Fixing a dining chair - Drop in seat.

[frugal]

We have a set of Oak dining furniture. The chairs are in need of some TLC.

The side rails have come loose from guests rocking on the chairs and I need to take them to pieces and glue them as there does not seem to be any glue in the joint, just a dowel that is hammered through. Fair enough I can insert some glue and clamp that joint together.

However the other thing that has gone wrong is that the seat base has broken and now dips in the middle. It looks like the base is made from plywood covered in foam and leather. Of course the ply has snapped from front to back (top to bottom in the photo) as the seats are only held in with a small corner brace (about 2" along each side) at each corner and there is nothing to hold the seat together at the front, back or sides.

Firstly: Is this normal? I know nothing about chair design so I have no idea how drop in seats are normally attached.

There is a groove going all the way along the rails so I tried to attach a button to the rail and provide some support at the front, back and sides, but it does not seem to be enough.

As I see it my options are:

1 - Replace the ply in the base with a new (slightly thicker) bit and reupholster the bases.

2 - Attach a rail from front to back (but I think that this will just break as it will be relatively unsupported.

3 - Use bigger diagonal braces to give a bit more support.

4 - Take the whole thing to pieces and put a solid base of Ply into the groove all around.

5 - Use a rail on the 4 sides rather than a button, but I think that these will just get pushed out as the little buttons did.

any other ideas? I have never done anything with chairs other than rest my butt on them...[/img]

 

[Richard Findley]

Hi Frugal,

This sounds pretty standard for mass produced furniture like this. I fixed one recently for a mate. I took the back leg frame off as this was the joint that was coming away, removed the dowels and cleaned off the old glue, fixed in new (slightly larger) dowels and cramped it back up. The seat on this one was ok but if I were you I'd re-upholster an new bit of ply or MDF.

I think the groove you refer to is probably more for the diagonal supports to sit in than for the seat?

HTH

Richard

 

[xy mosian]

A couple of options spring to mind that will avoid re-upholstery.

Remove the fabric (coloured black) on the underside of the seat, probably exposing the ply? seat bottom and reinforce it with more thin ply.

Add a front to back strut to the frame located in the existing grooves, make it as wide as you like. It is not obvious whether there is such a groove in the front frame, if not make one or add a suitable lip.

Not full refurbs I know, but possibly workable solutions.

HTH

xy

 

[frugal]

I think the groove you refer to is probably more for the diagonal supports to sit in than for the seat?

Richard, I have edited the original post to add a couple of photos to show things more accurately.

The M&T joints in the rails show absolutely no signs of glue, so I think that they were never glued at all, and just held in with Dowels.

The groove is indeed just for the diagonal supports, however I did try to use them for buttons as well but that has not worked. I just wanted to know if this is a common way of fixing drop in seats, or if this is a bit of a kludge on the part of the manufacturer.

I have been googling for articles on chair construction and there is very little out there. There is loads of stuff about upholstering chair covers, but very little about making chairs in the first place. If I was making the chair from scratch I would probably have made a rebate all around the inside of the rails so that the seat was supported on all sides, but short of remaking it from scratch that is not really an option...

 

[joesoap]

I'd go with Mosian on the seat problem . With the strut though , remove those two buttons (they are doing nothing strengthwise ) and fit the strut accross the chair using the taper to slide the strut in to the groove on half lap tenons on the angle . Cheers ~!

 

[llangatwgnedd]

When the plywood split on mine, I just dropped a piece of thin ply in and screwed the upholstered one back on.

 

[AndyT]

I think you'll find that the groove goes all along the sides, even though it does not need to be continuous, just because of the way they are made. Imagine a long length being shaped and grooved, then cut to length as required.

Apart from glueing up properly, I think a new bit of decent quality ply will be what you need.

 

[woodbloke]

F - can't see pics at the moment, will have a look tonight - Rob

 

[JWF]

As a furniture restorer I am frequently asked to repair such a chair. When you strip off the material you may well find that the seat is chipboard!! The way I approach the problem is to use "spreader clamps" and ease the joints apart and re-glue, this way you are sure of getting glue (Titebond or Extramite) into the joint. With modern manufacturing techniques the glue is non-existent. Cut a new base board, using ply or MDF, and re-upholster. I have done no end of chairs form pubs, where clients have "rocked" back on them and pulled the stretchers out.

Hope this helps.
John