A sofa is not just an interior item, but also a real “four-legged friend”, which is convenient for relaxing in the daytime or at night. In the everyday life of a modern person, it has a symbolic meaning - “being the heir to a crushed sofa” is not very serious. While the furniture is new, the bedspread is simply periodically overlaid on it. But with active, frequent use, after several years, many people have a question: how to pull the sofa, change the upholstery, springs, disassemble, eliminating all unnecessary.
If the upholstery has lost its attractive appearance, has indelible spots, holes, abrasions, it must be replaced. If there is damage to the frame, it can also be repaired in most cases. Not wanting to throw out comfortable, familiar furniture, many are engaged in restoration on their own.
Doing a sofa with your own hands has many advantages:
This is an interesting creative process that requires accuracy and quick wit;
low cost - to bring furniture to the workshop will be more expensive;
almost any material you like is suitable for decoration;
an easy way to keep an antique thing;
the foundations of old sofas are much stronger than modern ones;
you don’t have to throw away your favorite furniture item;
You can easily change the design of the sofa.
Cons are also present:
for high-quality furniture repairs need some tools, skills to work with them;
when using excessively expensive materials, the costs will be high;
a beginner will need a lot of time to disassemble-assemble an item of upholstered furniture.
With self-tightening, the upholstery fabric is selected according to the existing or planned interior styling. The finished product can be combined in color, texture with curtains, carpets, chair covers, other home textiles, contrast with flooring, the general background.
The simplest way to change the appearance of upholstered furniture is by sewing for her bedspreads, original pillows.
Damage, types of repair
Damage to upholstered items is most often caused by prolonged or careless use.Shabby shabby fabric on the seat, armrests, back, will fit perfectly into the interiors of a loft, vintage, art-believe, but in classical, minimalism, modernity and most others it will not be appropriate.
Upholstery material is damaged if it is improperly taken care of, children who spill drinks are painted with felt-tip pens, as well as pets who like to gnaw a corner, sharpen their claws on the armrest. Fading, wiping to holes, stains that cannot be removed, tears in the fabric also require replacing all or part of the upholstery.
Sagged surfaces worsen the appearance, reduce operational properties. In this case, replacement of foam rubber, sintepon, and in some cases spring blocks is needed. Large dips below occur due to high loads - the springs simply pierce the bottom, they need to be removed by replacing the damaged bottom with plywood, fiberboard. It is permissible to completely remove the springs by changing to a thick layer of foam rubber, furniture silicone, and other fillers.
Violation of the integrity of the frame makes it impossible to use the sofa for its intended purpose. Defects requiring repair include weakening of studded joints, breaking off of sidewalls, appearance of visible gaps, general loosening of the structure. If wooden parts are badly damaged by insects, fungus, mold, they must be replaced. If transported incorrectly, it is also easy to break the sofa.
A separate category of damage is chips, cracks, and other problems at the attachment points of closing-opening mechanisms. Most often this applies to Eurobook models, wardrobe sofas, kitchen structures with drawers. Often the frame is so damaged that most of the parts will have to be replaced, that is, completely disassemble the old sofa and assemble a new one.
When deciding on a repair, the cost of repairs and materials should be calculated - if the restoration, even on its own, costs about the same as buying a new product, then it is impractical.
"Composition" of sofas
The interior of the sofa (back and seat) is performed in several versions:
springless - furniture foam having high density, foam latex is used. The latter will cost many times more;
spring - the product is equipped with a "classic" block with springs or snake springs that support latex, foam "filling" are used. Independent springs are also used, each of which has an individual textile cover.
The composition of the insides of upholstered furniture depends on the model of the product;
spring block type "bonnel" or "snake";
synthetic winterizer;
felt, thermal felt;
horsehair;
bamboo fiber;
non-woven;
mat;
batting;
polypropylene fabric;
Fiberboard;
polyurethane foam (including chopped), etc.
It is recommended to replace obsolete filler materials of the product with more modern, environmentally friendly, wear-resistant.
The choice of fabric, its varieties for upholstery / banner
Before you start to tighten the sofa, you should choose a suitable fabric. The material can be natural, artificial, synthetic, woven or non-woven, plain or colorful, with a small or large pattern. In some cases, various structural parts are upholstered in contrasting pieces of textile.
