I just inherited a sofa bed from the previous tenant of the apartment. It was just 1 year old and in good condition. He said it was from Ikea but I could not find it in any of theri catalogues - eventually I found a similar looking sofa here.
Now, the sofa is really in a good condition for now but if you examine the pictures, the sofa is a storage sofa and is empty in the center. Therefore, it does not offer good support for people sitting on it.
I also noticed the two beams underneath the sofa has bent under weight bearing and cracked. If you sit directly in the centre of the sofa, your bum is completely unsupported.
It looks that the sofa is unlikely to last too long before breaking.
Anyone here can offer creative and affordable solutions to save this otherwise new sofa?
I thought of filling in the sofa with tons of cushions - but that would require too many cushions and cushions can get expensive. I am not even sure that would work though!
If it was just one year old, and from IKEA, I’d make pictures from the cracked beams and mail them to the IKEA customer service. Maybe they have a replacement part, or maybe they will refund it. If you want to know the model of the sofa, post a picture of it on IKEA hackers. Or here, maybe me or someone else can identify it.
I am now quite sure it was not an Ikea, but a poorly made furniture.
I still want to salvage it though as it is a waste to throw an otherwise ok sofa albeit a little damage.
Would it be possible to get a sheet of plywood that fits the storage area, and put it on top of the storage area so the sofa cushions are resting on a solid sheet of plywood?
Cushions seems like a poor choice for filling, as they offer little support. Why not use stacked styrofoam blocks (the kind used for ground insulation) instead?
It seems like the sofa is not in good condition after all, nor well-designed. Chuck it and go to your local charity furniture shop and get one that’s in good condition and well-designed.
teddybound, you said that storage center is empty in the center. I followed your link and noticed that the last picture shows two 11cm high beams that run from the front to the back of the sofa storage compartment. One is near the left arm and one is near the center. I suspect there is a third one close near the right arm that doesn’t show in the photograph. These beams are likely intended to support the weight of the couch surface from underneath. If your sofa is collapsing because they are missing, you might shore the sofa back up by placing appropriate sized beams in those locations.
It’s also possible that the sofa is already too broken for this to work. In that case, I’d use a combination of support beams in the locations from the picture and a piece of 3/4" plywood across the top to reinforce it. If you can’t saw the wood yourself, you might know someone who could help you. It’s only a few minute job if you measure and mark the wood in advance.
Places like Lowes and Home Depot might even cut the wood for you.
It looks to me like the 11cm pieces don’t support the cushion since another picture shows the cushion resting directly on the upholstered frame. I would measure the space between the top of the 11cm pieces and the top of the frame and get two or three planks of that height to lay across and running perpendicular to the 11cm pieces.
Yes there are beams. But obviously it’s poor design because the 2 beams won’t be able to support the weight of 2 full grown humans. The beams are still there and supporting but showing cracks and are bent. That’s the reason why I’m thinking of ideas how to provide it more support.
