LAPIERRE MARKET · Services
USM Haller restoration
Pitted chrome, marked lacquer, a damaged ball thread, a door that no longer closes straight: we stabilise what we can and replace parts one at a time, without giving a 1975 unit a factory finish.
We don't restore a USM Haller to new. A 1975 unit that comes out looking factory-fresh has lost something, and often value too.
Our rule is to do as little as possible: we stabilise what is deteriorating and only replace what no longer works.
The four common kinds of wear
- Chrome pits when a unit spends a long time somewhere damp: a cellar, a garage, a cold wall. Surface pitting can be stabilised; if the corrosion has gone right through, the tube has to be replaced.
- Lacquered steel scratches against bare metal, mostly along the edges after a move. A careful clean recovers more than you'd think.
- Connector balls and screws suffer too: crossed threads, seized screws, burred heads. They're cheap parts, yet a single one can immobilise a whole unit.
- Then there are the moving parts: doors that no longer drop straight, sticking drawers, jammed castors, missing glides.
What we do
We clean the lacquer with lukewarm water and a soft cloth; the chrome gets a gentle treatment followed by a protective coat. We stabilise surface pitting to stop it spreading.
Balls, screws, glides and castors are replaced one at a time from our stock. A damaged panel or sheet goes to our partner workshop, which relacquers it in its colour using the same process as the original paint; our reconfiguration page explains why the shade matters.
Squaring the frame is enough to fix most fronts that close badly, without changing a single part. We also adjust the doors and drawers one by one until the gaps are even.
What we will not do
We never touch up a panel locally: baked lacquer doesn't blend in, so the whole panel is relacquered. Sound chrome we leave as it is, fifty years old and showing it. When a piece we sell has been relacquered or has had a replacement tube, its listing says so, as our second-life programme requires. And if a standard module is too far gone, we'll advise you to replace it rather than pay for a restoration that would cost more.
Before sale, after purchase
If the piece comes from us, it's restored before it goes online, and the listing states what was cleaned, what was replaced and what wear remains.
If you already own it, everything starts with a diagnosis from photographs. Send us an overall view, then close-ups taken in daylight of each area that worries you. We'll tell you straight away whether the work is worth doing.
Requesting a diagnosis
Send photographs and a description to infos@lapierremarket.fr, or use the contact form. We reply within twenty-four hours.
For leather (a Togo, an LC2, an office chair), see leather restoration instead. And if you're not sure the modules are authentic, start with an appraisal.
Indicators
What our model actually means.
- Conservationthe least visible intervention possible
- Individuallyballs, screws and glides replaceable, panels relacquerable
- 24 hturnaround on a quote request
Frequently asked
Frequently asked.
Should pitted chrome be re-plated?
Rarely. The whole unit has to come apart and the parts go into a plater's bath, which often costs more than replacing the tubes, and the result clashes with the rest. We only recommend it when the corrosion is deep and widespread.
Is a scratched panel repaired or replaced?
As long as the scratch stays in the lacquer, cleaning will soften it. If it goes down to bare metal, a local touch-up would always show, so the whole panel is relacquered by our partner workshop, using the same process as the original paint.
My drop-down doors no longer close straight. Is that serious?
Almost never. It means the frame has twisted: we square it up, re-tighten in the right order, and the gaps even out again.
How should USM lacquer be cleaned?
With lukewarm water and a soft cloth, no solvents or abrasives, and no harsh microfibre. Many units brought to us as 'damaged' are really just dirty.
A question, a project, a sourcing brief?
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