low quality stuff manufacturing should be banned or limited to a low quantity. It's bad for the climate and environment on multiple folds.
Why are most sofas so bad?
641–650 of 762 posts
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#642Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're exaggerating about light-bulbs. There is no way LEDs last less than incandescents. If you are experiencing this, its possible your wiring is bad. You should call an electrician and have them check that out.
> There is no way LEDs last less than incandescents. Sure there is. I bought a case of Sylvania LEDs in 2019. They're used a few hours a week and I've tossed 5 of the 15 I've installed.
I've been using a Philips 100W equivalent bulb for about 12 hours a day for almost 9 years now.
Companies can always manufacture garbage if they don't care, but LED technology is fantastic.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#643Everything is bad these days, not just the sofas. 1. The new switches I bought broke before the old ones, which are over 20 years old. 2. LED bulbs last less than incandescent bulbs, even with a 20-year warranty. 3. The new cell phone's screen breaks very easily, it's not like the old Nokia's. And nowadays something expensive is no longer guaranteed to last. This is why I value old things so much: I have an old chair…
You're exaggerating about light-bulbs. There is no way LEDs last less than incandescents. If you are experiencing this, its possible your wiring is bad. You should call an electrician and have them check that out.
There are some very bad, cheap LEDs on the market. Sometimes even under name brands. I've learned to be pretty picky about which ones I buy, both in terms of their longevity as well as the quality of the light.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#644Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been wanting to buy nice furniture for a very long time... unfortunately the housing crisis has prevented my from ever having a sense of permanence. If I had known I'd live in my last place for nearly a decade I would have purchased nice things, but as it stands, until I have a mortgage of my own, I refuse to spend good money on something I may need to replace next year.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. The buying up of precious housing as investments by non-residents should mostly be banned, starting with institutional and overseas investors. AirBnb should also be banned. And the people who profited off that startup, who must've known they were creating illegal hotels and destroying rental markets, should be hit with devastating fines, maybe also imprisoned.
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Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#645Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would you prefer a Sofa As A Service? Our cheap ikea couch keeps lasting, preventing us from buying a nice, new one. We can't throw it out of it's not broken. It is long known that companies who sell good quality products go out of business after a couple decades at most, they saturate their market and because no one needs to renew, the company dies. Ironically ikea HAS to sell quality (for price) because they are su…
Life's about "experiences" not owning property!
So one should not own a sofa? Sitting on a sofa is a near-daily experience I'd like to be able to keep having, which is why I buy quality.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#646Earlier 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.
IKEA's cheapened their offerings quite a bit over the years. Pre-pandemic, used to be you could buy a solid wood butcher block and solid wood cabinet doors and fronts. Now? The butcher block is particleboard with end grain themed veneer and the closest to solid wood cabinet hardware you'll get is a set of bamboo drawer fronts.
I have their solid wood butcher block (made from prisms of solid wood glued together) and a countertop made from the same material. When oiled to given instructions, both are pretty indestructible under normal use.
It's very sad that they're not made anymore. I guessed it just was not imported here due to its prohibitive cost, but not being able to find it on the other side of the pond is saddening.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#647Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can still get made in the USA sofas with real hardwood, not rubber wood, which is fine, or worse, soft pine or particleboard or OSB) North Carolina was and is the center of solid wood furniture), and they still cost several to many thousands of dollars, and they will still last 100+ years with a couple reupholsterings or so, but most furniture comes from Asia now and is sold for 10x less, and is not worth reuphol…
>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…
I recently put shelving up in my garage and could not convince myself to use anything other than OSB. It was just so damn cheap - half the price of any plywood for the same thickness. The only cons are the appearance and screw holding ability (but its sitting on brackets so the latter doesn't matter much).
Baltic birch would be stronger, no doubt, but that's 3 times the price and I am not exactly storing a geode collection up there.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#648Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're exaggerating about light-bulbs. There is no way LEDs last less than incandescents. If you are experiencing this, its possible your wiring is bad. You should call an electrician and have them check that out.
> There is no way LEDs last less than incandescents. Sure there is. I bought a case of Sylvania LEDs in 2019. They're used a few hours a week and I've tossed 5 of the 15 I've installed.
Same here - I am constantly replacing my LED lights whereas parts of my house still have 25 year old incandescents that have never been replaced since I moved in.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#649Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hate to tell you, I don't think you can buy a recliner that doesn't look like "old fart stuff". Recliners are kind of "old fart guy chairs".
After looking at what had to be every nursing chair in the world we found that the most old-farty looking la-z-boy was better in every regard and easier to clean. Sometimes I just go in the nursery and doze off in it
100% Same... Every nursing chair was way overpriced and small.
We found a lazy-boy type glider/recliner... it doesn't look as modern but boy is it so comfortable with a newborn.
Re: Why are most sofas so bad?
#650Earlier quoted context omitted.
My cynical ass assumes it's because they know goddamn well no one under 60 years old has $4,000 to spend on a properly made sofa, irrespective of desire or taste. I make six figures and I certainly don't. My furniture is all cheap particle board shit because I can't afford anything nicer because I'm spending all my money on a mortgage, food, gas, and student loans. I don't think it's a matter so much of nobody wantin…
You say it yourself. Why spend $7k on couches over a lifetime when you can spend $4k on one that lasts forever? If you can only scrape together $1k a year for a new piece of garbage, maybe you should sit on milk crates til you can scrape together $4k. Maybe the fact that no one thinks this way anymore explains why everyone complains their six-figure income is constantly eaten up by replacing cheap shit.
It doesn't help that in 2024 a $4k sofa is probably crap and you need to spend like $12k+ for something that lasts 100+years