Easy Loose Joint Repair for Chairs
Do you have that one chair in your house whose joints have loosened over time? That you would be taking your life in your own hands if you decided to use it? That wobbles so much that you feel like you’re on a rocking chair? That’s this chair!.
I can’t toss the chair. I rescued it from my Grandmother’s house nearly 40 years ago when she was downsizing into an apartment.
Over time the joints have all loosened to the point where you sway if you sit on this thing. He sits in the corner of my bedroom and the only time he gets any use is on Thanksgiving when I have to scour the house looking for an assortment of 20 or more chairs.
I always feel sorry for the person getting this chair because I’m sure that sooner or later that person will end up on the floor. So far I’ve gotten lucky but how long can my luck last?
I was so excited to find that there is actually a fix for my loose joints. It’s Wonder Lock ’em Tite Chairs 
According to the directions on the packaging you need to
- Point bottle away from body and face, hold bottle upright, remove reusable cap.
- Attach applicator tip firmly over bottle nozzle (which I am not using here because I didn’t find the tips until after I was finished)
- Place the tip on the crevice of the joint, invert bottle and gently squeeze tracing the loose joints. Apply sparingly, product will disappear into the loose joint. Always apply downward. Do not over apply. Wipe up drips or runs immediately with a dry cloth.
I would also add:
Don’t try to do too many wood seams at one time. Do a couple, clean up any drips, and make sure the wood is pushed together the way you want it before trying to work on another seam. There is no time to clamp, this stuff dries fast.
Do not overapply. Just use a few drops, wipe off any drips and if you think you need a bit more add a few more drops once it dries.
People have compared this product to super glue which it kind of is, but it’s runnier by design. The liquid nature of it allows it to run into the cracks you’re fixing.
Open the bottle outside and use it outside. If it drips you don’t want to have to worry about clean up.
Also, you might want to use something thicker than a napkin to clean up your drips. The glue soaked right thru and now I’m glued.
I was able to clean up the napkin fairly easily and the glue peeled off within a couple hours. The directions say I could use nail polish remover.
The glue on the chair dried really quickly (my fingers can testify to that fact) and I was amazed to find my chair not wiggly anymore.
Since I was fixing the chair anyway, might as well give him a makeover though he mainly just needed a good dusting.
The chair needed two coats of white chalk paint followed by a coat of clear wax.
The only decision I had left was what fabric I should recover the seat in.
All of these fabrics I’ve used in past projects but the winner was….drum roll please… the gray fabric on the right. That fabric was used to cover the wire spool ottoman. I didn’t think my grandmother would approve of the cow, the styles contrasted a bit much, the print fabric was too beige to go with the newly painted white chair and the dark blue gray was rather boring.
I won’t go over how to cover a chair seat here because I’ve covered it many times in the past. You can find quickie instructions here, with my curbside rescue chairs.
The chair is back in the corner of my bedroom patiently waiting for the next Thanksgiving.
Visually the chair has undergone a major makeover but the real change is the part you can’t see, it’s no longer wobbly.
I can’t wait to attack a few more chairs and a side table with this stuff. By the way, the package says it also works on stair spindles, shoes and ceramics.
Stay inspired.
Copyright © 2024
I need to do this to some chairs, and had just purchased wood glue for that reason.
Do you think this would be getter?