How long does pew reupholstery take?

What sets the pace

Reupholstery is measured in linear feet. A crew of two strips, re-foams and re-covers roughly 60 to 90 feet of seat per day when the pews are in reasonable shape. A 40-pew room at 14 feet per pew is about 560 feet, so seats alone is a week; seats and backs is closer to two, because backs are slower — more shaping, more edges, more places for a seam to show.

Kneelers add about a third again. They are small, but each one has hinges and a mechanism, and they are usually the most worn-out thing in the building.

What makes a job run long

• Cracked seat decking. You cannot see it until the old foam is off. Every deck that needs repair is an hour before new foam can go down.
• Loose or failed joinery. A pew that moves needs to be tightened before it is recovered, or the new fabric will be working against a frame that is still working loose.
• Fabric lead time. Contract mills ship stock colors in a week or two. A custom color or a large run can be four to eight weeks. We order before we schedule, so this shows up as a wait before the job, not during it.
• A room that cannot be sectioned. Rare, but a very small chapel with one aisle sometimes has to be done in a single push rather than half at a time.

How the week is built

We work half the sanctuary at a time. Monday the first section comes apart; by Friday afternoon it is finished and back in service. The second half starts the following Monday. Services, weddings and funerals all continue, and if a funeral lands mid-week we stop, clear, and pick up after. That is the whole point of sectioning.

If you would rather have the room untouched for a season — Advent, Easter, a wedding — say so on the call and we will schedule around it. The quote is good for 90 days.

Refinishing alongside it

Refinishing and reupholstery are done in the same visit whenever both are needed, because the pews are already apart. A refresh (clean, scuff, recoat) adds a few days. A full refinish (strip to bare wood) adds one to two weeks. Restoration, where structural repairs and new parts are milled, is the only level that runs past a month, and it is the level most churches do not need.

Curing is not the same as dry. A finish is touchable in hours and service-ready in a day, but it keeps hardening for a week. We tell you the difference, because most companies do not, and that is when the first scratch happens.