Sanctuary Seating 101: How to Purchase Church Chairs With Confidence

Today more churches than ever are making the shift away from pews and discovering the benefits of the multi-functional sanctuary chair. Unfortunately, however, many modern churches are making uninformed buying decisions and getting saddled with inferior quality products. The following is a quick run down on features that the savvy purchaser needs to be aware of when making their decision.

Seat Support: A key element in structural integrity is the support that rests out of view, under the seat. A quality chair will have supplemental support under its seat in the form of a steel strap or a steel tube. This adds extra strength to the wood foundation that lies just under the foam. Without this extra support, the full weight of the chair’s occupant is placed upon the wooden foundation alone, which may lead to its premature failure.

Leg Support: Due to the side thrust that chairs endure as people shift in their seat or lean to one side, it is important that the legs on your chairs are properly strengthened. Some manufacturers address this by installing bars that connect the legs from side to side. These range in structure from being a simple wire to a full tube with box welds (see Welding section below). The presence of these components distributes the forces to the whole chair, similar to bridge construction.

Back Design: The back supports of many sanctuary chairs that are available in the modern marketplace are constructed with individual posts. When a person sits in a chair of this design, these back posts can flex independently, transferring all the stress to the wood fastening hardware, which may ultimately result in failure. Higher grade chairs feature steel-connected or full loop, one piece backs which offer advanced support, proven to be more durable over time.

Steel Size and Composition: This area is often overlooked by purchasers. Due to the influx of imported chairs, the market is flooded with products that are of inferior tube size or use poor quality steel that was previously rejected for other uses. When purchasing your chairs be sure that you specify that a high carbon steel is required. Without a lengthy explanation, 1008/1010 is the minimum. 1010 is best. Steel is actually certified for every run, so it is possible to find out this number. This will ensure that the steel in your product is not “soft” which could lead to premature frame failure under heavy use. Steel thickness is also important. Steel is measured in gage size: the smaller the gage number, the thicker the steel. A minimum of 18 gage should be used. Also, a minimum size of 13/16” square tubular steel should be used for the chair back construction, with a 1” square tubular steel minimum used for the legs. In summary, steel quality, thickness and size all contribute to the structural integrity of the chair. Do not make your decision on one factor alone.

Steel Bends: There are numerous ways that one can “turn the corner” with steel. One approach is to punch out a piece of steel that removes 3 walls of the tube. The tube is then bent on its single remaining wall and re-welded, forming a sharp bend. It is critical that this weld is adequately applied to sufficiently reconnect the walls for strength. The other common method is to bend the tubing by wrapping it around a steel tooling with a machine, maintaining the continuity of the steel. This bending can be done with or without an internal mandrel. Using a mandrel creates a cosmetically smoother surface on the face of the bend, which tends to sink in or even wrinkle without it.

Welding: A quality chair will unconditionally never be constructed with short spot welds. Before purchasing you should make sure that the chair that you are considering features box welds. These are longer welds that are welded in two different planes. This prevents any one weld from actually becoming a potential hinge joint that can fatigue and fail. Another element that should be considered is the number of welds on the chair. Look for a chair that has multiple welds at all tube junctions. Don’t be afraid to remove cushions on your sample chair to examine for proper placement of necessary welds!

Powdercoating: The final element to a quality chair frame is its finish. Most manufacturers have begun to powdercoat their chairs for a more durable finish, however some are more particular about it than others. For example, a top notch chair will be fully coated, even in the places that you can not easily see. This prevents rust from forming, thus prolonging the life of the product. Be diligent in your comparisons and don’t accept a chair that hasn’t been fully powdercoated. Again, dissect your sample chair to see if shortcuts have been taken!

Seat/Back Cushions: Here’s something that may surprise you; soft seat cushions are bad! Think about it. Regardless of promises, foam does break in over time under regular use so, what is soft today will be completely flat within a couple of years. So, to counter this issue, make sure that your chairs are equipped with 100% pure urethane, high density foam cushions that feel firm when they are new. You will get many more years of comfortable use out of these cushions than you would with their softer counterparts. Another key consideration here is fire safety. Many manufactures are not using fire retardant foam or fabrics. This has become an important requirement in many jurisdictions or for facilities wishing to minimize liability in the event of a fire. Fire retardant standards exist for both individual components and for chairs as a whole. The ultimate standard is a chair conforming to the state of California’s TB 133 fire code. To pass this test, the entire chair is force burned by being subjected to a gas flame in a chamber. Its smoke and toxic vapor output is measured. Chairs with low levels are awarded this distinction.

Upholstery: There are more upholstery options out there than a purchaser would dare to think about. Of course upholstery choice will be heavily dependent upon the style that the purchaser wishes to adhere to, but one should also give both durability and fire safety thought here as well. Quality upholsteries will typically have longer warranties, higher abrasion resistance scores and will be CAL 117 fire code compliant. It is also a good idea to keep stain repellency in mind, particularly if the space in which the chairs are to be used will be multi-functional.

Cushion Foundation: Beneath the cushions on a chair lies a platform of supportive material (most often a pressed board or engineered wood product) that gives the cushion shape as well as support. At the low end of the scale in both cost and strength is pressed board or variations thereof. These are made of paper and wood dust or particles which are pressed and glued together. At the high end of the scale will be plywood and engineered wood that is made of laminated sheets or fibers of wood which is also glued together. There is also an engineered product called Novaply which is very popular in the furniture industry. Although it may look like a particle board, it is truly an engineered product that has superior screw holding qualities and it lacks the voids or holes commonly present in plywood products. Engineered wood products are also used in construction such as flooring and walls, so it goes without saying that they have superior strength. Again, the presence of a support tube under the seat adds support.

Foot Glides/Stacking Buttons: These are the finishing touches on a chair that are generally not given much thought. Foot glides range from inexpensive plastic caps of various shapes to commercial, high durability, adjustable angle, booted glides. The latter have an internal spring clip that holds them in place as well as a “boot” that surrounds the rough edge of the steel at the bottom of the leg. They are available with a vinyl foot that hugs carpeting tightly for stable positioning or metal chrome feet for easy sliding on carpet. Low profile stacking buttons are generally preferred since they are harder to accidentally knock out of the chair while in use. Stack buttons which stick out from the frame expose themselves to being knocked or torn free, which will make chair stacking uneven and unsafe if they are not replaced.

With the rise in the number of products that are being imported into the United States, as well as various domestic companies coming into the market, there are numerous sanctuary seating choices. All chairs are NOT created equal. A low price tag or a claim of quality doesn’t mean that the product is worth your while. Take your time, review your sample chairs, research your potential vendors and make sure that you are getting what you are paying for. You’ll thank yourself for years to come!

Ben Hubbard – Sales Manager, Carstone Seating

Steve Stoneman – President, Carstone Seating

September 18, 2006