Garden Chair Repair

Just today we found that the garden chairs in our entertainment area, after many years, started to show signs of wear and tear. A number of bolts that were holding the legs and seating area together had broken off and become uncomfortable to sit on.

We had thought of getting rid of them, but in this day and age they would have cost and arm and a leg to replace, so I thought “Let me have a go at fixing the broken areas”.

First I removed a good bolt from the chair to determine the size and length of the bolt I needed. I also checked to see how many I required. I found I needed 6 x 40mm bolts and 16 x 6mm washers.

Next problem was where to get them so I jumped in the car and went to our local hardware store. To my joy I found they stocked little orange packets from Eureka which had all that I needed, I also discovered that most good hardware shops stock them at reasonable prices.

I also bought a tin of a product called Spark which is very handy to have as it only removes rust to make the extraction of rusted bolts, nuts etc easier because it lubricates and is also a water repellent. I need only 1 tin and it will come in handy for many other DIY jobs as well.

Off I went home with my packet of supplies and started to fix the broken chairs but soon found that some of the bolts would not come out. I sprayed them with Spark and left them for a while pondering over how to remove these stubborn bolts.

The one’s that were just above the flush, I took a hacksaw and cut a groove in the centre of them. I then took a small screwdriver and managed to remove them this way, in no time I had three chairs repairs. Remember to change all the other bolts to ensure the chairs would be good for another 5 –6 years.

The stubborn bolts were slightly harder, I had to drill to remove them. I did this by centre punching the middle of the bolt and taking a 4mm drill and drilling a hole through them. Then I took the back end of a steel file and tapped it into the drilled hole. I took an adjustable spanner and turned the offending screws out as I had no “easy-outs”.

If you do not have a steel file a small flat or star screwdriver could work, but it is not as easy and doesn’t always work.

Now all the chairs are repaired and we saved ourselves a small fortune not having to replace them.

A tip when fitting bolts or nuts that are subject to the elements: Lubricate them with a good lubricant spray such as Spark, Q20 or even a touch of light oil or grease.