Upholstery furniture fabrics vary in strength, durability, production method.
Most commonly used:
flock;
tapestry;
jacquard;
velveteen;
scotchguard;
Boucle;
velours;
shenill;
microfiber;
leather;
eco leather;
leatherette;
faux suede;
natural or artificial fur.
When choosing a fabric, attention is paid to visual characteristics: color, its combination with the wooden parts of the product, the surrounding background. The larger the stretchable sofa, the larger the pattern for it. But when the design consists of many parts, has a large number of seams, the textile is preferred monophonic.
Tactile sensations depend on the texture of the material, it’s convenient for someone to sit, lie solely on a soft, smooth surface, while the other will prefer ribbed, creating the effect of micromassage.Additional impregnations are designed to protect the product from dust, dirt, and photo printing on textiles that have polyester in their composition can be done in many “copy centers”.
Suitable upholstery material is purchased at a furniture store, fabric department.
Step-by-step upholstery replacement
Numerous workshops on replacing the textile top of the sofa suggest approximately the same sequence of actions:
the product is disassembled;
the old skin is removed, a new one is cut out in its shape or home-made patterns are used;
edges are processed, tucked;
the cover is nailed to the sofa;
the sofa is assembled, decorated at the discretion of the master.
The cost of repair in this case depends on the price of the fabric, the size of the manufactured product.
Necessary materials, tools
In order to properly pull the furniture, the following tools and materials will be required:
upholstery, non-woven fabric, leather or fur;
screwdriver - to take apart the sofa;
side cutter or thin knife - helps to remove old staples that secured the fabric;
scissors - they cut fabric, leather, fur;
a chalk or narrow bar of soap - for marking the material;
box for folding fasteners;
thread, needle, sewing machine.
Analysis of furniture, disposal of unusable upholstery
The design of the sofa, even the kitchen corner or the simplest book, is quite complicated and can cause some difficulties for beginners. In order not to get confused, small fasteners are put into a box, identical parts are numbered.
Next, you need to carefully remove the worn fabric - it will become a pattern for a new upholstery. It is important not to tear the material, to rip each seam, otherwise it is easy to make a mistake with the dimensions. After the inspection of the entire structure is carried out - if the frame is completely intact, has no damage, you can begin to trim the sofa.
Instructions for assembling, disassembling popular designs of upholstered furniture can be found on the Internet.
Cutting, fastening new material
It is recommended to steam up the material (except leather, fur), which will be upholstered, so that the pattern is neat. After that, all the details are outlined in chalk on the purchased fabric, laid out, fixed on the floor. So that the material does not move out, the old elements are fixed with pins. Further, all parts are cut out, swept away in the right order, sewn on a sewing machine.
Now the upholstery is attached to the sofa - each piece fits into its own cover. They begin to pull from the middle to the edges, first of all the largest fragments are formed. To prevent the textiles from tearing, it is recommended to use staples with wide "backs". It is advisable to do this work together - one holds, pulls the material, the other fixes it to the base.
It is important to ensure that the pattern (if present) is not distorted, wrinkles do not form on the surface.
When working with skin, it is cut with a circular knife, a scalpel on a hard surface. You cannot sweep the skin, like fur, with pins - they leave marks, violate the integrity. Use special adhesive tape, rubber glue. A leather case is sewn with rare stitches on a professional sewing machine. When upholstered with fur, it is cut so as not to damage the pile.
If a thin, easily creasing, stretchable fabric is selected, it is first strengthened with a layer of non-woven fabric.
Assembly of the updated product
When the upholstery of each part is completed, the structure is assembled by carefully twisting the fasteners. If wrinkles appear on the assembled product, it means that the fabric is not stretched somewhere enough - this defect can most often be corrected without disassembling the product. The same is done when the folds appeared much later - during operation. The assembly sequence of the “new” sofa depends on the specific model. Lastly, hardware is attached.
Padding, repair of a spring sofa
Step by step, the sofa is repaired and tugged like this:
all the necessary materials, tools, accessories are selected;
the product is partially or completely disassembled;
replacement of damaged parts;
the upholstery is cut, fixed in the right places;
the updated design is assembled, the result of work is evaluated.
