Looking after your Homewood solid hardwood furniture.

If you’re a Homewood customer, this blog is ESPECIALLY written for you.

If you aren’t, we hope you finish reading feeling empowered and excited to BECOME a Homewood customer.

In our eyes, once you’ve officially become the proud owner of a new Homewood piece in which our team has invested hours of love and caffeine-fueled labour, and you’ve invested your hard-earned moola, we’ve officially begun a pretty special relationship.

And like any relationship, open, honest communication is everything.

So, today’s blog is all about our Homewood’s WORKMANSHIP guarantee.

The good, the bad and the ugly of what’s covered, what’s not and what you can do to ensure you enjoy your Homewood creations for years to come!

What is a workmanship guarantee?

A workmanship guarantee typically covers defects or issues related to the quality of labour or craftsmanship involved in a project.

From our perspective, as the wood manufacturer, we take careful precautions to ensure that every Homewood item reaches the top levels of craftsmanship. We do this through:

  • the wood types we have selected (with durability and aesthetics in mind).
  • the joint systems we use (to avoid any potential weak points).
  • handcrafting with care and great skill, with ongoing training taking place in the factory.
  • The quality finishes we apply (more than simple varnish).

If anything has gone wrong during the manufacturing or delivery of your Homewood pieces, that is WITHIN our control; we’re here to sort it out.

What falls outside this guarantee?

Please note; we’re not trying to pass the ol’ buck. The following conditions are risks that you take when purchasing solid hardwood furniture instead of (lifeless) plastic or steel, for example.

Read below for the top concerns that are raised regarding furniture guarantees, with a Homewood explanation as to why they are NOT included in a workmanship guarantee.

  • Surface checking & end checking

A surface check refers to a hairline crack no wider than 2mm on the surface of your wooden furniture piece. An end check is where the check starts on the end grain surface and advances inwards and may go all the way through the thickness of the plank.  

The explanation: This is part of wood’s ageing process. It is unavoidable over time but can be managed with the correct oiling or maintenance regime.

Sunlight, dry air and change in season are the main causes of checks which will move (open and close) over time (dry season they open, wet season they close).

NB: These checks do NOT affect the durability or functionality of your furniture.

  • Colour and colour change

(this is a biggie!)

Colour refers to the natural colouration of wood and its grain.

Colour change is the change in colour of the wood from its original state. It includes moisture-induced leaching of oxides and tannins in wet conditions.

The explanation: Just as no two trees are the same, colouration is certain to vary between planks and items. For this reason, we cannot guarantee the natural colour of the wood, which is why you might find a beautiful range of colours, even within one Homewood piece, celebrating the unique beauty of the trees that made it.

Colour change is part of the ageing of wood and most wood will darken over time. Please note, if the wood is not oiled enough and is exposed a lot to the sun, it will get sunburnt and turn silver grey; we can guarantee this is not the look you are going for.

  • Wood movement

Wood is a living substance (how cool!!).. and shrinks and swells throughout the seasons. It shrinks when it dries out and swells when it gets wet. This phenomenon can result in furniture components getting too loose or too tight.

The explanation: All our Homewood furniture manufactured with mechanical jointing is designed to cope with wood movement. If the wood shrinks, the joints must be tightened, and if the wood swells, they must be loosened.

Maintenance maintenance maintenance

In order to keep your Homewood hardwood furniture looking beautiful for years to come, we cannot stress enough how important it is to regularly maintain your pieces with the correct coating, especially if they live outside or on a patio. Just like you would apply moisturiser or sunscreen to keep your skin looking and feeling healthy, it’s a similar concept when it comes to your hardwood furniture. 

For outdoor furniture maintenance tips, read this

For indoor furniture, read this

To learn about Rystix coating, read this

While we’ve tried our best to cover it all in this blog, there’s a lot more to say in the area of your Homewood workmanship guarantee, so please check out the full guarantee document here.

We hope by reading this, you’ve found a greater understanding of your beautiful Homewood creations and an appreciation for the intricacies that come with furniture that is made from a living substance that responds to its environment.

Our team is always here to answer any questions, so if you have any concerns, please always give us a call or send us an email, and we will gladly assist!

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