Monday, July 4, 2011

How to Repair a Plastic Chair


In Memory of Grandpa


My Grandpa Devar was an amazing guy.  At the age of ninety he would go out to his carport every day in 100+ degree weather and tie quilts to donate to the LDS humanitarian center.  A product of the depression and WWII, if he wanted something, he made it; If something broke, he fixed it.






Grandpa died in January, and when we visited Grandma Maxine to comfort her, we noticed in the driveway some plastic chairs that had broken and Grandpa had repaired them with bolts, baling wire, and even metal plates.  All the repairs were made from spare parts he had saved through the years. Grandpa had found the broken chairs in the back alley, brought them home, and repaired them.  He firmly believed in the old adage, "Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without."
Here is one chair that my grandpa found in the alley and  fixed.  I have seen others  in years past with baling wire between the legs, holding them in place along with the metal plate like this one.  Amazing!

This summer I just happened to have some broken plastic chairs of my own hanging around.  In the past, when our plastic Adirondack chairs have broken, I've hauled them up to the junk heap, but this time, inspired by Grandpa, I decided to repair them.  Instead of bolts and bailing wire, I used a drill and zip ties, but the idea is the same and I hope it inspires you to follow the example of Grandpa.


23 comments:

  1. This was just what I was looking for. Thanks to you and your grandfather.

    Allen
    Cincinnati

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  2. Awesome and elegant! Much better than plates.

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  3. Way to embrace your heritage :)!

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  4. Awesome idea. Just fixed 4 chairs of my own!! Thanks so much for this terrific idea!!

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    1. Thank you, Scottie, and everyone else who has commented. This post has received more comments than any of my other posts. Fyi, my repairs are a couple of years old now and I have noticed that the zip ties I used to repair the chairs get old and break after about a year and have to be replaced. Still worth the effort in my opinion :)

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    2. Totally happy I came across this! I picked up some plastic chairs on a curb, just to realize they were broken! They are my diy project! Thanks!

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  5. Going to try this on my broken chair. Just didn't want to throw it away without trying to fix it. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  6. Thank you!!! Got 4 great looking chairs today for 5.00 total at a moving sale, all they needed was cleaning and some zip ties!! :)

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  7. Clever and cute idea to fix these chairs (of which I have two that I was about to send to the dump without a clue of how to salvage them!)

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  8. Thanks for the comments! I have noticed that because the zipties get old and break, they need to be replaced about once a year. Happy repairing!

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  9. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!

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  10. Wow thanks you to grampa, now I now how I can save my chairs!! I hate buying new ones since they are just used up in the woods for camping

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  11. Great post!... I salvaged my resin adirondak chairs from the bulk trash. Someone put them out because they were broken just as pictured above and I have been looking for a way to fix them and this is perfect! ... What a great idea....Thank you.

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  12. Thanks so much! We just repaired two of these chairs that we got for $1 each at a garage sale. I was sure we could repair them; I just didn't know how.

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  13. thank you so much I bet your grandfather was an awesome man!

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  14. Love this idea, thanks to Grandpa and you.

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  15. Love this idea, thanks to Grandpa and you.

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  16. Thanks! Never thought of zipties.

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  17. i need to do this. i will make sure and use uv resistant zip ties. THANK YOU

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  18. Exactly what I was looking for ☺ Thank you.

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  19. I had a Dad like your grandpa and started throwing my chairs away today. Stopped and took them back out of my truck. Something was telling me...stop....take another look. Thanks for your blog. :) Your grandpa would be proud.

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  20. I just bought 2 of the perfect blue/gray chairs (used) to find that one has a small crack. Zip ties will certainly fix it! And the last comment about UV Resistant ties. Who knew?!? My grandpa and dad will be so proud that I am fixing this without their assistance :)

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