To understand what exactly requires replacement in a particular product, it will have to be disassembled. For beginners doing this for the first time without outside help, it is recommended to photograph each stage of dismantling - this will exclude the possibility of confusing what and where it was originally.
Necessary materials, tools
For complete disassembly, repair, assembly of the structure, you need a number of tools:
large screwdriver; open-end wrench for loosening bolts;
pliers, scraper, to remove the staples that secure the upholstery;
nailing - if the fabric is attached with small cloves;
hammer for driving tenon joints;
a vise for a firm grip of glued places;
furniture stapler;
screwdriver;
hammer drill;
"Gypsy" needle;
sharp scissors;
a simple pencil for marking;
metal tape measure or ruler, for making measurements.
Of the materials needed:
upholstery fabric;
timber, boards, plywood to replace damaged parts;
spring blocks, furniture foam for restoring the "filling";
rubber glue - if skin lining is planned;
PVA glue for gluing wooden parts.
Dismantling, damage assessment
Sofas of various design features are sorted out a little differently:
Eurobook model - the seat rises, fits onto the back, the side panel mounts are unscrewed (if any). The seat is removed, the back is unscrewed. In the presence of a withdrawable section, it is also removed. Next, you can remove the upholstery, foam, springs;
“accordion” sofa is a three-section construction, all parts of which are fastened together.First, the clips of the rear part, which tighten the sides, are removed, which also need to be removed. The triple frame and headboard are removable. After the linen box is dismantled - for this they raise the seat, unscrew the bolts with which it is fixed;
angular - the sofa is pushed away from the wall, all covers, pillows are removed. It is recommended to remove the upholstery with the help of special tools - part of the fasteners can be located under it. Next, the sidewall connecting their trims on the back of the piece of furniture is dismantled.
Later removed seats, corner elements. If there is a backrest on the short half, it is removed by unscrewing the nuts before which the seat is screwed to the frame. The base is disassembled last - the sequence of actions depends on what kind of mechanism of transformation of the angular model.
When the sofa is disassembled, it is necessary to assess the condition of its individual elements - hollows, slabs, protruding springs need to be fixed. In some models, legs, upper parts of the armrests are separately removed. Accessories must also be removed in advance. Often lamellas break in the sofa, which are the pillar of the orthopedic construction - they are always replaced with new ones. When all the fasteners and mechanisms work well, they are simply cleaned of dust, lubricated with oil to eliminate creaking.
Frame repair
The restoration of the frame is sometimes carried out “without a single nail”, using glue, but more often requires additional fasteners in the form of screws, metal corners. For many modern designs, spare parts are sold in furniture stores, in the construction market. When buying, it is advisable to take a worn part, fastening with you, so as not to be mistaken. When the transforming mechanism is worn, it is also replaced by an identical one to the previous one.
Possible problems, spring block recovery options
The spring part may consist of old type parts with a height of up to 20 cm, a spring width of 15 cm, a thickness of 0.5 cm or modern ones, where a height of 12 cm, a width of 10 cm, a thickness of 0.22 cm. In modern products, each spring is connected to neighboring wire spiral. Replacing damaged springs makes sense if there are not many. To do this, on the one hand, weaken the fixation of the element, on the other, unscrew it, insert the other. When the damaged springs are about half or more, it is easier to buy a new spring unit of a suitable size.
To increase the strength, reinforcement is performed with corsage ribbons stretched across the block.
The nuances of the restoration of the spring "snake"
"Snake" - a set of soft springs that reduce the cost of construction, but too quickly become unusable, as evidenced by the "hammock effect." The “serpentine” details extend from edge to edge of the entire block, each of them independent of the others. Fastening is done with special long brackets, trims, clips. Damaged springs are removed with pliers, replaced with new ones, while you can change one, several or all. When you want to "strengthen" the design, the number of snakes is increased.
To increase the service life of the structure with a "snake", the spring block is covered with a thick layer of foam rubber, which helps to evenly distribute the load between all springs.
Selection, attachment of new fillers
When replacing the filler, it is important that the thickness, height of each fragment is as close as possible to the one that it originally had. If the parameters are more or less, skew design, problems with its assembly. So that the dimensions are suitable, they measure the places where deformations, scuffs are most noticeable.
