Our "Stand On It" Guarantee

In July of this year, House of Oak & Sofas introduced the “Stand on It 5-Year Warranty” for our customers who are considering the purchase of Amish-crafted furniture from our lineup. You might ask, “What does that mean?” and this column will provide further details on that guarantee.

Guarantee

As most of our regular customers understand, there is a significant price differential between furniture built overseas with extremely low wage rates, or furniture constructed primarily with MDF, commonly termed “particle board,” construction. In the past we have offered a one-year warranty on all furniture sold in our store, usually backed up by a similar warranty from our manufacturers. However, 25 years of experience has taught us that the reason customers continue to return to House of Oak & Sofas to purchase Amish-crafted furniture is because generally within the first few years they notice a significant difference in quality. The truth of the matter is that rarely do we find manufacturing based defects in our Amish-crafted solid wood goods, and for this reason we can offer the longer warranty period.

Solid Wood Construction

Of course, solid wood construction is the key to this warranty. Whereas less expensive wood depends on glue and staples to join the different pieces of a piece of furniture, the Amish use joinery, screws and bolts to assemble their furniture. As we have mentioned in the past, the Amish are skilled in barn-building and heavy timber wood construction, and when those same skills are applied to furniture building, the results are furniture built as strong as a barn. Although here at House of Oak & Sofas we don’t feel that every piece of furniture must be of this high quality level if it is not affordable, beds, dining tables, end or coffee tables and bedroom chests and dressers will last much longer if built from solid wood and utilizing superior joints and fasteners. In addition, the higher quality finish that is applied will resist water and continued wear.

Although the warranty does not cover spot damage to the finish, since this is usually the result of contact from harmful cleaners, chemicals or polishes, it will cover overall finish problems that are determined to be the result of a defective finish application. It is important to note that silicone based polish and cleaners may result in finish deterioration and we only recommend using appropriate cleaners such as the full line of Guardsman brand products, and mild Murphy’s Oil soap cleaning solutions.

A few years back when one of our customers from Rockingham County, Virginia came to our store, she recounted her experience with solid wood furniture after a recent flood that brought water into her home. “Although all my furniture stood under water for a few hours, only the solid wood furniture was recoverable. All the furniture that contained particle board in its construction had to be thrown out as it was terminally damaged.” Of course we don’t believe that everyone needs to purchase furniture based on its resistance to standing under water overnight, it is obvious that solid wood construction does offer a benefit against water and moisture damage.

Advantages to purchasing Amish-crafted Furniture

Some of the other advantages of purchasing Amish-crafted furniture are:

Use of local lumber
Use of local labor
Minimal packaging with cardboard and Styrofoam
Non-use of insecticides or fungicides in shipping compared to overseas product
Small overall carbon footprint
Low energy usage in manufacturing process
Reduced fossil fuel freight costs required in overseas shipping

Stop in our store today and see our ever-expanding lineup of Amish-crafted product. Although we continue to sell high quality products manufactured throughout the world, we offer this increased warranty to let you know that we stand behind our superior product lineup. I didn’t really want to stand on top of a coffee table to prove my point, but since I have done that over the years to demonstrate the superior structural nature of the furniture, it seemed a fitting image to plant in our customer’s minds. Of course, “Don’t Try This at Home” is a fitting footnote, as most furniture is not meant to be used as a footstool, but keep tuned as we find under images that will promote our “Stand On It” guarantee. You might even want to send us one of your own ideas that will help us promote this great product. Thanks for continuing to shop our store.