The Click-and-Check List: 15 Questions to Ask Before Buying Wood Furniture Online

There's a moment, somewhere between adding a solid oak console to your basket and typing in the card details, when most of us quietly give up on due diligence. The photos are lovely. The description says "premium solid wood". The reviews are four stars. Off it goes.

Fair enough — nobody wants to interrogate a furniture listing like a mortgage application. But if you care about buying something that lasts, the questions are worth asking, and most decent makers will be pleased you did. A workshop that has spent years working out how to build a table properly is usually delighted to talk about it.

Here's the reframe: sustainability isn't only about which forest the timber came from. It's about whether the thing can be fixed, in an ordinary British home, with ordinary tools, by an ordinary person — or at least by a local carpenter who'll take on a small job. A piece that can't be repaired is a piece that gets replaced, however noble its provenance.

So, fifteen questions. Grouped so you don't have to fire them off in one terrifying email.

Joinery: how is it actually held together?

1. What joint is used at the corners and the rails? Mortise and tenon, dovetail, dowel, domino or a run of screws straight into end grain — the answer tells you almost everything about expected lifespan. Screws into end grain are the furniture equivalent of a paperclip.

2. Is the frame glued and clamped, or bolted for flat-pack? Knock-down construction isn't automatically bad — it's how a lot of good beds work — but bolts work loose over years and need re-tightening. Ask which, and ask whether fixings are standard sizes.

3. Can you send a photo of the joint itself, not the finished face? A maker with nothing to hide will happily snap an underside. If a request for a picture of a corner block gets deflected, that's your answer.

4. How is the top attached to the frame? Buttons, figure-eight clips and slotted brackets let timber move. A top screwed rigidly down at six points is a top that will eventually split or cup.

5. What are the drawer runners? Wood-on-wood runners can be waxed and kept going for decades. Metal runners are smoother but depend on a specific brand still existing in 2040 — worth asking which one, and whether it's a common size.

Movement: has the maker allowed for a British house?

6. Where is the movement allowance built in? Floating panels in grooves, breadboard ends on a dining table, gaps behind a cabinet back — these are the small courtesies that stop a piece tearing itself apart between a damp October and a dry February.

7. What moisture content is the timber dried to? Anything around 8–10% is sensible for UK interiors. Kiln-dried to a much lower figure means the piece will take on moisture and swell when it arrives; much higher and it will shrink and gap.

8. What's the acclimatisation advice? Good sellers tell you to let it sit in the room for a few days before use, and warn you off placing it against a radiator or over underfloor heating without thought. If that guidance isn't offered, ask for it.

Finish: can it be touched up, or is it all or nothing?

9. What exactly is the finish? Hardwax oil, penetrating oil, lacquer, polyurethane, wax, milk paint — each behaves differently, and the name of the product matters more than the word "natural".

10. Can I spot-repair it at home? An oil finish can be refreshed on a single ring mark with a cloth and a bit of elbow grease. A thick lacquer often means a whole surface needs refinishing. Ask which scenario you're signing up for.

11. Do you sell the finish? If the answer is yes, and they can tell you the brand and sheen level, you've found someone who expects the piece to be maintained rather than binned.

Parts, delivery and the long goodbye

12. Are spare parts available? Shelf pins, a replacement handle, a single leg, a set of runner clips. Not glamorous, but the difference between a small fix and a whole new cabinet.

13. How is it packed, and who carries the risk in transit? Solid timber is heavy, and couriers are not sentimental. Ask what happens if a corner arrives bruised — replacement, partial refund, or a repair kit and an apology.

14. Do you offer repairs or restoration? Some workshops take their own pieces back for a service years later. That's a genuinely good sign, and worth paying a little more for.

15. What happens at end of life? Can it be dismantled with a screwdriver? Is the finish biodegradable? Will they take it back? It's a strangely rare question, and it flushes out the makers who have thought past the delivery date.

What a good answer sounds like

You're not looking for perfection, or for a dissertation. You want specifics: a joint named, a finish named, a product brand, an honest caveat. "It's solid wood, it'll be fine" is not an answer — it's a shrug with punctuation.

When to walk away

Three things should make you close the tab. No photographs of joins or the underside. Vague or contradictory timber descriptions ("oak-effect solid wood" is a phrase that should not exist). And any refusal to name the finish — because if they won't tell you, you can't maintain it, and if you can't maintain it, you can't repair it.

A last thought. The most sustainable piece of furniture in Britain is rarely the one with the longest list of certifications. It's the kitchen table that gets sanded back in 2038, the chair that gets a new leg in 2045, the dresser that outlives two house moves and one dog. Buy for the repair, and the rest tends to follow.