Foam rubber - the cheapest sofa "stuffing". The synthetic winterizer is also inexpensive, but does not differ in durability, therefore it is used together with other materials.Hollofiber is more expensive, more durable, latex refers to fillers with a "memory". Durafil made of polyester is comparable in its characteristics to a spring block. For products of complex, intricate shape, molded polyurethane foam is preferable, and pillows, armrests, and backs are stuffed with synthetic fluff.
Felt consists entirely of natural wool.
To change the filler, you must first remove the old contents from the sofa. By size of the latter, a new part is cut out, which needs to be replaced on the frame with a stapler or small studs. For durability, it is recommended to combine several materials, especially when it comes to seating - it experiences the greatest loads.
Sewing a cover, installing it on the frame
The cover is cut to the size of the old "shell", sewn on a typewriter. It is important to observe seam allowances. Each fragment is individually tightened, the place where the part is inserted is masked by a hidden seam made by hand. If the textile material is characterized by "flowability", its edges are treated with overlock. Staples are installed at a distance of three to five centimeters from each other.
Upholstery is bought with a small margin - up to 10-15%, if it turns out to be too much, the excess will go to the manufacture of sofa cushions, other decor.
Assembly, decor
The order of assembly work depends on the model of furniture, the number of individual fragments. To check whether the assembly is well done, you need to sit, lie down, lay out and fold it on the couch. The product should not stagger, creak, have noticeable distortions. During installation, carefully tighten all existing joints, tighten the screws. When large parts are attached, legs, other design elements are installed.
Do-it-yourself pillows, rollers, capes, decorative buttons are used as decor.If you have the skills of woodcarving, the structure is decorated with false carved details, and instead of simple old legs, chiseled with the corresponding thickness and height are mounted.
Conclusion
It is not too difficult to restore upholstered furniture in a high-quality way, having the necessary tools in stock. It is possible to extend the life of a worn-out sofa by tightening and repairing it at home - how to do it in stages, they write in detail in the magazines on repair, home improvement. The abundance of modern materials simplifies the process as much as possible. The independent reconstruction of an old, antique sofa can be overly complicated, therefore it is better to entrust its restoration to a specialist, or at least consult with him.
A sofa is not just an interior item, but also a real “four-legged friend”, which is convenient for relaxing in the daytime or at night. In the everyday life of a modern person, it has a symbolic meaning - “being the heir to a crushed sofa” is not very serious. While the furniture is new, the bedspread is simply periodically overlaid on it. But with active, frequent use, after several years, many people have a question: how to pull the sofa, change the upholstery, springs, disassemble, eliminating all unnecessary.
Content
DIY constriction features
If the upholstery has lost its attractive appearance, has indelible spots, holes, abrasions, it must be replaced. If there is damage to the frame, it can also be repaired in most cases. Not wanting to throw out comfortable, familiar furniture, many are engaged in restoration on their own.
Doing a sofa with your own hands has many advantages:
Cons are also present:
With self-tightening, the upholstery fabric is selected according to the existing or planned interior styling. The finished product can be combined in color, texture with curtains, carpets, chair covers, other home textiles, contrast with flooring, the general background.
Damage, types of repair
Damage to upholstered items is most often caused by prolonged or careless use.Shabby shabby fabric on the seat, armrests, back, will fit perfectly into the interiors of a loft, vintage, art-believe, but in classical, minimalism, modernity and most others it will not be appropriate.
Upholstery material is damaged if it is improperly taken care of, children who spill drinks are painted with felt-tip pens, as well as pets who like to gnaw a corner, sharpen their claws on the armrest. Fading, wiping to holes, stains that cannot be removed, tears in the fabric also require replacing all or part of the upholstery.
Sagged surfaces worsen the appearance, reduce operational properties. In this case, replacement of foam rubber, sintepon, and in some cases spring blocks is needed. Large dips below occur due to high loads - the springs simply pierce the bottom, they need to be removed by replacing the damaged bottom with plywood, fiberboard. It is permissible to completely remove the springs by changing to a thick layer of foam rubber, furniture silicone, and other fillers.
Violation of the integrity of the frame makes it impossible to use the sofa for its intended purpose. Defects requiring repair include weakening of studded joints, breaking off of sidewalls, appearance of visible gaps, general loosening of the structure. If wooden parts are badly damaged by insects, fungus, mold, they must be replaced. If transported incorrectly, it is also easy to break the sofa.
