How to Repair Water Damaged Antique Furniture

Antique furniture is a real gem of your interior, as it looks exquisite and stylish no matter what is in fashion right now. It would be disastrous if your antique furniture was damaged by water. Even a small leak can lead to irreparable losses. Yet, antique furniture is usually quite durable; each piece of antique furniture was made individually, using high-quality materials and furniture fittings. It is not surprising that such furniture has served for many generations. Therefore, it is a chance to repair it and provide careful restoration. We will tell you how to do it in our article.

Basic Rules of Restoration of Antique Furniture

Let us start with basic rules you need to know if you want to provide DIY restoration for your antique furniture damaged by water.

• Find a place where you will provide all restoration routines. It should be equipped with all the necessary tools and its air temperature should be no more than 75 Fahrenheit and no less than 64 Fahrenheit. Humidity also is important so you should provide your workshop or restoration room with proper humidity of <75%.
• Be sure you have anti-fungus compounds and special compounds against mold in your inventory.
• For your restoration jobs you may also require carpentry tools, turn-screws or screwdrivers, additional screws and other tools.
• In some cases, DIY restoration is almost impossible. So if you are not sure you can cope with the task, it is better to evaluate beforehand the damages your antique furniture has. Your public adjuster can do it. It is also important to do in case you have ensured your furniture to get compensation from an insurance company.

After all the rules are completed, let us start with restoration itself.

Antique Furniture Restoration after Water Damage

What is most affected by flooding? If we are talking about upholstered antique furniture, then its upholstery is worth paying attention to. It is also very important to prevent the wooden parts of the furniture from swelling because later they can collapse when dry. Moreover, of course, the metal parts need to be carefully restored.

If your antique furniture has fallen victim to a leak or flood, it must be carefully moved from the flooded area to a dry room. At the same time, all contents should be removed from the cabinets, the shelves must be pulled out and the doors opened, and the upholstered furniture should be dried entirely.

Let's start our restoration process step by step.

Step 1 - Drying

Move the antique furniture to the prepared room (we wrote about the temperature regime and the permissible humidity above). Here it will have to dry out and stand for at least 30 days. It is impossible to repair damp or flooded pieces of furniture earlier otherwise it may collapse during shrinkage due to a violation of the structure of the wood. It is better to dry your furniture naturally, without using special dryers or fans.

Step 2 - Disassembly

Before restoration, all removable furniture parts must be carefully disassembled. Try to be delicate and keep the original fixings, as it often turns out that modern screws and nails are completely unsuitable for antique furniture. It is especially necessary to carefully remove the trim from upholstered furniture.

Step 3 - Processing

After disassembling your antique furniture, it is very important to prevent deformation of each part of it because if it is deformed, it will not be easy to assemble and use it in the same way as before the damage. Also, after drying, it is very important to treat all wooden parts with anti-mildew and anti-fungus agents. Otherwise, even after the final drying, the furniture will be a carrier of mold spores, and with an increase in humidity, it will grow again. At the same time, it is worth processing the metal parts of the furniture. Antique furniture rarely boasts stainless steel fittings or decor, which means that metal can simply rust after water damage. Carefully remove any rust from all metal parts with a brush and cover each part with a coat of anti-corrosion grease. For textile elements and upholstered furniture, treatment against mold is also important, but only with special compounds suitable for fabrics. If the wooden surface of the furniture is scratched, it is better to re-coat it with varnish or paint to prevent moisture from entering the wood layers later on.

Step 4 - Assembly

And now, when your furniture is completely dry, you have treated it from mold and rust, you can collect it again. Try to use the same fasteners that were installed earlier. Take your time, because the accuracy of the assembly is especially important. If that task seems difficult for you, you can apply for professional restoration services. This will be costly but your antique furniture will be unharmed in the hands of professional restorers.