Sofa Soundcheck: Telling Normal Settling Noises From a Genuine Fault
Photo: Ward, Peter Anthony, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The van pulls away, the front door closes, and for about forty-eight hours your new sofa is silent. Then the house settles, the heating comes on, and it starts to speak. A tick here, a soft groan there. Some of that is just timber finding its feet. Some of it is the sound of a warranty claim waiting to happen — and the difference matters far more than most buyers realise.
This isn't about panicking at every creak. It's about knowing which noises to note, which to film, and which to shrug off. Because in the UK, the clock on a sofa complaint starts ticking the moment it's delivered, and a vague email six months later is much harder to win than a clear video sent in week two.
Give it a fortnight before you properly worry
New upholstery has a bedding-in period. Frame joints are glued, dowelled and screwed; timber adjusts to the moisture level of your home. A sofa that has spent weeks in a warehouse, then a damp hallway, then a centrally heated lounge will move slightly as it acclimatises. Cushions flatten, covers relax, and the occasional faint tick or settle-creak in the first ten to fourteen days is common — and often fades on its own.
What isn't normal: a noise that gets louder rather than quieter, one that is pinned to a single corner or joint, or one that arrives with a visible gap, a wobble, or a sag. Those are the sounds worth writing down.
The noise map: six sounds, six suspects
A sharp crack or pop from one corner. This is the one to take seriously. It usually points to a frame joint, a glue block, or a screw that has missed the timber it was meant to bite into. It shouldn't happen repeatedly on a new sofa after the first week. Film it.
A rhythmic squeak that follows your bounce. That's typically the spring unit — sinuous zig-zag springs rubbing against their clips, or a spring that has shifted. It's often fixable, but it rarely fixes itself. Note which seat it comes from and whether it follows the cushion when you swap them over.
A low creak when you lean back. Frame flex, or webbing straps shifting under the seat. On its own it can be harmless. Paired with a dip in the seat or a gap at the base, it's a defect conversation.
A tap or tick from under the feet. Nine times out of ten this is the floor, not the sofa. Loose glides, a floorboard, a laminate join, or a foot that needs a quarter-turn by hand. Try a rug or felt pads before you ring anyone.
A groan or whirr from a recliner. Mechanisms need lubrication and alignment. Powered recliners can also hum or click at the motor. Some of that is normal; a grinding noise or a mechanism that lurches is not.
A soft rustle from the seat cushions. Fibre and feather fillings shift and whisper. That's the sound of a sofa doing its job. Plump them and move on.
Humidity is the hidden variable
British winters are hard on timber frames. Central heating can drop indoor humidity to 30–40%, and wood shrinks as it dries, which opens joints and produces creaks that weren't there in October. Summer swells things back. A sofa parked next to a radiator, in a conservatory, or in a room with a log burner will talk more than one in a steady, draft-free lounge.
None of that automatically makes it faulty — but it does mean retailers may reach for "environmental conditions" as an explanation. Keep a simple note of room temperature and whether the heating has just come on. It shows you've thought about it, and it makes the conversation harder to bat away.
The ten-minute diagnostic before you email anyone
Swap the seat cushions left to right and see whether the noise follows. Sit in the centre, then each corner, then perch on the arm. Check the feet are hand-tight. Try the sofa on a rug to rule out the floor. Note the time of day and whether the heating has been running.
Then film it. Prop your phone on a book, press exactly where the noise happens, and say the date and model out loud at the start. Twenty to thirty seconds is plenty. Don't spray anything into the frame, don't tighten bolts beyond hand-tight, and don't attempt a DIY fix — well-meant tinkering is one of the fastest ways to void a guarantee.
Evidence that actually gets a claim moving
Retailers deal with a lot of vague emails. Send something they can action: order number, delivery date, model name, a short video, and a plain description — "sharp crack from the rear left corner when sitting, audible from two metres away, worsening since 3 November". Keep a written log with dates. Ask for a reference number and confirm whether you're dealing with a retailer guarantee, a manufacturer warranty, or an extended plan, because they run on different clocks.
Statutory rights and warranties are not the same thing
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, you have 30 days to reject a faulty sofa and get a full refund. After that, and within the first six months, a fault is generally presumed to have been there at delivery — the retailer has to repair, replace or refund. After six months, the burden shifts to you to show the fault was inherent. A warranty sits on top of those rights; it doesn't replace them. Report early, even if the noise seems minor. A logged issue protects you if it develops into something worse.
When to simply live with it
Every sofa has a voice. Timber moves, springs breathe, cushions shift. If the noise is faint, intermittent, disappears when you sit differently, and hasn't changed in a month, it's probably character. If it wakes the dog from the next room, it's a claim. Keep the diary, keep the video, stay polite — and don't let the warranty window close while you're still deciding.
