There are two kinds of sofa springs. One is eight-way hand-tied springs, which are individual coils wrapped in twine & tied to its neighbors. Zigzag springs are the other popular kind; S-shaped wires clipped to the frame. Both have wildly different feelings, as well as costs & durability.

How hand-tied springs work

Each coil sits in a pocket of webbing. A craftsman ties the top of every coil to the coils around it with strong twine. The twine runs in eight directions. Front to back, side to side, & the four diagonals. This builds a single unified surface where every coil supports every other coil. When you sit on one spot, the whole system moves together. Nothing shifts independently or works itself loose.

Why they last

A zigzag spring works alone. When one clip fails, that spring loses tension. The springs around it take more weight. They fail faster. An eight-way system fails as a unit or not at all. The twine absorbs & distributes the load. Individual coils can be replaced without retying the whole deck. A well-made eight-way seat lasts forty or fifty years before it needs rebuilding.

How to tell what you have

Lift the cushion & press down on the deck. If it feels like a single firm surface with even give, you probably have eight-way springs. If you feel individual bumps or hear metal clinking, you have zigzag springs. If the sofa is less than twenty years old & cost under two thousand dollars, it is almost certainly zigzag.

We rebuild spring systems across southern Connecticut. Send us a photo of the piece & we will tell you what you have & what it would take to fix it.

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