I'm working on a 19th century chaise lounge and don't know where to begin with the spring unit. Am I better off to remove the top and tie the springs? I've attached a link to a picture of the piece.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DH8Ii0cN
Welcome to the forum Redbird.
If the spring system is typical of 19th century it is likely 8-way hand tied. The best and usually only way to fix it is to remove all the webbing from underneath. And from the top all the padding, burlap spring cover and cut the spring twine away from the springs. Then put it all back together. The only way to retie springs is from the top. I have seen some try to do it from the bottom but this creates weak support that is likely to fail. If the padding (horse hair?) is over 118 years old it will likely need to be replaced. I generally replace it with cotton.
I have seen people rip all the springs out, reweb it and place foam where the springs were. In my opinion this is unacceptable.
There are several videos on you tube. An experienced upholsterer can do this job in 6 hours. A fast one can do it in 4. A do-it-yourselfer may take several days.
I could not get your link to work.
Hear is a link from my web site showing The Advantages of 8-Way Hand Tied Springs and a few pictures of the procedure.
www.northfloridachair.com/Springs.html
Thank you, we decided to remove the top mesh layer and are tying it.