A board in the arm of my couch has (I think) snapped. Repairing it would require getting under the upholstry, replacing the board (I think) and putting the upholstry back in place.
Any idea how much I should expect to pay to fix such a thing?
Couch is still usable, and from the outside you don’t see anything wrong, but if you put your weight on the arm when getting up you can feel things giving. And the overall structure of the couch probably kind of depends on the individual bits being whole and in place, so over time this can only get worse…
I don’t know how much it would cost to fix the broken arm. I wouldn’t even know what kind of a repairman you could get in to do it. If you know how to make the repair, just slash the upholstery, peel it back to get at the broken arm and stabilize it.
Then cover the cut upholstery with a slipcover.
I like the slipcovers available from Surefit http://www.surefit.net/
The products are well made and durable. They come in lots of colors. I have Surefit covers on three of my sofas in my US home and one on a sofa here at my place in Germany. These aren’t like the shoddy throws you had on the old banger sofa in your first apartment out of college or the floral nightmare at your Aunt Edna’s that was so ugly it made you wince every Thanksgiving. These are attractive. Surefit has good sales and it’s worth signing up for their special online offers. You can also often find Surefit for sale at lower prices on Ebay.
No, I don’t have a financial interest in the company. I’m just a happy customer.
I always find slipcovers to bunch up and look pretty bad; unless they are made for the specific couch they are guaranteed to be overslack and overtight in the wrong spots. My brother had one of this type and it looked just as bad as slipcovers always do. And it had to be arranged/straightened almost daily. And it costs $100! That’s not cheap.
I think its good money after bad trying to dissect and repair this couch and then spending $100 on a slipcover. I’d set aside the $100 and start saving up for a new couch. Let the current couch go as long as it can.
The easiest way to see the inside of your couch is to take the back off, you might be able to see what is going on with the arm that way. Google reupholstery and look at how the back is put on. There are hidden fasteners along the side you can pry off. You can do this without cutting any fabric and you should be able to leave the top stapled. Most couches have the same system on the sides but the back would still have to come off to make everything look hidden.
You can get replacement tack strips to redo the back at most fabric stores that carry upholstery fabric.
P.S. I forgot you might be able to see what is going on from the bottom. Flip the couch over and remove the bottom fabric. Couches are surprisingly empty on the inside.
I’m a sorta self-taught upholsterer, and depending upon how the arm is done, it might be a simple matter to remove staples from the bottom and back to assess the damage. In fact, you might be able to just turn it over, take off the dust barrier on the bottom and see from there what has to be done. Personally, I’d attempt such a repair myself, but I have tools and experience using them.
I would think a good general handyman could do it also, but no idea what one would charge since we do most repairs, etc, ourselves. But it won’t cost you anything to carefully unstaple the fabric and see what’s going on.
Thanks guys. I might try to take a look at it, but chances are we’ll probably just get a new one in a few months. I think/hope this one will last til then. (Or by then we may decide it’s not urgent to get a new one at all, depending on how things are looking.)
Do you have a source for good hardwood (hickory is preferred).
If the broken piece is still securely glued at the ends, you may be able to splice in a foot or so - get real carpenter’s glue and vise-type clamps (wood does not do well with spring clips - they squeeze out too much glue).
If this is going to be replaced anyway, it might be worthwhile to open and see how furniture is made - it’ll make you a better consumer, if it does nothing else.
Frylock, here’s another suggestion. Can you or Mrs Frylock sew? If you can, then after you perform surgery on the bones of the sofa you can camouflage the incision with armrest protectors. They are easy to make.
You have a couple choices of fabric. Either:
Buy some fabric that complements the sofa material or the decor in the room. I’d sew a couple of toss pillows out of the arm rest fabric and maybe a lampshade, too, so that the non-matching fabric looks like a design choice instead of a jury-rigged stopgap.
Is the sofa pushed up against the wall so nobody sees the back? If so, then cut out fabric from the back panel and use for the armrest protectors.
They hold my slipcovers in place. There’s no bunching or slipping. I’d rather pay $100 for a slipcover than $1500 for a new sofa. The slipcovers are washable, BTW, and last for years.
I’d rather pay $350 for a new sofa though. Who the fuck pays 1500 for a sofa? My IKEA sofa is 10 years old and going strong. And you can buy a new fitted to size slipcover if you need one.
Stand by my statement, noncustom slipcover are a pain and look like shit, completely not worth the money – unless you buy gold plated sofas I guess.
Frylock, don’t you have a passel of kids under the age of 10? Keep this one going as long as you can, buy the cheapest, sturdiest sofa available when it finally fails, and save your money for nicer furniture when they’re old enough that you can trust them not to spill soda or jump on it.