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Flat Pack Furniture - Tips To A Successful Build From One Who Has The Badge

I'll bet there's at least one piece of flat-pack furniture in your home. Perhaps a bookcase or the TV stand? What about wardrobes or a set of drawers, or even your kitchen table?

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Flat-Pack furniture is so called because it comes with all the various pieces packed flat for you to assemble yourself at home. This saves on production costs (where the company would have to build the furniture themselves) and transportation costs from the factory to the shop. Takes up less space at the retailers and generally makes for a much cheaper piece of furniture, assuming you don't include the value of your sanity.

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The flat-pack 'experience' is not normally complete without a few hours of cursing and hunting for elusive tools before finally presenting a piece of furniture that looks like it was caught in a hurricane.

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No fear - help is at hand with my essential tips to putting together your flat-pack furniture purchase - sanity and relationship intact.

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As an aside, may I just say I think a lot of the shops that sell flat-pack don't so themselves or the product justice. On many occasions when I've looked, it's obvious that the display unit has been poorly put together. The whole unit very often 'rocks' or has movement in the joints - no glue used! And the hinges etc are often not adjusted for that perfect lining up. Don't be put off though. A little care using the tips below could probably get you a job on the spot. Anyway - on with the tips!

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1) Choose a large flat area for the construction - with enough room to move around all sides of the finished piece. If it's large, making it in the room or at least on the floor of your house it's intended for will save a lot of heavy lifting. Please check it will fit through the doorway if you're building it outside the room it's intended for.

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2) Unpack carefully and check you've got all the bits before you start - easily forgotten when you're keen to make a start but a few minutes unpacking and checking you've got all the bits and they're in good condition will save hours if the worst happens. Getting to the final piece to discover it's missing or badly scratched is no fun - I've got the badge to prove I was there! It's worth mentioning that you should also identify the correct screws and fixings with the instructions. There's nothing worse than using the wrong screw for half the construction until you run out or finding out the screw you thought was J was actually K and has gone right through and out the other side of your piece of furniture. Top Tip: Use old margarine tubs to sort out the different sorts of fittings and keep them in whilst constructing.

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Try counting the fittings and screws out as there is very often different amounts of two similar fittings so you'll have help in identifying you've got the right one.

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3) Familiarise yourself with the instructions - It's all very well going Gung-Ho and starting where you think best. It's only later when you discover a vital screw hole is covered by another piece you fitted out of order earlier (got the badge for that one too!). The manufacturer knows there's a certain order to completing the furniture - that's why you get instructions in the first place.

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And on the subject of familiarisation, where two panels look very similar, be careful to identify the correct panel as by the time you realise you've made a mistake, it can be too far to go back. Visual clues include the location  of screw holes compared to the drawing in the instructions - particularly the spacing and distance from edges. Also, facing edges tend to be finished whereas rear facing edges tend to be left unfinished. If you're really stuck, try ruling out obvious panels until you're left with the one you couldn't identify in the first place.

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4) Flat-pack furniture is often dusty so protect your carpet or flooring by constructing the furniture on top of something soft like a large blanket or even the cardboard outer the furniture came packed in. Be especially careful if you're constructing on top of a wood / laminate floor and causing scratches to the flooring and the unit.

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4) Make all joints tight - sounds silly but you'd be amazed how easy it is to forget to tighten one joint or another. Use the special fitting supplied - most work on a screw in spindle with a 'cam' lock on the other end you twist to tighten. Very easy. Top Tip - if the construction uses wooden dowels, use a dab of wood glue in each hole (sometimes it's supplied) for really solid joints. Be careful if you think you might need to dismantle the furniture in the future though and wipe any excess away with a damp cloth immediately (or see glue's instructions).

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5) Check for squareness of corners - with bookcases, it's usually the back board, fixed using panel pins, that determines the final shape so be careful and work methodically - corner to corner, half way to half way etc.

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6) Constructing flat-pack furniture is hot work - either through exertion or frustration so open a window and if it's all going wrong, take a step backward and have a break for a couple of minutes and grab a drink. I'm sure it's the dust and sawdust within the panel packaging coupled with whatever glues they use when compressing the wood that forms the panels that makes for very thirsty work.

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7) If you're constructing a large or heavy piece of furniture like a bed or wardrobe, even some of the larger bookcases can be quite a weight, make sure you've got help to lift it or even turn it over during construction, as is sometimes required. When it comes to standing tall pieces up, watch out for that ceiling!

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It's all in the finish - It really is the final touches that make all the difference. Fitting end caps or covers to screw holes etc. And if your furniture has doors, then align the hinges correctly to ensure a 'seamless' fit between doors. The same with drawer fronts - if there's adjustment in the drawer runners, use it to get a perfect finish. Once it's in place, you'll never know the difference between yours and a 'solid' piece of furniture. Rails and finishing trims, sometimes bought separately, can add an 'installed look' to bedroom and kitchen furniture.

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9) If your construction includes wiring, and if you're at all unsure, then consult a qualified electrician. If you're installing a kitchen yourself, then you'll need a qualified Corgi registered plumber to carry out any gas connections or moving of existing pipework.

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If you're thinking of a flat-pack kitchen, then think very carefully indeed. Putting the cupboard carcasses together may be easy enough - it's only when it comes to getting the doors to all line up, including the appliances and of course, working around uneven walls, floors and those ever-present bits of beam or wall that would challenge even NASA boffins, that you begin to realise it would have been easier and cheaper to get a professional kitchen fitting company in the first place. These are the sorts of touches that will increase your properties value as opposed to detract from it's value should you ever sell.

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Finally, keep any special tools that came with your furniture - you may need them to periodically re-tighten joints. On the subject of tools, having a decent cross-head and flat-head screwdriver, a small craft hammer for tapping in wooden dowels and/or panel pins and a hand electric screwdriver will save loads of time. If you're using a power screwdriver, be very careful as flat-pack furniture is usually made of compressed wood and is very soft. It's very easy to go straight through delicate finished side panels and ruin your furniture before you've even finished building it. Try making the last few turns of the screwdriver by hand.

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And a word on safety - if it's a tall item, many manufacturers will include a strap or bracket to fix your new furniture to the wall so it can't topple over. It's very important that you use these straps and fixings to secure such items so that they don't topple over and fall on someone or something.

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Once when moving house, I'd left a perfectly stable bookcase standing against a wall (temporarily of course). There was a loud crash and we discovered one of the cats had tried to climb up the bookcase causing it to topple…. through a window so yes, (sigh) I have that badge too.

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Jonathan Crouch

About the Author

Jonathan Crouch is Technical Partner for Fabulous Photo Gifts. When he's not deep into web design and update, he likes to unwind by putting together flat pack furniture - eh no actually, he likes to engage in social media, bookcases not with-standing.

Fabulous Photo Gifts - personalised photo gifts.

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