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Sofas, loveseats, and even armchairs all have a wide range of quality levels designed to appeal to both the budget-minded consumer and the stickler for high-quality manufacturing. With multiple quality options available, anyone can find a couch within their price range.
However, there are a few differences in the seating of upholstery furniture based on quality. Here at Furniture Fair, we like to keep people in Cincinnati, Dayton, Northern Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Louisville informed on all things furniture.
We want to discuss how living room seating manufacturers use specific techniques to either increase comfort and support or create more budget-friendly options for your living room seating.
Throughout this article, you will learn about how upholstery furniture seating is made and how different seating construction methods can affect you and your comfort. Read on to figure out whether a good, better, or best quality seating construction method would suit your needs with your upholstered furniture.
If you own a couch or have ever sat on one (I would hope you have at some point in your life), you may not have given much thought to the cushioning underneath you. However, when purchasing a couch, your cushions and seating will be what you sit on for the sofa's life, so knowing which option is best for your needs is essential.
Some prefer soft, sinking cushions that absorb your body into a cocoon of comfort. In contrast, others prefer cushions that adequately support their backs and legs so they don’t flail around desperately while trying to get off their sofa or sectional. Knowing which support system helps with your preferred seating style is essential.
There are four basic seating construction types that we will talk about. You will learn how each ranks on the good, better, best-ranking scale and how they feel from a comfort standpoint. Here are the four basic seating construction methods most living room furniture manufacturers use today.
Webbing or Pirelli Webbing is a type of elastic strapping used underneath furniture seating to create a hammock-like support system. Webbing is tight and firm while retaining elastic qualities for an easy, low-profile support system.
Webbing is used on more miniature silhouette furniture with exposed legs and undersides. Other seating systems need the space under the couch for springs and other support systems, but webbing support requires much less space and materials.
Webbing is much cheaper than other spring systems and is often used for cost reasons. Still, it can achieve a particular design aesthetic, such as a lower-profile sofa frame.
Pirelli Webbing is made using the same high-quality materials that your car tires use and is very high quality. Best quality and exceptional brands that use webbing systems will use Pirelli Webbing, as it is considered an industry leader for the material.
No-Sag Sinuous Wires or Z Springs are the most common type of springs available in furniture today. They are cost-effective and offer a sturdy support system under your couch or accent chair cushions.
Z Springs run front-to-back on the furniture seating box frame and are held in place with metal clips. This seating spring system is used on sofas of all quality levels, from good to best. The wire's thickness or gauge will determine the quality level of the Z Springs.
The thicker the gauge, the more durable the spring. Spacing is another quality issue, as springs spaced farther apart will save money but won’t be quite as sturdy as springs placed closer together.
Drop-in coils are similar to mattress springs. By that logic, now you can think of a sofa as a couch for your butt. All kidding aside, drop-in coil springs offer the same comfort and support that innerspring mattresses provide but at a more concentrated level.
Coil springs have been used for a long time in stationary living room furniture. Old sofas or loveseats used 8-way, hand-tied springs for support. The process was labor-intensive but reliable.
Modern furniture manufacturers use a more consistent process with drop-in coils. The coils are a set of springs that are attached via metal clips and metal wires. The whole unit “drops in” to the seating box frame and is secured in a quicker, more efficient process.
Once in place, the metal clips keep the springs from moving around and becoming uneven. Cartoonishly loose springs are not a worry with drop-in coils. This type of springs system will be found in better, best, and exceptional quality brands.
Hand-tied springs and hand-knotted springs are not the same. Hand-tied springs are where the manufacturer will loop the twine around the springs. Hand-knotted springs are when the coils are knotted in place rather than looped around the coil.
Hand-knotted coil springs add an extra layer of security to the springs, keeping them firmly held in place and ensuring that they are even less likely to shift out of place and ruin your seating experience.
Hand-knotted coil springs are a bit more labor-intensive, requiring more effort and skill to create in the workshop. Because of the craftsmanship and additional labor involved, hand-knotted coils will only be found in exceptional quality seating.
Now that you know the four main types of seating construction available, you will be better prepared to find a sofa, sectional, loveseat, or accent chair at the quality level you are looking for.
Keep in mind that webbing is good and better quality, although Pirelli webbing can be found in the best category of the GBB ranking system. Don’t forget that Z springs are the most common seating spring type and can be found at all furniture quality levels but most commonly in good, and better.
Remember that drop-in coils are a modern approach to classic couch springs and are in the better, best, and exceptional levels of the GBB, while the hand-knotted spring system is exclusive to exceptional level brands.
If you are curious about which brands are the best at Furniture Fair, check out our article on the top 5 brands we offer in-store at our locations throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. If you want to check out brands in the best and exceptional category, check out our reviews on Smith Brothers of Berne and Stickley.
