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Sofa Saver Repair

Does what it says on the tin
Stompa
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Sofa Saver Repair

#247998

Postby Stompa » August 30th, 2019, 10:16 am

An elderly relative who has a sagging sofa has been using a 'sofa saver', much like this one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sag-Savers-S ... 2530867129

Surprisingly, it actually works pretty well. However, after a few years use, a few of the slats have broken in half. Now I'm unable to find a replacement of the correct size, so I'm looking at the possibility of just replacing the broken slats (or perhaps all of them).

The question is what material to use to try and minimise future breaks? The current ones are 6mm thick and seem to be some sort of fibre board, maybe MDF or similar. So should I stick with MDF, or would plywood be better? If so, what type of plywood?

Thanks

sg31
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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248002

Postby sg31 » August 30th, 2019, 10:40 am

Beech would be very good and not too expensive but ordinary ply should work ok. I don't think it matters greatly what type provided the thickness is about right. Any problems and you can just cut another piece to replace the bent bits.

MDF isn't much use in thin 'slats'.

Stompa
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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248017

Postby Stompa » August 30th, 2019, 11:49 am

sg31 wrote:Beech would be very good and not too expensive but ordinary ply should work ok. I don't think it matters greatly what type provided the thickness is about right. Any problems and you can just cut another piece to replace the bent bits.

OK, many thanks. I'm tempted to move from 6mm to 9mm for a bit more strength, as there seems to be sufficient room in the material 'pockets'.

sg31 wrote:MDF isn't much use in thin 'slats'.

Yes, it seemed an odd choice to me.

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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248060

Postby redsturgeon » August 30th, 2019, 1:20 pm

I would consider just measuring up and cutting some 6mm ply to the right size in one piece, then no worry about breakages in the future.

John

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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248088

Postby Stompa » August 30th, 2019, 3:00 pm

redsturgeon wrote:I would consider just measuring up and cutting some 6mm ply to the right size in one piece, then no worry about breakages in the future.

John

Thanks, that thought had occurred to me as you can buy such things 'ready made' (though not much making required!) for that purpose, though they seem to use 9mm, for example:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24-x-48-STRO ... 3188330839

I guess my concern would be, if it should break then you'd need to replace the whole lot.

sg31
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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248170

Postby sg31 » August 30th, 2019, 7:58 pm

It may be that a one piece board would be inflexible. Slats may have a bit if a spring effect....or maybe not. Your guess is as good as mine. I just mention it as a thought.

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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248207

Postby JonE » August 30th, 2019, 10:17 pm

sg31 wrote:It may be that a one piece board would be inflexible. Slats may have a bit if a spring effect....or maybe not. Your guess is as good as mine. I just mention it as a thought.


That was my experience when I tried ply panels a few decades ago: it made a significant, unacceptable difference. Perhaps composition/construction of modern base cushions can overcome this but I don't know to what extent.

Cheers!

redsturgeon
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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248257

Postby redsturgeon » August 31st, 2019, 7:18 am

sg31 wrote:It may be that a one piece board would be inflexible. Slats may have a bit if a spring effect....or maybe not. Your guess is as good as mine. I just mention it as a thought.


Maybe...that's why I thought 6mm would work, enough flex but very difficult to break as a whole board. The thing about slats though is that you have to have some means of tying them together so they remain where you want and parallel to each other.

John

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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248296

Postby sg31 » August 31st, 2019, 9:33 am

redsturgeon wrote:
sg31 wrote:It may be that a one piece board would be inflexible. Slats may have a bit if a spring effect....or maybe not. Your guess is as good as mine. I just mention it as a thought.


Maybe...that's why I thought 6mm would work, enough flex but very difficult to break as a whole board. The thing about slats though is that you have to have some means of tying them together so they remain where you want and parallel to each other.

John

In the past I've seen them in pockets in a 'canvas' bag (for want of a better desription) or held together wit webbing.

The original reason I recommended strips of beech was because it does have a bit of give in it. I've also seen some sort of nylon/plastic used for the slats.

I'm sure ebay will give plenty of options which could be used for ideas.

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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248297

Postby redsturgeon » August 31st, 2019, 9:38 am

sg31 wrote:
redsturgeon wrote:
sg31 wrote:It may be that a one piece board would be inflexible. Slats may have a bit if a spring effect....or maybe not. Your guess is as good as mine. I just mention it as a thought.


Maybe...that's why I thought 6mm would work, enough flex but very difficult to break as a whole board. The thing about slats though is that you have to have some means of tying them together so they remain where you want and parallel to each other.

John

In the past I've seen them in pockets in a 'canvas' bag (for want of a better desription) or held together wit webbing.

The original reason I recommended strips of beech was because it does have a bit of give in it. I've also seen some sort of nylon/plastic used for the slats.

I'm sure ebay will give plenty of options which could be used for ideas.


I would not disagree with any of that.

John

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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248303

Postby Stompa » August 31st, 2019, 10:03 am

redsturgeon wrote:Maybe...that's why I thought 6mm would work, enough flex but very difficult to break as a whole board. The thing about slats though is that you have to have some means of tying them together so they remain where you want and parallel to each other.

If you check out the ebay link in my original post you'll see that we already have that bit which, as sg31 suggests, is just a strong material bag with pockets for the slats. As to whether 6mm ply is strong enough, I just don't know. I found this:

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/showthr ... p=35946924

which I think is probably referring to 6mm, which suggests maybe not.

Stompa
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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248304

Postby Stompa » August 31st, 2019, 10:08 am

sg31 wrote:The original reason I recommended strips of beech was because it does have a bit of give in it.

Indeed, and it seems to often be used for (sprung) bed slats.

sg31 wrote:I've also seen some sort of nylon/plastic used for the slats.

I too had wondered about some sort of plastic, but suspect it would require too much trial and error to find the right sort.

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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248312

Postby stewamax » August 31st, 2019, 10:32 am

Although probably not appropriate in this instance, it is possible to use thin slats in pairs to create adjustable resilience. Place one slat on top of the other (flat to flat) and hold them together with a couple of plastic double-width slat-holders that slide over both slats together. Depending on whether the slat-holders are close together in the centre or apart at each end, you have a springy base or a much less resilient base. It’s a simple idea widely used in Dunlopillo bases (where the slat-holders are called adjusters). If the adjusters are difficult to get, a length of rectangular plastic box section can be sliced up to suit.

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Re: Sofa Saver Repair

#248319

Postby Stompa » August 31st, 2019, 10:56 am

stewamax wrote:Although probably not appropriate in this instance...

Possibly not, but interesting nonetheless. Thanks for that.


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