replaced, and tightened  firmly.

 
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