A joint is the mechanical connection of two or more structural pieces. Joinery refers to the connection of wooden members in furniture construction. There are many ways to connect the different pieces of wood that make up a piece of furniture. The oldest and most time-consuming method is joinery is a mortice and tenon joint. A mortice and tenon joint is an interlocking wood joint that is glued. It is very strong and can resist pulling, pushing, or twisting. Most of the older furniture has mortice and tenon joinery, and as a result, these items are durable and handle the stresses of moving well. However, most modern furniture manufacturers such as IKEA, use butt joints (placing two pieces against one another) and securing them with mechanical fasteners (screws or bolts) to join them together. Butt joints are extremely weak and do not handle move stresses well. Arpin of RI crews are trained to evaluate the construction methods used to manufacture each piece of furniture that they encounter and use their expertise to modify their handling techniques to fully protect that item.