Revive your dining chairs by retying the springs.
If you've been sitting on sagging dining chairs for a while, maybe it's because you think that retying the springs in the seats will be too hard to tackle on your own and too expensive to have done professionally. Think again! You can retie your chairs yourself at little cost with just a few tools and supplies. You may discover that a little "boost" is all your seats need to add years to the life of your chairs and comfort for you and your dinner guests!
Instructions
1. Expose the springs of your dining chair by carefully removing the trim, seat cover fabric and padding, including the canvas foundation. Remove all tacks, using a screwdriver or a nail puller, being careful not to damage the chair's frame. Set fabric and padding aside for reuse or for a pattern if you are making new covers.
2. Turn the chair over and carefully remove the old webbing from the bottom. Use your screwdriver or nail puller to remove the tacks. Your springs still will be attached to the top of the chair.
3. Attach new webbing to the underside of the chair in a basketweave pattern. Turn the end of the webbing under 2 inches. Tack it with three or four tacks to the underside frame of the chair in the same place as the original webbing. Pull the webbing tight across the bottom of the chair and tack it into place with one or two tacks. Cut the webbing about 2 inches beyond the tacks. Double the webbing over these tacks and tack it down with three or four tacks. Repeat the process, weaving the strips over and under each other until you have replaced all the strips of webbing.
4. Turn the chair right side up and make note of how the springs are tied; you will retie them in the same pattern. Remove the twine holding your springs. Position the springs where the webbing crosses. Stitch the springs to the webbing by hand, using an upholstery needle and thread.
5. Drive tacks halfway into the chair frame at the end of each row of springs. Tie twine to the tacks. Thread the twine through the springs in the original tying pattern. Pull the twine taut so the springs are slightly compressed. Tie the twine to the tack on the opposite side. Hammer the tacks in all the way to secure the twine.
6. Replace the on top of the springs and tack in place. Replace or add new padding, fabric covers and trim.
Tags: canvas foundation, chair frame, dining chairs, fabric padding, four tacks, nail puller,