How to fix a broken couch

1.   Track down what's broken and why it broke.

2.   Evaluate if you have the tools and parts to fix what’s wrong.

3.   Learn the names of the couch's anatomy parts so you can read books, blogs and watch tutorials online of how to fix what is broken. Knowing the correct names for the couch part that is broken will lead you to better books, blogs, and tutorials.

4.   Make a shopping list for what is needed to make the repair and buy the item/s. 

5.   Look at the cost to repair it yourself, does it still make sense now that you know the cost to repair what is broken.

 

 

Example:

One of our teenagers flopped down on the couch after school and broke the couch.

1.   I figured out what broke and why it broke. What broke was the middle 2 x 4 because there was a knot near the middle of the board which weakens the strength of the wood beam. Combined with the 2 x 4 spanning too far without another leg/s to help support the weight of people sitting on it. Too much strain repeatedly so it broke.

2.    I had already studied couch construction but not enough or I would have already known I had built it without enough supports. So I looked at couches again and observed that the longer couches if they were made out of wood always had at least 1 leg in the middle and sometimes 2 legs in the middle for support.

3.   I made my shopping list, 2 -2x 4’s. I already had a scrap piece I could use to repair the side. So I only needed to buy 1 -2 x 4.

4.   Did it make sense to repair the couch instead of buying a new or used one? Absolutely! Less than $5 to fix the couch, I will take that cost any day. 

 I built this couch myself so I knew how it was constructed. I unscrewed the broken boards and put in a new ones. Then added supports in the areas I knew were weak to make it more teenager resistant.