11- How to fill your own order (Invoice page)
12- What are your Terms and Conditions?
13- What is better, solid wood or wood veneers?
Answers:
1. Where is Berkshire Furniture located?
We are located at 1425 Dundas Street East (Inside Mobilia Building), corner of Dixie. Mississauga, Ontario Canada L4X-2W4
2. How do I place an Order?
Very easy: Everything is affordably priced and everything is on sale. Just click "Place order now" on the item(s) that you like to purchase. You will be asked to enter your e-mail address and click enter. Upon entering the "Invoice" area you will fill in all your information on the invoice page just as you are writing your own order. The item(s) you chose are already showing on the invoice with taxes calculated. If your shipping address is Ontario or you are picking up your order, then you pay GST & PST. Otherwise you only pay PST. If you are shipping to US, you do not pay any taxes. Remember to add your shipping rate otherwise we presume it is a pick up.
3- How long will take for the furniture to arrive?
Typically it takes anywhere from 1-8 weeks for furniture to be ready and shipped. It all depends on availability and your distance.
4- What if I received a piece of furniture that was damaged?
If you received a piece of furniture that was damaged and the damaged area can Not be fixed by part replacements i.e. a drawer, a door, a leg, touch up, or by service man, then simply send that piece back with the driver and we will replace it free of charge.
5- How long is the warranty?
For Case goods (Wood Furniture) the warranty is one year from date items received, and it is at manufacturer's discretion. Meaning manufacturer warranty limit will apply to the product. In most cases it is a better warranty, since all suppliers will replace the product or service it FREE of charge. In other cases some suppliers will send out parts to be replaced. For example they will send a drawer, a door, a leg or even a table top to resolve the situation. Mattresses and foundations have pro-rated warranty of 10-30 years. Remember in order to service mattresses they must be clean and not soiled. Upholstery has a limited life time (life of the product) warranty for the frame. The material warranty varies from 1-3 years. >> More on warranty
6- How do I pay for my order?
We require 30% deposit at the time of order placement. For long distance area we accept: VISA or MC. For GTA (Greater Toronto Area) we accept: VISA, MC, Cash or Certified Cheque. More info on payment methods.
7- How do you ship?
Your furniture is shipped by reliable and safe freight trucks if you are out of GTA (Greater Toronto Area). We do not ship by UPS or other small carriers unless the piece is small enough for them to be able to handle. Your furniture is nicely packed, assembled (some furniture may not be assembled and require minor assembly), shipped in large freight trucks with experienced movers. For the customers in GTA, we deliver your furniture by our own truck with top service.
8- How much do you charge for shipping?
The shipping charges varies depending on the quantity of pieces you like to purchase and the distance. Although we prefer if customers could pick up their orders but we will provide you with good shipping service if you can not pick up. Please refer to our Shipping Rates to check the shipping charges. Standard FREE shipping is available to purchases over 5 pieces.
9- Does the shipping include setup?
Our "White Glove" service does include unboxing, setting up and debris removal. "RTA" Ready to assemble, furniture can be assembled and delivered to, for a fee. Please refer to our Shipping Rates for shipping charges.
10- Is there any more savings if I purchase multiple items?
All our products are priced at an incredibly reasonable value. We bring you the lowest possible prices and this way we increase our sales and off set the low margins. We all benefit from volume orders. You get FREE standard shipping (5+pieces), and we can continue to offer you our lowest prices. We value and appreciate every customer and their purchase no matter how small or large. But those customers who order more items will have the privilege to SAVE more since it will be less costly for us to ship the product and other administrations. We call this ROOM SALE. Choose from a good selection of packaged Ready Rooms (Bedrooms and Dining Rooms), priced at our even lower prices. Most of these rooms do include FREE standard shipping as well. And if you wish to have your shippment brought into your home and setup, we can do it for a small fee. Please see our shipping rates.
Wood Facts
Solid Wood Vs. Wood Veneer
What’s Good & What’s Better
Solid Wood Furniture versus Veneer
Some makers use both types of construction in building custom furniture and custom cabinets. Now lets look at these two options and their strong and weak points.
Solid wood furniture This means all exposed parts are made of the same species of all natural wood, with no other materials included, such as plywood or particle board.
