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Why should you consider buying
furniture in Ready-to-Assemble form? Mainly, cost savings and convenience.
Nowadays more and more furniture
manufacturers are selling high-quality furniture of solid wood with wood
veneers in “Ready-to-Assemble" (RTA) form. This is sometimes called Knock-Down
(KD) furniture. Many people are under the misconception that (RTA) or (KD)
furniture is cheap and won’t last. They are confusing high-quality RTA
furniture with paperboard furniture. There is a huge difference!
From the manufacture’s point of
view, the advantages of producing RTA furniture are numerous. Firstly, it is
easier and cheaper to ship furniture in a box compared to shipping furniture
that is fully assembled. Secondly, assembled furniture carries a high risk of
getting damaged during the shipping process and can result in higher insurance
costs. RTA furniture is more compact, and you can fit up to ten times the
quantity in a container compared to standard assembled furniture. RTA furniture
is also ideal for manufacturers who do bulk product runs. It is easy to set up
an assembly line just producing and packaging furniture parts, as opposed to
having an additional setup just to assemble the finished products.
There are also advantages from
the customer’s side. People living in high rise buildings with narrow passages
have difficulty in maneuvering large pieces of bulky furniture. RTA furniture
is easy to transport, especially in confined spaces. Most RTA furniture is easy
to assemble and generally comes with an easy to follow installation guide. The
beauty with RTA furniture is that should you decide to move, you can simply disassemble
the furniture in the reverse order in which you assembled it.
Most Manufacturers of RTA
furniture in the United Stated use standard European Cam Pins and Cam Locks to
join the pieces of wood together. This system is very secure and results in an
extremely sturdy product. By using Cam Locks and Pins it is not necessary to
strengthen the joins with toxic glues. This method also eliminates having to
use nails, which not only damages the wood, but once the construction is
complete, it is difficult to remove them without damaging the product. All
pieces come with pre-drilled holes in which the Cam Locks and Pins fit.
The strength of the furniture is
in the wood veneer or laminate. Although the laminate is very thin, it has
amazing strength. The average bookcase shelf made with wood veneer can support
75 pounds of weight. Paper laminate, on the other hand looks very much like
wood, but has very little strength and can only support about 20 pounds of
weight. Furniture made with paper laminate is often referred to as “throw-away"
furniture. There are two types of wood laminates, namely Rotary Sliced and
Bookmatched. Bookmatched is more attractive and much more expensive than the
rotary sliced because there is more work involved in matching the pieces of
wood together.
RTA furniture is very versatile
and can be used for a host of products. Popular KD furniture includes items
such as; Bookcases, Storage Chests, Entertainment Centers, Computer and
Executive Desks, Media Storage and Filing cabinets. Archie Benjamin has been serving customers in
the Retail sector for over 25 years. His company, Consigned and Designed Furniture, LLC at http://www.factoryfurnitureonline.com/ sells high quality solid oak with oak veneer furniture.
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