HACKER Q&A
📣 gwbas1c

How do you protect your wood floor from your rolling chair


I telecommute from home, and my house has wood floors. Gorgeous soft pine, to be exact.

The problem is a standard desk chair will kill these floors.

I used to use an office-store standard sheet of thick plastic to protect my floor, but it's too small. I'm constantly rolling off of it.

Now I'm trying some foam rubber floor times I picked up at home depot, but the chair slowly flattens them, which makes the one that I sit on ever so slowly too big to fit.

Anyone use any kind of large floor protector? What works well?

  👤 ramtatatam Accepted Answer ✓
I used rubbered wheels in my chair. It worked for me. If you want extra protection you can get plastic mats from Ikea, but even if you accidentaly roll out your floor will be fine if you have rubbered wheels.

--- Edit

Wow, I just noticed somebody advised rubbered wheels and was heavily downvoted, I wonder why? I used that in the past and it was good solution to prevent floor damage.

👤 hourislate
https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-4525/Chair-Mats/Hard-...

This is a fairly big mat. 6 ft x 6 ft

👤 bradknowles
There are also large roll-up hardwood floor protectors you can get. The one we have comes with felt backing to protect the underlying floor, and the hardwood top surface itself is sturdy enough to withstand whatever your office chair is likely to do to it.

It's just another option.

👤 ThrowawayR2
What size is the plastic sheet you're using? Plastic chair mats are available on Amazon up to 46"x60" which ought to be plenty large enough.
👤 teh_g
Some companies (Steelcase comes to mind, but it must be quite common) offer the option of rubber wheels, especially suited to wood floorings.
👤 pwason
stop sitting on your ass. sell the chair.