How to Repair a Broken Sofa or Armchair Leg
Kids and pets, and sometimes adults too, like to plop down on sofas and living room chairs but, unfortunately that loosens the hardware that screws into the legs and frame of the furniture and they just don’t seem to make furniture like they used to. The quality workmanship and material has definitely gone down over the years.
The solution is using a metal bracket that you can get from your local home improvement store or online, and they’re just a few dollars and they’re very easy to install with a screwdriver and a drill.
All furniture legs are somewhat different but, many connect this same way so take a look at what you have before you start and look over the bracket measurements to see if they’ll work with your particular furniture. You’ll need to make sure you have some wood support frame to screw the metal bracket to your furniture. Also, the way this bracket is designed with a 12 degree offset, it may cause your legs to protrude out further than normal so you might want to go ahead and attach brackets to the other legs so everything is the same.
Usually, the original T-nut or insert nut hardware has stripped out and you’re left with a fairly large stripped out hole. You can buy new T-nuts but the hole is sometimes so big It won’t attach like it originally did. You can try the toothpick method or golf tee method where you glue those items into the hole and then screw the leg back on however, the bracket works the best. Here is what you will need to get this show started:
- A #2 Phillips screwdriver
- Some slip joint pliers
- A sofa leg repair kit which includes the brackets, screws, and hanger bolts for 4 legs. One of the best ones out there is Tech Team’s #710 Sofa Leg Mounting Plate Set https://techteamproducts.com/product/sofa-chair-leg-repair-set-00710/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CTXZK1T?ref=myi_title_dp it has all the hardware that you will need.
The piece of hardware that’s screwed into your furniture leg is referred to as a hanger bolt. One end has machine threads and the other side has wood screw threads. The screw side is what’s imbedded in the furniture leg. The side with the machine screws will either go into the bracket or a T-nut, or insert nut. Make sure the existing hanger bolt on your legs will work with the bracket as many of these have an 8mm metric thread. To make sure, you can twist the hanger bolt out that’s attached to your leg but, be careful not to mess up the threads. Use the hanger bolt to test to make sure the machine threads fit the bracket. Of course, if you bought the Tech Team set everything will fit correctly. Now carefully screw, with the pliers, the hanger bolt back into the furniture leg and do not mess up the machine threads that will screw into the metal bracket. Try not to place the pliers on the end of the hanger bolt keep it in the middle. Lay the bracket over the stripped out hole and attached it to the furniture’s wood frame, using the screws. The bracket is not flat all the way across, it has a bulge in the center. Therefore, you should go ahead and install brackets on the remaining legs and therefore all the legs should be even with each other. Now, that you have the bracket attached, you can simply screw the leg onto the metal bracket. Just hand tighten and don’t get overly aggressive with it.