Advantages of Solid Wood:
Practical. The durability of solid wood furniture is high on the list. Scratches, dings, dents, water marks, stains can all be repaired. Obviously, the worse the damage the more expensive, but it is certainly easier and less expensive than veneer furniture.
Disadvantages of Solid Wood:
Split. When exposed to extreme atmospheric conditions, solid wood furniture will expand or contract, and may split along the grain of the wood. Some makers use a "floating case system" in which table and case-piece surfaces are attached using a bracket method or elongated holes for screws to slide. This enables furniture to respond to environmental changes without damage. As a rule, though, avoid exposing pieces to strong sunlight or direct heat sources.
Veneer furniture begins with thin layers of wood glued together with the grain at right angles over a thick core. This crisscross design reduces the chances of splitting or cracking. Plus, the glue is the same strong, waterproof adhesive used in aircraft and marine construction, so the end result is actually stronger than the natural wood. Many people mistakenly assume that veneered furniture is inferior to or cheaper than solid wood; however, veneers quite often are used for high end furniture pieces and it can be more costly than solid wood.
Good quality veneer furniture will have a solid core and the legs, posts, doors or drawer fronts will be straight-grain solid wood.
Advantages of Veneer:
Beautiful. The best, most interesting logs are cut into veneer. This is largely an economic decision--sellers and veneer makers can make more money from a high quality log sliced into veneer than they can from sawing it into boards. And certain cuts, such as burls, are structurally unsound in 'the solid'. These beautiful woods can rarely be utilized unless they're sliced into veneer
Environmentally kind. Saw timber is typically sawn into 1" thick boards. The saw cuts a kerf between boards 1/4" thick that winds up as sawdust. Veneer is not cut from the log but sliced with a knife (like lunch meat) into 1/32" leaves or sheets. That produces 32 veneer surfaces for every 1 that is gotten from a board and with no wood wasted as sawdust another 8 sheets where the saw blade would have gone. That's 40 surfaces of wood veneer for every 1 of solid wood.
Creates new design possibilities. Since veneer is so thin and is glued to a stable
substrate it allows designs and arrangements of the wood that would fail in solid wood. Solid wood, even kiln-dried, moves or works from summer through winter through summer again. A radiant table top would be impossible in solid lumber because the seams would open in winter and swell tightly shut in summer. Cross grain designs such as aprons and edge banding's are also impossible in solids. Solid burls are also largely unusable but frequently used in veneer.
Stable. Since veneer is glued to a stable substrate it produces surfaces not prone to warp or splitting or seasonal movement.
Substrates. Plywood and medium density fiberboard, the substrates used for some furniture, are made from low quality trees. This means a market is provided the landowner for these trees. This leads to better forests over time since the trees remaining grow better and faster with less competition for resources. Its like weeding your garden only a lot bigger.
Disadvantages Veneer:
Thin. This is more of a problem for the builder than the buyer. Sand-through in preparation for finishing is 'touching the third rail' of woodworking. Such pieces are almost impossible to repair and frequently involve 're-design' (as in cutting off the sanded through area) or making a speculative, difficult repair which can be difficult to hide. Once the piece is completed thickness of the veneer is of no concern.
Blisters, delaminates, peel back at edges. These can only be satisfactorily prevented by proper construction materials and techniques. Early in the 20th century much mass-produced, low quality veneer furniture was made that haunts furniture makers to this day. Construction techniques and materials have improved considerably in the past few decades to the point that delaminating is no longer a legitimate concern. Hide glue is used only in a few special applications and has been superseded by aliphatic and resorcinol glues. 'Hammer veneering' and cumbersome, mechanical presses have been replaced by vacuum presses which insure good clamping (and facilitate design possibilities by allowing veneering of curved surfaces).
The edge thing. Since veneer is glued to a plywood or medium density fiberboard substrate the edges must be covered. The best solution involves a strip of solid wood that opens more design possibilities. The edging can be wide or narrow, match the veneer panel or contrast, can further incorporate veneer which can be cross grain or at a 45 degree angle, can be set off by a narrow strip of inlay, etc. A workable solution but one that is generally avoided is to run the veneer right up to the edge of the piece and cover the edge with a strip of veneer. This can make for 'hard' edges susceptible to peel back and is best avoided.
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