Couched Constructions: Work Day 1

Yesterday, Becca and I embarked on our first attempt to deconstruct a couch. Looking at the couch, we assumed it would be fairly easy and quick to deconstruct so we could start in on categorizing the materials from which it was made. We decided to start from the bottom. We saw that the couch had its four feet still intact and we quickly unscrewed them and found they were in excellent condition considering the age of the couch. We then started in on removing the bottom cover and we soon realized this was going to be a much more time consuming task than either of us realized. Everything on the couch was stapled together with hundreds of tiny staples driven into the frame. After removing the first layer of staples, we had only unfastened the outermost piece of fabric covering of the bottom of the couch.

Underneath were metal bands fastened to the frame with extremely large staples. These staples were very sturdy and nearly impossible to remove. We actually had to cut the metal bands a few different times to release them. They became extremely sharp during this process. We eventually had to start cutting away the fabric beneath the metal bands to begin exposing the springs. At this point we weren’t making the progress we wanted and decided to attempt to remove the leather from the couch in the hopes it would more successfully let us see what the bones of the couch looked like. This again required a lot of staple removal but, was fairly easy compared to the attempted removal of the metal bands.

We were able to remove the leather and keep it in one large piece by cutting along one seam to release the tension holding it to the frame. The outside of the leather is in good condition, there are just some stains and wear marks. The underside of the leather is in excellent condition, however, and definitely will be an excellent material to reuse as a cover or insulation layer. We pulled the cushions out of the pouches provided in the large piece of leather for the back and arm rests. These pouches included zippers, which was something we certainly didn’t expect to find as a usable material in the couch.

Underneath the leather was a blue bat-like material used as extra cushion over the frame. This was the last layer before we hit the frame itself. The frame was as we had hoped, made out of a rather substantial amount of wood. We also found it was made with some chip board to shape corners and the arm rests as well as a sort of mesh web that aided in the structural integrity of the back rest. We did run out of time and have yet to deconstruct the piece of wood and springs. Look for that in the next work day!

Here are some additional pictures of materials found in the couch: 1) an assortment of lost objects including coins, candy wrappers and toys. 2) the sharp, mangled steel bands used to reinforce the mesh that secured the springs into the bottom. 3) a large quantity of metal staples

The three hours we spent on this deconstruction definitely led us to a series of realizations:

-It is very difficult and time consuming to deconstruct the couch to salvage all the materials for reuse. It may not be something just anyone is willing to put the time and effort into in order to reconstruct the materials into something else. Perhaps programs and workspaces could be developed and provided for volunteers who wish to deconstruct donated and found couches into a kit-of-parts that can be given to people wishing to construct a shelter or community piece out of found material.

-We had originally tried to use very simple tools anyone could access. This is problematic because this particular couch was constructed very soundly with very strong materials. We needed to make use of a wide range of tools such as hammers, screwdrivers, crowbars, pliers, box cutters, and even a screw gun. This fact also supports the idea that not just anyone is going to be able to accomplish reusing materials in couches.

-The sturdy build of the couch also made it very clear not every couch is built the same and with the same materials. This indicates a more general design may be more effective than a step-by-step how to process of what to do with each material specific to this one couch. This idea allows for customization of each shelter or piece that could be built out of a wide variety of found couches.