Repadding Dining Chair Seats
We recently had a request from a client to repad his dining chair seats, and to reuse the fabric because it was in good shape. Unless you have a strong sentimental attachment to the fabric, or some other meaningful reason, keeping the old fabric is not practical, and here is why.
While replacing worn out padding on a dining seat might seem like a straightforward task, the process of replacing the foam while reusing the original fabric is actually quite labor-intensive and may end up being more costly than fully recovering the chair seats with new fabric. Here’s why:
- Removing the Old Fabric: When we recover a chair seat with new fabric, we can use power tools to quickly remove the old cover without worrying about damaging it. However, when reusing the original fabric, we must carefully remove each staple by hand to avoid ripping the fabric. This meticulous process takes significantly more time which adds to the labor costs.
- Foam Thickness: The old foam on your seats is thin, and we can only replace it with similarly thin foam (about 1” thick). If we were to use new fabric, we could opt for thicker foam (about 2” thick), making the seat more comfortable.
- Lining Fabric Requirement: Since the original fabric was trimmed to fit the seat, there isn’t enough excess fabric to pull and stretch it over the new foam. Therefore, we need to first cover the seat and new foam with a lining fabric. This lining fabric is cut extra large to allow us to pull and staple it snugly in place. This additional step requires extra material and labor.
- Reattaching the Original Fabric: After securing the lining fabric, we must carefully lay the original fabric over it, ensuring it fits correctly. We then pin the fabric in place and lightly pull and staple it to the seat frame. This process is more delicate and time-consuming and costs more compared to using new fabric, which can be easily pulled and stapled without the need for lining.
- Decorative Nails. If your dining chair seats have decorative nails around the edge of the fabric, all those nails will have to be removed (which is a costly time-consuming process in itself). No, we cannot save them as most of them will break while being removed. You will have to choose new decorative nails for us to install, which also adds to the cost.
In contrast, fully recovering the chair seats with new fabric allows us to use power tools for quick removal of the old cover, and the new fabric can be cut larger to facilitate easy stretching and stapling. This eliminates the need for lining fabric and reduces labor costs.
Given these factors, fully recovering the chair seats with new fabric is more cost-effective and results in a more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing finish.
