Repair a lounge suite
In a previous feature I discussed how to give your lounge suite a good clean. The current hot, sunny weather is ideal for taking a lounge suite outdoors for cleaning. It was also a good excuse for me to fix up my lounge suite at the same time.
My hubby is one of those that doesn't just sit down, he flops down with all his weight. Sitting down this way is just not good for a lounge suite, and particularly one that has timber cross beams or spring wires as supports. My lounge suite has spring wires underneath and, while outdoors cleaning, I turned the couch over to see if I could find the problem.
When you place the couch on its back you will probably find that there is a plastic mesh covering the base. This is put there so you can't see how shabby the actual construction is! I had a little assistant (Nancy's daughter) to help me remove all the staples holding the cover in place.
After removing the plastic cover, the problem is immediately obvious. The sinkhole is caused by a spring that has come loose.
You might be shocked by what you find underneath your sofa or couch. They really do use the cheapest materials to manufacture furniture these days. The pockets in the middle are made from scrap - what looks like - old t-shirts...!
Everything gets slapped together as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Let's be honest, once it's wrapped in fabric you will never know how it was made unless you look underneath. This is one of the reasons why I want to make my own lounge suite, once I have the funds available. Not only will I know what goes into making it, I'll also know that I can sit on it and not have to worry about 'sinkholes'.
With a couple of pairs of pliers and a helping hand I managed to get the spring back in place. That's how easy it is to repair a broken spring. If the spring is snapped off at one end, your local fabric shop should have springs, or be able to recommend where to go for replacement springs.
If you have an old sofa or couch that has stretch webbing as the main seat support, this is just as easy to replace. Ask at your local fabric store for stretch upholstery webbing and they should be able to assist. I buy mine from Fabric Link.
You might be lucky and be able to stretch and re-attach the straps with staples, but replacing the straps is not that difficult once you get underneath the couch.