How can I fix a wobbly chair or table?

Disassemble the loose joint if possible, scrape out old dried glue, apply fresh wood glue to both surfaces, reassemble, and clamp tightly for 24 hours. For joints that won't come apart, inject glue into the gap with a syringe.

Screw or tap adjustable leveling feet into the bottom of each leg. Set the furniture on the floor and turn the threaded feet in or out until the piece sits level and stable. This compensates for both uneven legs and uneven floors.

Place the furniture on a known level surface and shim the short leg until the piece is stable. Measure the shim thickness — that's how much material to remove from the longer legs. Mark carefully and cut with a fine-toothed saw. Sand the cut ends smooth.

A furniture repair specialist or antique restorer will disassemble the piece, clean and re-glue all joints, replace broken dowels, and reassemble with proper clamping. The result is furniture that's as strong as new.

Screw L-shaped metal corner braces into the inside corners where legs meet the seat, tabletop, or apron. The braces reinforce the joint from the inside and resist the racking forces that cause wobble.

Stick self-adhesive felt pads of varying thickness to the bottom of the short leg until the furniture sits stable. For larger gaps, cut a thin wood shim to size and glue it to the bottom of the leg.

Flip the furniture upside down and inspect every joint. Tighten all screws and bolts with a screwdriver or wrench. If a screw spins freely in a stripped hole, remove it, fill the hole with a wooden toothpick dipped in glue, let it dry, then re-drive the screw.

Before applying any fix, determine the actual cause of the wobble. Misdiagnosing the cause leads to wasted effort and recurring problems. There are three fundamentally different causes of furniture wobble, and each requires a different repair approach.

Take the piece to a professional furniture restorer or have one come to your home. Professional repair is the right choice for valuable, antique, or sentimental furniture, for structural damage beyond simple loose joints, and for anyone who wants a guaranteed, invisible result.

Use a glue syringe or squeeze bottle with a needle tip to inject wood glue or thin epoxy directly into a loose joint through a small drilled hole, without having to take the piece apart. This is the practical approach when a chair or table has joints that are too difficult or risky to disassemble.

Stick adhesive-backed felt pads or rubber bumper feet to the bottoms of furniture legs to compensate for minor unevenness and eliminate wobble on hard floors. This is the quickest and easiest fix for a wobble caused by legs that are slightly different lengths, rather than by loose joints.

Furniture repair kits contain pre-cut dowel pins, a drilling jig, drill bits, and wood glue specifically designed for re-doweling loose joints. These kits provide a complete, guided solution for replacing broken or worn-out dowels without requiring advanced woodworking skills.

Wind cotton or linen thread tightly around a dowel or tenon that has become undersized, soak the thread in wood glue, then reinsert the joint. The thread acts as a shim that builds up the diameter of the dowel to restore a snug fit. This is a classic furniture repair technique used by professional…

Two-part epoxy adhesive fills gaps and bonds even poorly fitting joints, making it the best choice when dowels or tenons have shrunk, worn, or broken and no longer fit tightly in their holes. Unlike wood glue, epoxy is a gap-filling adhesive that does not require a tight fit to create a strong bond.

Install L-shaped metal corner braces or flat mending plates at the joints between legs and the frame or apron of a table or chair. This adds mechanical strength to joints that have loosened and is especially effective as a supplementary fix alongside re-gluing.

Disassemble the loose joint, clean out old adhesive, apply fresh wood glue, reassemble, and clamp tightly until cured. This is the gold-standard repair for wooden chairs and tables with mortise-and-tenon or dowel joints that have worked loose over time.