ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When it comes to broken chairs and home seating furniture, the emotional investment in fixing it may be greater than the value of the piece itself. But there are other factors to consider before deciding to fix or pitch. “Ones that are worth fixing may have sentimental value or may be pieces that a person really likes,” says Paul Sisneros, of Professional Furniture Repair in Albuquerque. “It could also be that the repair may not cost much and the person wants to hold on to the furniture for a bit longer.” Another reason to fix a piece of furniture, even if it’s clearly inexpensive and poorly made, is “if it’s one of many matching pieces,” like a single chair that’s part of a dining or living room seating set, says Al Youtzy, who operates Action Furniture Repair in Albuquerque along with his wife, Nancy Youtzy. If the entire set needed repair, then pitching the whole thing would make more sense, considering that the combined repairs for each chair would likely exceed the cost of buying a new set.

Depending on which business does the work, the labor cost for minor structural repairs to chairs generally start at $45 and can go up to $75 or more for a larger cushioned living room chair. white desk chair with castersLabor for reupholstery could cost $300 for a living room chair and more than $500 for a sofa. cheap rocking chairs nurseryAdd to that the cost of the materials, such as fabric and padding, versus the cost of the furniture when it was new, and the question of fixing or pitching becomes more than just emotional.barber chairs for sale used uk In truth, says Al Youtzy, much of the furniture now being made is constructed with inexpensive particle board. affordable upholstered dining chairs

“When I do fix pieces originally made with particle board, I replace damaged wood with plywood and hardwood braces.”dr evil chair gif Nancy Youtzy, who works the upholstery end of the business, said the most common thing she sees is padding that has compacted and is no longer supportive. balance ball chair for childIf the seating cushions have a zipper, the repair is as easy as removing old padding through the opening and replacing it with new high-density foam and other materials. “You don’t necessarily have to replace old upholstery unless there’s no zipper,” she says. Where there is no zipper, adding padding to a cushion will require cutting into the material, which raises the cost of labor and material. That’s why many people opt to simply replace the cushion and upholstery, she says. “Good padding and good upholstery should last 15 to 20 years, but I’ve seen them last longer,” Nancy Youtzy says.

“We just had a customer with a chair that needed a mechanical repair. The chair was about 50 years old and still in reasonably good shape.” Other furniture that may be worth repairing include modernistic, retro and collectible pieces, especially those from the 1960s and ’70s, and from manufacturers such as Knoll or Eames, Nancy Youtzy says. “They were expensive pieces when they were new and they’re really valuable now, so it’s worth it to work on them.” One of the most popular pieces found in homes is a recliner, often with a rocking or swivel mechanism, or both. It is those moving parts that by far represent the greatest number of calls for recliner repairs, say furniture technicians. More expensive and better built recliners have lifetime guarantees on their mechanisms. These normally do not cover the cost of labor unless the chair is still within its warranty period. Regardless of how good the mechanism is, if a chair’s frame is poorly constructed or made from cheap or soft woods, it simply will not hold up, says Jeff Mauldin, president of La-Z-Boy galleries in Albuquerque.

La-Z-Boy is one of the leading brands in “motion furniture.” The name has become so recognizable that people often use it generically when referring to recliners, in much the same way Kleenex is generically used as a reference for tissue. Typically, La-Z-Boy reclining chairs and sofas are built around a frame of construction-grade hardwoods, such as oak, maple or cherry. “These are slow-growing woods that are very hard, so they are strong and can handle stress, and they don’t split or warp,” Mauldin says. Critical joints are assembled with double dowels and glued. Corners on non-motion furniture are blocked, while corners on reclining pieces are braced with metal brackets. The scissor extensions on their reclining mechanisms use self-lubricating stainless steel rivets. Padding on most La-Z-Boy furniture is high-grade and dense polyurethane foam with a pillow topping made from Dacron, a polyester fiber, he says. The seat portion of the furniture is supported by sinuous springs, rather than a helical ones.

It is fastened to the frame with a special spring assembly that absorbs weight, he says. The majority of fabric upholstery on La-Z-Boy furniture passes the 60,000 double-rub abrasion test, he says, and many of them far exceed that. According to Nancy Youtzy, new performance fabrics are available, such as Crypton, that are rated at 100,000 double rubs and more. “And they’re not expensive, either, so they’re great buys,” she adds. Fabric is generally sold by the linear yard in swaths that are 54 inches wide and most commonly ranging in price from $30 to $60 a linear yard. Designer fabrics can be as much as $200 a linear yard, she says. Leather hides are irregularly shaped. They can be three to four times more expensive than middle price range fabrics, with the cost determined by softness, thickness, natural markings and the tanning and color dyeing process used. About 30 percent of all recliners and reclining sofas are upholstered in leather, which generally outlasts fabrics four to one, Mauldin says.