A separate category of damage is chips, cracks, and other problems at the attachment points of closing-opening mechanisms. Most often this applies to Eurobook models, wardrobe sofas, kitchen structures with drawers. Often the frame is so damaged that most of the parts will have to be replaced, that is, completely disassemble the old sofa and assemble a new one.
"Composition" of sofas
The interior of the sofa (back and seat) is performed in several versions:
The composition of the insides of upholstered furniture depends on the model of the product;
The choice of fabric, its varieties for upholstery / banner
Before you start to tighten the sofa, you should choose a suitable fabric. The material can be natural, artificial, synthetic, woven or non-woven, plain or colorful, with a small or large pattern. In some cases, various structural parts are upholstered in contrasting pieces of textile.
Upholstery furniture fabrics vary in strength, durability, production method.
Most commonly used:
When choosing a fabric, attention is paid to visual characteristics: color, its combination with the wooden parts of the product, the surrounding background. The larger the stretchable sofa, the larger the pattern for it. But when the design consists of many parts, has a large number of seams, the textile is preferred monophonic.
Tactile sensations depend on the texture of the material, it’s convenient for someone to sit, lie solely on a soft, smooth surface, while the other will prefer ribbed, creating the effect of micromassage.Additional impregnations are designed to protect the product from dust, dirt, and photo printing on textiles that have polyester in their composition can be done in many “copy centers”.
Step-by-step upholstery replacement
Numerous workshops on replacing the textile top of the sofa suggest approximately the same sequence of actions:
Necessary materials, tools
In order to properly pull the furniture, the following tools and materials will be required:
Analysis of furniture, disposal of unusable upholstery
The design of the sofa, even the kitchen corner or the simplest book, is quite complicated and can cause some difficulties for beginners. In order not to get confused, small fasteners are put into a box, identical parts are numbered.
Next, you need to carefully remove the worn fabric - it will become a pattern for a new upholstery. It is important not to tear the material, to rip each seam, otherwise it is easy to make a mistake with the dimensions. After the inspection of the entire structure is carried out - if the frame is completely intact, has no damage, you can begin to trim the sofa.
Cutting, fastening new material
It is recommended to steam up the material (except leather, fur), which will be upholstered, so that the pattern is neat. After that, all the details are outlined in chalk on the purchased fabric, laid out, fixed on the floor. So that the material does not move out, the old elements are fixed with pins. Further, all parts are cut out, swept away in the right order, sewn on a sewing machine.
Now the upholstery is attached to the sofa - each piece fits into its own cover. They begin to pull from the middle to the edges, first of all the largest fragments are formed. To prevent the textiles from tearing, it is recommended to use staples with wide "backs". It is advisable to do this work together - one holds, pulls the material, the other fixes it to the base.
It is important to ensure that the pattern (if present) is not distorted, wrinkles do not form on the surface.
When working with skin, it is cut with a circular knife, a scalpel on a hard surface. You cannot sweep the skin, like fur, with pins - they leave marks, violate the integrity. Use special adhesive tape, rubber glue. A leather case is sewn with rare stitches on a professional sewing machine. When upholstered with fur, it is cut so as not to damage the pile.
Assembly of the updated product
When the upholstery of each part is completed, the structure is assembled by carefully twisting the fasteners. If wrinkles appear on the assembled product, it means that the fabric is not stretched somewhere enough - this defect can most often be corrected without disassembling the product. The same is done when the folds appeared much later - during operation. The assembly sequence of the “new” sofa depends on the specific model. Lastly, hardware is attached.
Padding, repair of a spring sofa
Step by step, the sofa is repaired and tugged like this:
To understand what exactly requires replacement in a particular product, it will have to be disassembled. For beginners doing this for the first time without outside help, it is recommended to photograph each stage of dismantling - this will exclude the possibility of confusing what and where it was originally.
Necessary materials, tools
For complete disassembly, repair, assembly of the structure, you need a number of tools:
Of the materials needed:
Dismantling, damage assessment
Sofas of various design features are sorted out a little differently:
Later removed seats, corner elements. If there is a backrest on the short half, it is removed by unscrewing the nuts before which the seat is screwed to the frame. The base is disassembled last - the sequence of actions depends on what kind of mechanism of transformation of the angular model.
