Another restaurant booth question!

[Mojo]

I am going to vote for Lazy.

Almost all self respecting stitchers and rag tackers remove the old material. :)

Chris

[sofadoc]

If I don't think that it will create any excess bulk, I cut out the old panel with a razor blade and leave a 1" strip.  Not always, just a "case-by-case" basis. It can save a ton of time not having to pull out every last staple. But if it's already been done once, you can't hardly get away with it again.

I don't mind being called "lazy". ;D  I check my self-respect at the door every morning when I come to work. ;)

[cthomps]

That's what I thought.  I will do a project many times, and even loose money on it, until its perfect.  Word gets around in this little town.  Alot of my customers are cast overs from the other two sewing ladies in town with poor workmanship.  And then there is my mother, second generation professional seamstress, always on my shoulder saying..."baby, are you sure that is the best you can do?"  "you know that now quite good enough".  Argggg.  She was a great teacher and master of the guilt thing!  LOL

[Mojo]

If I don't think that it will create any excess bulk, I cut out the old panel with a razor blade and leave a 1" strip.  Not always, just a "case-by-case" basis. It can save a ton of time not having to pull out every last staple. But if it's already been done once, you can't hardly get away with it again.

I don't mind being called "lazy". ;D  I check my self-respect at the door every morning when I come to work. ;)

For shame........... :o................ ;D

My OCD wouldn't allow it...............lol....... I am curious. How can you get a good attachment if your stapling through old material ? Are you not preventing the staple from going all the way in if it has to go through an old layer of material ?

I do not do furniture so I have no idea. Do you use extra long staples to penetrate the old and new material to get a good hold ?

Chris

[JDUpholstery]

I have not seen may cases of overlay on the actual cushion, but bases are often just recovered over the old vinyl...I consider it laziness and remove it, but if the vinyl is in good shape it does offer an added layer of protection between the vinyl and wood so I doubt it hurts much....staple overkill is always fun for the next guy...go for it! lol

[cthomps]

I have not seen may cases of overlay on the actual cushion, but bases are often just recovered over the old vinyl...I consider it laziness and remove it, but if the vinyl is in good shape it does offer an added layer of protection between the vinyl and wood so I doubt it hurts much....staple overkill is always fun for the next guy...go for it! lol

I would love to, but would probably shoot myself in the foot!  Since this is a little town, I would be the "next guy" or gal as it were!  ROTHFLOL

[sofadoc]

I do not do furniture so I have no idea. Do you use extra long staples to penetrate the old and new material to get a good hold ?

Remember, I said "case-by-case basis". And I said "IF I don't think it will create any excess bulk".

If there is just one thin strip of old vinyl along the edge, you won't need any longer staples to get a good hold. And yes, sometimes the old strip of vinyl can be a buffer between the wood and the new vinyl. 

Where you sometimes need longer staples, is when the booth has been recovered multiple times, and the wood is literally perforated with staple holes.

Most newbies complain about the inordinate # of staples in a piece. I've been yankin' staples for so long, I couldn't tell you whether a piece a 100 staples, or a 1000.

[kodydog]

Gotta agree with sofa on this one. I don't run a slop shop but restaurant owners want cheep prices and could care less if a strip of vinyl was left under the new. I'm sure overlapped staples is more than you bargained for. I would strip the corners where there is buildup and cut the rest.

[Rich]

If I remember correctly, an asphalt shingle roof can be done over the old 2 or 3 times before it has to be completely stripped down. I agree with kody that the bunched up corners should be removed, but on long runs? cut it and staple over the strip. I ask myself three questions:
1-Will doing it this way compromise the longevity of the job?
2-Will it adversely affect the appearance?
3-Will doing it more meticulously be of any benefit?
If the answer to all three is NO, then I go with it.
Rich

[Peppy]

On a restaurant booth I may cut off the vinyl and leave the old stuff, but I don't do it often. Seems just as easy to rip it off sometimes. We do roller coaster upholstery for a nearby amusement park (has it's uph's and downs).


This is a down.

We do lots of work over the winter for them and have done so for almost 30 years. We lost the contract once and got it back after a couple years because the new guy was cutting off the skin and upholstering over the old strip. After a couple years the pads didn't fit on the rides anymore and some of the Tnut holes were covered over. So it's sort of a selling point that we 'do it right'

I made this thing that I use for stripping pads and seats and what not-



I use it to weasel under the vinyl between the staples and the edge of the board and pry up



It looks awkward because I'm trying to take a picture but it works great. Most of the time it rips the fabric from under the staple or rips one leg up. It's my go-to tool for stripping. It isn't always the best but it's the first I go for. I call it the Quicker Ripper

[cthomps]

Thanks Peppy.  I now have tool envy!  Do you need a shop volunteer? I was peeking at your other photos. I'm impressed!  I could use a working vacation, and I do play well with others. 

[gene]

Hey peppy, that stripping tool looks like it can do the job. I can imagine you getting pulled over by the police and you have that tool in your car. LOL "Honest officer. It's an upholstery tool!" LOL

Hey, your email is 'fartface6000'. Does that mean that there are 5999 other people who chose 'fartface' before you did?

gene

[wizzard]

Restaurants and Pizza places are mostly hard to deal with; price is mostly all what counts.
When taking off the old vinyl I use the bantam bully from superior pneumatic.
It has some useful attachments for staple removal.
Perfect for this kind of job; especially if one encounters a situation where the previous upholsterer
did not remove all the old vinyl and just stapled over it.

[jojo]

Peppy - rollercoasters...I never thought about that. Interesting. Wondering what your pricing structure is? Per piece, or did  you quote a price for the whole lot...do you replace the foam? And how did you get a contract like that...did you approach them, or vice versa?

[Peppy]

Yes Gene, there was quite a run on fartfaces a while back. I was late to the party. It's only embarrassing most of the time when I'm asked for it.

I reccomend everyone  build a quicker ripper. I made it out of some thick steel about an inch wide tapering down to about 1/4" at the tip. Then I spent some time with a file rounding the tip over. The handle I traced from a wood hand saw.

Cthomps- we're kind of chock a block with volunteers at the moment. A co-op student, an upholsterer in training, and a sewer in training. Try back in the spring, we might be ready for a new batch of 'un-helpers'.

We price the pads per pad. We have prices for new boards, new foam, and new skins. We replace 'as needed'. It's hard, when you strip them boards that looked okay turn out to be rotten. Sometimes they make the boards sometimes we do. It depends on their budget and what their accountants will say. It's a big operation so there's a lot of beauracracy.

Legend has it that a foreman had a boat at the marina in town and had some seats recovered by us. The next time he was up he brought a side pad from one of the rides and asked if we could recover it. He took it back with him and we've had it ever since. They used to do it all in house but I guess they got sick of running an upholstery shop.