The highest quality furniture can be found in antique stores or estate sales. Perhaps it's just me but my default has always been to buy old things with the idea that, if they've lasted this long, they'll probably last longer. I've always felt it was lower risk. But please don't all rush to buy old things; because I like the low prices too.
Why are most sofas so bad?
511–520 of 762 posts
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#512Earlier quoted context omitted.
Particleboard is absolutely useless, MDF is mostly useless except using as a guaranteed flat surface on top of something to support it, hardboard is pretty useful in certain applications though. OSB is great and extremely affordable as sheathing, and there's a massive variety of plywood that's great for their respective purposes - from cheap rough sheathing, mid-grade for shop projects and filling large gaps in furni…
> Particleboard is absolutely useless, MDF is mostly useless except using as a guaranteed flat surface on top of something to support it Unless there is a drop of moisture, then you throw it all away. It’s so depressingly wasteful.
I ended up doing MDF tops for my workbench (1" MDF over 3/4 plywood), and finished them with shelac for a protected, low-friction surface. It is still vulnerable to water damage, but not as bad as unfinished, and as a spoil layer it's not bad. It has plusses and minuses.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#513Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think bedbugs are a regional problem.
Just put the sofa in the dryer. But seriously, I wonder if there's some heat treatment possible. surely it should be possible and put the sofa in a giant plastic bag and heat the air inside or something.
The critical temperature for killing bugs is 60 degrees centigrade, not many sofas are going to withstand that.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#514Ok, but I have no clue - either before or after reading this article - how to go about finding furniture that isn't junk. Truly, I can't figure it out. I've been to every furniture store in town and tried to figure it out via the internet, to no avail. For somebody who prefers to spend more money less often on actually good things that last a long time, but has neither the time nor inclination to be a hobbyist vintag…
Go to an estate sale; pretty much everything you need for a house will be there. No need to frequent vintage stores.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#515The highest quality furniture can be found in antique stores or estate sales. Perhaps it's just me but my default has always been to buy old things with the idea that, if they've lasted this long, they'll probably last longer. I've always felt it was lower risk. But please don't all rush to buy old things; because I like the low prices too.
Don't worry I don't think this comment is going to the move the antique furniture market. Your secret is safe :)
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#516Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like hell it is. What they want their kids learning is irrelevant, it's a travesty of "religious freedom" that we don't require this cult to educate their children to the same uniform standard as every other person in our society.
I dropped out of school in 9th grade. I make $200K a year. A friend of mine has a college degree and has been unemployed for a year. There is no uniform standard of education in the US. Kids in the South are being taught that evolution is on par with intelligent design. Poor black kids in Baltimore have on average a 3rd grade reading level in high school, while rich kids a few counties away are taught when to use a b…
"few counties away are taught when to use a backdoor roth ira" What are you on about? Nobody is talking about a back door roth IRA in high school.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#517Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ikea has two or three price points for each product. The cheapest will be made from chipboard or even cardboard. The most expensive varies, it might be pine or even something better.
I bought their highest end leather couch with a fold out bed a couple years ago, due to time constraints. I was very unhappy to see it was made from chipboard. Of course their shelves and such you can see what you are buying, but I would not trust anything upholstered myself.
Indeed:
> Frame: Plywood, Polyurethane foam 30 kg/cu.m., Particleboard, Solid wood, Fibreboard
An example of something that looks well-built is the Skogsta dining table [1].
> Table top: Solid acacia, Clear acrylic lacquer, Clear lacquer
> Leg/ Rail: Solid acacia, Acrylic paint
(Though the oak version, which costs more, is oak-veneered particleboard.)
Many Ikea things aren't designed to last. That table has cross-beams, so it has a better chance surviving a party where someone leans heavily against one end of it. Something like Mörbylånga [2] looks like it would collapse.
I would give the furniture on display a good shove to see how sturdy it is.
[1] https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/skogsta-dining-table-acacia-704...
[2] https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/moerbylanga-table-oak-veneer-br...
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#518I know I'm going to sound like an old person shouting about how "they don't make'm like they used to", but it's honestly true. This isn't just sofas - it's almost everything. Businesses know that it's far cheaper to make something look high quality than to actually make it high quality. And if you can make it seem expensive, then you can charge expensive prices for it.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#519Earlier quoted context omitted.
Luxury does not have to be premium or vice versa. Premium conveys quality, luxury conveys status.
Luxury implies comfort or quality.
Quality is not necessary for a good to be a luxury good. Only for demand to go up disproportionately with increases in income. Practically this means luxury goods are purchased to convey status. Consider Range Rover or Jaguar, which are known for being low quality but luxury brands.
Premium is the word that means paying extra for an increase in quality. Consider a Toyota vs a Kia.
These things are often correlated but don’t have to be.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#520Earlier quoted context omitted.
>or worse, soft pine or particleboard or OSB Having done a lot of DIY projects over the last decade, I've really shifted my view of OSB. Originally I would lump it in with particleboard, but I've since drastically changed my view of it. Particleboard is, truly, junk. OSB and plywood are both pretty good products, and for some uses superior to hardwoods (dimensional stability, for example). High quality plywoods are a…
Agreed. The range on plywood is pretty drastic and most of us only use the bad stuff. I wonder how many of us with homes made in the last 20-30 years realize that most of our joists are engineered joists made of plywood (basically wooden I-beams).
The alternative is usually a truss which tend to bounce like a trampoline over long spans. The engineered I-joists are really good, and the rim joist from the same company is ridiculously tough.