When the sofa is disassembled, it is necessary to assess the condition of its individual elements - hollows, slabs, protruding springs need to be fixed. In some models, legs, upper parts of the armrests are separately removed. Accessories must also be removed in advance. Often lamellas break in the sofa, which are the pillar of the orthopedic construction - they are always replaced with new ones. When all the fasteners and mechanisms work well, they are simply cleaned of dust, lubricated with oil to eliminate creaking.
Frame repair
The restoration of the frame is sometimes carried out “without a single nail”, using glue, but more often requires additional fasteners in the form of screws, metal corners. For many modern designs, spare parts are sold in furniture stores, in the construction market. When buying, it is advisable to take a worn part, fastening with you, so as not to be mistaken. When the transforming mechanism is worn, it is also replaced by an identical one to the previous one.
Possible problems, spring block recovery options
The spring part may consist of old type parts with a height of up to 20 cm, a spring width of 15 cm, a thickness of 0.5 cm or modern ones, where a height of 12 cm, a width of 10 cm, a thickness of 0.22 cm. In modern products, each spring is connected to neighboring wire spiral. Replacing damaged springs makes sense if there are not many. To do this, on the one hand, weaken the fixation of the element, on the other, unscrew it, insert the other. When the damaged springs are about half or more, it is easier to buy a new spring unit of a suitable size.
The nuances of the restoration of the spring "snake"
"Snake" - a set of soft springs that reduce the cost of construction, but too quickly become unusable, as evidenced by the "hammock effect." The “serpentine” details extend from edge to edge of the entire block, each of them independent of the others. Fastening is done with special long brackets, trims, clips. Damaged springs are removed with pliers, replaced with new ones, while you can change one, several or all. When you want to "strengthen" the design, the number of snakes is increased.
Selection, attachment of new fillers
When replacing the filler, it is important that the thickness, height of each fragment is as close as possible to the one that it originally had. If the parameters are more or less, skew design, problems with its assembly. So that the dimensions are suitable, they measure the places where deformations, scuffs are most noticeable.
Foam rubber - the cheapest sofa "stuffing". The synthetic winterizer is also inexpensive, but does not differ in durability, therefore it is used together with other materials.Hollofiber is more expensive, more durable, latex refers to fillers with a "memory". Durafil made of polyester is comparable in its characteristics to a spring block. For products of complex, intricate shape, molded polyurethane foam is preferable, and pillows, armrests, and backs are stuffed with synthetic fluff.
Felt consists entirely of natural wool.
To change the filler, you must first remove the old contents from the sofa. By size of the latter, a new part is cut out, which needs to be replaced on the frame with a stapler or small studs. For durability, it is recommended to combine several materials, especially when it comes to seating - it experiences the greatest loads.
Sewing a cover, installing it on the frame
The cover is cut to the size of the old "shell", sewn on a typewriter. It is important to observe seam allowances. Each fragment is individually tightened, the place where the part is inserted is masked by a hidden seam made by hand. If the textile material is characterized by "flowability", its edges are treated with overlock. Staples are installed at a distance of three to five centimeters from each other.
Assembly, decor
The order of assembly work depends on the model of furniture, the number of individual fragments. To check whether the assembly is well done, you need to sit, lie down, lay out and fold it on the couch. The product should not stagger, creak, have noticeable distortions. During installation, carefully tighten all existing joints, tighten the screws. When large parts are attached, legs, other design elements are installed.
Do-it-yourself pillows, rollers, capes, decorative buttons are used as decor.If you have the skills of woodcarving, the structure is decorated with false carved details, and instead of simple old legs, chiseled with the corresponding thickness and height are mounted.
Conclusion
It is not too difficult to restore upholstered furniture in a high-quality way, having the necessary tools in stock. It is possible to extend the life of a worn-out sofa by tightening and repairing it at home - how to do it in stages, they write in detail in the magazines on repair, home improvement. The abundance of modern materials simplifies the process as much as possible. The independent reconstruction of an old, antique sofa can be overly complicated, therefore it is better to entrust its restoration to a specialist, or at least consult with him.