Fix A Wobbly Table With This Simple Wine Cork Hack

Wobbly tables are an inconvenience, and they can interrupt your regular moments, like meals and morning coffees. While you might not be inclined to shell out money for a new table yet, and you have perfected the balancing act out of necessity, in time, the wobble will be impossible to ignore. So if you're tired of being extremely cautious and are looking for a quick hack to fix your wobbly table woes, simply get a wine cork from your kitchen drawer and put it to use.

Using a wine cork to fix your wobbly table will help you upcycle the cork and prevent your corks from going to waste. You can use any type of cork — including synthetic and natural — for the job. But before you begin affixing corks to your table legs, determine if the wobble is caused by uneven legs or an irregular floor surface. If the latter is the culprit behind your wobbly table, try moving your table from its location till it finds even ground.

If an uneven table leg is causing the wobble, move the table to an even work surface and, using a level tool, steady the table until the air bubble in the tool settles in the center. Once your table is level, see which leg is off the ground — that's the cause of your wobbly table and the one you can apply the cork hack to.

After you locate the table leg or legs responsible for the wobble, gauge the distance between the problematic leg(s) and the floor. Next, get your utility knife and keep rolling the cork while you slice off the required disc. You can either cut all the way through for an unattached disc or saw halfway through to leave the discs attached to one another if you're unsure about the thickness.

Once you're sure about the thickness, use hot glue or wood glue to attach the disc beneath the wobbly leg. Your table's wobble will be a distant memory once the glue cures. For the best results, use a synthetic cork since it lasts longer than a natural one.

Though a wine cork is an excellent way to fix your wobbly table, you can try out other hacks if you don't have any cork on hand. If the guilty table leg requires only a slight correction, temporary solutions like placing a matchbox, some folded newspaper, or a cardboard box beneath the leg to fix the wobble can give you a wobble-free table, too. If that doesn't work, you can try placing a deck of cards beneath the table's uneven leg to correct the difference in length.

You can even put your extra bottle cap to use. Grab one and stick it to the end of the uneven leg using some glue. A piece of cloth can help you out as well. Just fold it till it's small enough to be placed beneath the leg, and use a rubber band to keep it in place. Another full-proof method is to purchase a furniture tack based on the gap between the ground and the shortest leg. Just get a tack, flip your table, and hammer it to get rid of the wobble.