Repair nicks, scratches, dings and dents in your wood furniture. Plus, use easy repairs for everyday furniture to save a chair or table that's on its last legs.
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Scratches, dents and loose joints are all common issues that can make your favorite furniture look tired or damaged. While you may want to pay a professional to restore expensive antiques, most homeowners can make simple repairs to everyday wood furniture. With a few basic tools, some patience and a little know-how, many common wood furniture problems can be fixed at home. In this article, we’ll explore a range of DIY-friendly repair methods to fix wobbly chairs, restore a scratched tabletop or reinforce Ready-to-Assemble (RTA) pieces. Ahead, find tips and advice from finish carpenter David Nichols to keep your wood furniture functional and safe for years to come.
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Add Braces
Chair braces are an easy fix for a wobbly chair. They’re better looking and much stiffer than L-brackets. Most hardware stores carry chair braces in finishes like chrome, brass or bronze. To avoid splitting the wood, be sure to drill 1/8-in. pilot holes before driving in the screws.
If appearance doesn’t matter, screwing a brace or T-plate onto a piece of furniture is often the quickest way to fix it. Adding metal may not make the piece totally sound, but at least it won’t come apart.
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Fix a Wobbly Table
If you’ve got a table that rocks on an uneven floor, you’ve probably tried wedging something under the short leg. Doesn’t last, does it? Here’s a better way: Use washers and nail-on glides.
First, drill holes for the nails with a 1/16-in. bit and install the glides. Then set the table in place and slip washers under the low leg until the table is steady. When you’ve determined how many washers are needed, pull off the glide and reinstall it along with the washers.
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Rescue a Drawer
Drawer fronts that are just nailed or stapled to the drawer box often come loose or even fall off completely. You could simply pound the parts back together, but that kind of fix won’t last long. For a repair that’s stronger than the original construction, add a backer to the drawer front.
Make the backer from 3/4-in. plywood and cut it to fit tight inside the drawer. Using a spade bit, drill 3/4-in.-diameter holes in the plywood so you can access the screws that hold the drawer’s handle. Fasten the backer to the inside front of the drawer, then screw the drawer sides to the ends of the backer.
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Support Sagging Shelves
If your shelves sag, sometimes you can simply flip them over—but eventually they’ll droop again. Here’s a permanent solution: Add supports that fit tight between the shelves.
Pine stair tread, which has a rounded front edge, is perfect for this. It’s available at all home centers. Many stores will cut it to length for you. You can paint or stain the supports to match the shelves, of course. But if the shelves hold books, consider staining them a color similar to your books. You’ll be surprised at how well they blend in.
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Hide Scratches with Wax
To revive a finish, rub colored paste wax over the entire surface and buff. This isn’t a perfect fix; heavy scratches or dents will still be visible. But light scratches and wear will almost disappear.
For the best camouflage, pick a color that’s slightly darker than the finish. You can find Minwax or Briwax colored paste wax at some paint stores or order it online.
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Inject Epoxy into Loose Joints
When one or two joints loosen on a chair but you can’t get the rest of them apart, here’s an advanced repair technique to try: Inject epoxy into the loose joints using a syringe.
Once mixed, most epoxy is too thick to push through a syringe. However, an epoxy used for fiberglass boat repair (like the one shown here) has just the right consistency. To inject the glue, drill 1/8-in. holes in an inconspicuous place in line with the dowels. Aim for the cavity behind each dowel. Insert the syringe into the hole, then inject the epoxy until it runs out of the joint. Push the joint together, then wipe off the excess epoxy.
Epoxy is available in convenient packets—you just tear off the top and squeeze. They’re available online (one source is westmarine.com), but this epoxy is more expensive than the hardware store variety. Plastic syringes are available at many pharmacies and online.
Nichols suggests using thinned Titebond glue as an epoxy-alternative for this project as well. “This is more forgiving with less mess than epoxy,” he says. “Thin it with a little water, then inject it in the joint. When you’re done, wipe off any excess for no residue.” Titebond recommends thinning their water-based glues up to five percent by weight.
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Save it With Screws
When ready-to-assemble (RTA) particleboard furniture breaks—by being pushed across the floor, for example—the original knockdown fasteners often pull out of the wood and can’t be replaced. The solution is to bypass them completely and screw the piece together from the outside.
Ordinary screws won’t hold in particleboard, however. You need 2 1/2-in. to 3-in. screws with coarse threads and large, washer-style head. (Large heads prevent the screws from being pulled through the particleboard.) Many home centers carry ‘cabinet installation screws’ that are perfect for the job. “Always pre-drill particleboard or you’ll strip the screws,” Nichols says. “You can use metal braces on this type of furniture too to tighten up loose joints.” You can buy colored self-stick caps to cover the screw heads.
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Fill Stripped-Out Screw Holes
Wooden drawer knobs tend to strip out and then come loose or even pull off. Using a fatter screw or shoving matchsticks into the hole might work, but here’s a sure fix: Fill the hole with epoxy putty, then drill a new hole. Epoxy putty is available at home centers and hardware stores.
Epoxy putty is easy to use. You just cut off the amount you want, knead the piece until the inner and outer layers blend together, then roll it between your fingers to form a thin string. Push the string of putty into the hole with a screwdriver. Then scrape off the excess before it hardens.
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Strengthen Ready-to-Assemble Furniture
New furniture that’s put together with bolts and nuts often loosens up with use. If retightening the bolts every now and then seems like too much bother, you can take the piece apart and strengthen it with epoxy.
Most RTA furniture uses loose-fitting dowels to align each part. Spread epoxy inside the dowel holes and on the dowels themselves when you reassemble the piece. (If the dowels fit nice and tight, use yellow glue instead—it’s more convenient.) Don’t bother spreading glue on the ends of each part. They usually butt against a finished surface, and no glue will stick to a finish for very long.
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Shim a Hinge
When a door won’t close or won’t align with a catch, placing a shim behind one of its hinges might solve the problem. The shim will kick out the upper or lower half of the door, depending on which hinge you choose.
Make the shim from one or more playing cards. Remove the hinge, then cut the cards to fit into the hinge’s recess. Place each piece in the recess and punch screw holes in it using an awl or a small Phillips screwdriver. Remount the hinge with the original screws.
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Epoxy a Sloppy Joint
When parts don’t fit right, epoxy is an option. Other woodworking glues—yellow, white or polyurethane—require a snug fit. The gap between parts can’t exceed the thickness of a piece of paper. Epoxy, on the other hand, bonds across a gap of any size. Epoxy won’t stick well to old glue, so remove as much of the old glue as you can with a file or coarse sandpaper. But there are limits to using epoxy. “If you plan to stain it after, you can’t use epoxy,” Nichols says. “You’ll have to paint it.” He likes to use sawdust mixed with wood glue to repair loose joints instead. “The saw dust helps to span the gaps for a solid fit,” he says.
FAQ
When is it time to throw away furniture?
RTA furniture is not meant to last, and should probably be thrown away after being disassembled and moved twice. For any type of furniture, if it is no longer structurally sound, or needs to be constantly repaired, it’s time to toss it.
About the Expert
David Nichols is a finish carpenter from Nashua, New Hampshire with over 35 years of experience.
