Thread: Fixing loose chair legs

The glue in the joints appears to have failed, the only reliable method to repair is to disassemble the chair and clean out the old glue then reassemble with new glue. I would also glue the corner blocks

Looks like the super cheap construction you see in Modern store bought furniture . A Dim sim special . Is there even dowels going from rail into legs? Or is it what it looks like and that brace is all there is ?
If so throw it away is my first thought . Tell the in-law if he’s going to buy that cheap then just keep buying sets of chairs every few years .
I’ve felt stuff joined like that in the shops and the joints are moving even before they are sold the first time .

OK . So maybe give the glueing surfaces a scrape and a clean and re glue with two pack . And when it goes again and those screws and fittings start all pulling out of the wood next time it goes loose, throw them

There are no dowels whatsoever.

And honestly I do not see that there was any glue either. It is just put together with the screws.

And yes it was made cheap. Still a substantial amount for my in laws.

I might try something easy and dirty to buy them at least one or two years more.

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Use this if you can .
Techniglue .

Techniglue 500ml Resin | Carbatec

Have a tin of Oil and turps 80 /20% ready next to the job and when you get squeeze out wipe off what you can with a knife then dip a rag in the O&T and wipe up the sqeeze out . It a good way of keeping it neat looking .

Don't over tighten the fittings because the next thing will be them pulling out .

Its a pity people make stuff that not only fails but cant be fixed .

A second hand older set restored is a good way to go for chairs . Or new Aussie made doweled sets in hardwood . Costs a bit more but they will last.

It doesn't appear there's enough meat in those braces to retrofit a pair of dowels on each side either.

Pity, 'cos then you could assemble everything squarely, then drill and tap in pairs of dowels (snug fit, no glue!) to take the brunt of any twisting forces instead of the screws having to handle everything. Screws aren't designed for that, regardless of common usage.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

It doesn't appear there's enough meat in those braces to retrofit a pair of dowels on each side either.

Pity, 'cos then you could assemble everything squarely, then drill and tap in pairs of dowels (snug fit, no glue!) to take the brunt of any twisting forces instead of the screws having to handle everything. Screws aren't designed for that, regardless of common usage.

I was actually thinking of pulling everything square and then replacing one by one the screws with dowels and then put only one screw between the dowels.

Or I can put just one dowel between the screws....

I actually had another look and I have to correct myself. There was glue in between. But I think it was bound to fail as there was no further mechanical lock between the pieces.



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The corner blocks are doing all the work with no tenons/ dowels in the joints. I would replace the corner blocks with thicker material so that you can increase the amount of fixings and glue surface area plus get into new material away from the existing failed screw holes.

I agree with Beardy. Replace the blocks with material double the thickness. Use four screws into each end of the block and rail connection. The blocks are called GLUE blocks. There is a reason for that.
If you want to do the job properly you would fully disassemble, mortise both the rails and the legs, glue in slip tennons, reassemble using glue, clamp up and allow glue to dry. Fit, glue and screw new oversized blocks. Return to brother in law, under the cover of darkness and leave no forwarding address.

I won't take it completely apart. Then I have to redo the upholstery and I don't want to do that.

I will put bigger block in. As thick as the bolts into the legs allow and add extra screws and maybe some dowels to connect to the rails. Either that works or not... will see.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Highly appreciated.

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Just to add to your list of things to do while you've got the chair apart. is check the screw holes in the chair base itself. These might have been widened when the chair twisted, if so a quick repair is plug the holes and rescrew everything back together. I wouldn't bother about a bigger block, as the majority of the strength is is attributed to the two large bolts in the middle. The 4 small screws on either side more or less just secure the block to the base.

If there is not visible damage to the chair, tighten up the screws and call it a day.