Care of your furniture
Thank you for purchasing quality furniture from Francis Furniture, over the ensuing years we want you to enjoy your furniture as much as we did making it for you.
To this end we recommend you:-
1. Keep your furniture out of direct sunlight.
2. Avoid prolonged exposure to high humidity or very dry air.
3. Do not put hot or abrasive things directly on the furniture (always use a good quality place mat or equivalent).
4. Do not leave wet cloths or spills on your furniture.
5. Do not use abrasive cleaners.
6. Always use heat resistant placemats
7. Never use polishes or oils that contain silicon as they may damage or discolour the surface finish and make repairs far more costly.
8. When cleaning your furniture, Use a clean damp cloth or chamois to remove dust and dirt.
9. When dusting, use a soft dry cloth, rubbing in the direction of the grain.
10. Clean up spillages straight away. Especially alcohol
11. Use a good quality polish when necessary to revitalize and protect the lacquers. We recommend and carry SPRAYWAX Furniture Polish and Howard's Orange Oil and Feed & Wax for all our furniture, however Goddard's Fine Furniture Polish or O’Cedar are also fine products.
Heat and Entertainment Cabinet’s
Video Players and TV’s are the main culprits of heat build-up inside cabinets, this can cause problems for solid timber panels, particularly to shelves. As we allow ventilation and access holes at the rear of the cabinet to prevent over heating problems to the video player or TV itself, the hot spot on the shelf above can cause the shelf to develop a split. To prevent this we now fit as standard a insulation pad of cork to the under sides of shelves above Video player’s. However we strongly recommend you also put a place mat or something similar under your video or TV.
Movement Due to Expansion
The beautiful solid timbers of your furniture are a dynamic, some say living ,natural fiber that will continually react to the environment. We use only the best methods of construction, designed to allow for this natural movement, whilst giving superior strength. This seasonal expansion and contraction may, over time, result in some minor joint movement or checking of your furniture. This effect can be seen on some antiques and is a natural part of the ageing process adding to the patina so desired of antiques of value.
Placing of Vases or Pot Plants on furniture can cause problems. If water escapes and is allowed to remain in contact with the piece for too long it will lift the lacquer from the wood, requiring a complete strip back and re-polish.