My wife's office has solid hickory hardwood floors, and I'd like to protect the floor from her rolling office chair. What can be done to protect the floor? Should I even be concerned about the chair damaging the floor? In two old homes now I've shredded the wood floor under my chair, monster splinters eventually emerging. I work at home in semi-rural New Hampshire. I think they're very old pine floors, so softwood. I plan to try Shepherd Brand Urethane Casters after putty and repainting. From the manufacturer's site, "Nylon tread for carpeting, and urethane tread for hard floors." Much buzz on Amazon about these. Edit: After months with the new casters there are no new paint flakes or splinters. I haven't repainted the floor yet, but it appears these casters will do the trick. I live in a house full of wood floors (engineered hardwood). If the floors are kept clean and the wheels of the chair also are kept clean, every little damage will ever happen to your floors.

If your floors are perfectly smooth and any imperfection will bother you, I do recommend either a low pile or woven rug under the desk and chair. I say this, because if some sand or small rock gets between the chair caster and the floor it will mark it. You can always fill the small imperfection but a rug is a small insurance plan for that area of floor. Replacing your chair's casters can help. Most chairs come with hard nylon casters, but softer rubber/polyurethane/neoprene casters are less likely to scratch or damage your floor. I was initially worried about this, but I've had my office chair on hardwood for about 2 years without issue, with generally at least an hour to 4 hours use every day (and more when I occasionally work from home). It's a pretty typical chair with fairly hard plastic castors. I would either get some sort of "mat" or area rug. There are some plastic mats that are sold without the plastic spikes. There are also 'floating vinyls" or fiber floors that come in rolls (often at Home Depot) and they can just go on top of floor without adhesive.

You can cut them to size. Usually, their weight holds them down. I would not use a plastic mat, as I did because a tiny piece of something got under it and I must have rolled over it a dozen times and it left a bunch of annoying marks in my beautiful hardwood floor. Outdoor Furniture Store Ridgewood Nj I would use some sort of sacrificial mat, either a pre-made mat or a section of some laminate flooring material to cover the area that you will be using the chair.Chandelier Light Bulb Changing Tool Of course I have bamboo floors so it blends in.Bowie Knife Uk Shop The trouble is, no matter what you put down there, if it's a sunny room, your floor will age unevenly. I had one of those clear plastic mats down and when I removed it after a couple of years, a huge light spot was left behind.

I have recently refinished the floor in this room and I'm reluctant to put anything down on the new floor--though maybe with the modern tools & chemicals it's fade-proof I don't know. But I think I have to expect some change of color over time. It's a very sunny room. Kept hoping I'd find something like casters with felt coated wheels. I had no luck. Maybe I should invent such a thing, Lol. Bet they'd sell well. My office chair is also terribly loud rolling across the floor. If you're really really into a solution here, you want a Flexible Glass Chair Mat. It's that: glass you lay on the floor to protect it. Just Google that term. The first results lead to solutions. The chair mat is the way to go. You have to use roofing tacks hammered into the corners to hold it down, otherwise it will slide around and be annoying. Getting a mat is a good idea. If you don't do this what will happen is that dirt and sand particles adhere to the wheels of the chair and grind ruts in the wood creating bare spots.

Floor-Protecting Rubber Office Chair Caster Wheel (Set of 5) Get full swivel action and floor protection without the need for big plastic floor mats. These rubber casters are the office wheels of the future. Perfect set of 5 replacement caster wheels for office chairs with hard plastic wheels. Scratches, scuffs, stuck wheels and noisy squeaks will be a thing of the past with these rubber caster wheels on your chair. Install them quickly and easily (no tools required) simply pull off the old and snap in the new and you're ready for sturdy support and stylish presentation a set of 5 caster wheels can offer. Designed to hold a maximum of 66 lbs. each or 330 lbs. total weight chair and rider. Heavy-duty rubber caster wheels designed as replacement wheels to protect floors Protects hardwood, laminate, tile, slate, and all other hard floor surfaces Eliminates the need for ugly expensive plastic floor mats Features standard 7/16 in. (11 mm) office chair diameter stem and easy-rolling 2 in. (50 mm) wheels

Each supporter cone supports 500 lbs. maximum weight 2 Width& length of the metal stem 1 does this product come with a threaded stem 1 Is the cost for the set of 5 - $17.50 or are they $17.50 each castor? 1 do you get 5 casters for $17.50 Protects wood, laminate, tile and other hard surfaces Textured back reduces mat movement on hard surfaces Straight edges makes it easy to move your chairIn the realm of floor care, a lot of attention is placed on protecting floors against outside contaminants and making sure everyone in the home is aware of good floor-friendly habits. Sometimes, furniture and chair legs can get overlooked as potential sources of floor damage. Unprotected furniture and chair legs can still grind grit and debris into your floor’s finish. Greater concern for scratches and gouges comes from heavier pieces of furniture. For another added layer of hardwood floor protection, chairs and furniture legs need to be made more floor-friendly.

A popular form of chair leg protection is the chair glide or furniture pad. Quite simply, these are pads made of different types of material that are put on the bottoms of your chair legs. There are different types of chair glides, each offering different levels of cost and protection.These types of pads are very secure since they are attached to the furniture leg with either a small nail or screw. Tap-on pads use different materials to make contact with your floor, depending on your floor type. Care should be used with tap-on pads because if they are not properly installed, the nail or screw may be exposed to harm your floor.These are peel and stick pads that can be found almost everywhere. They are typically made of felt or rubber and are the least expensive. However, the adhesive on these pads won’t last as long as tap-on or slip-on pads.These pads are made to fit over a chair leg and are often made of rubber or soft plastic. These won’t have a problem of falling off like a self-adhesive pad or have the potential to scratch your floor like a broken tap-on pad.

While most chair glides and furniture pads are sold as universal pads for all floor types, some consideration is needed for the floor type you have. Common materials to make chair glides and furniture pads are felt, rubber, cork, plastic and metal. Be especially careful with chair glides since they are made to help furniture move on the floor. Choosing the wrong material with chair glides can lead to floor damage.A harder material like steel or plastic work best. Hard Floors (hardwood, ceramic tile). Felt and rubber work best. If using rubber, be weary of potential scuff marks. Make sure the felt is thick enough for even heavy furniture. Soft floors (vinyl, rubber). Felt, rubber and plastic work best. Just like foot traffic, how often your furniture moves will play a part in choosing the right type of furniture pad or chair glide. For heavy pieces of furniture that won’t be moved at all, you have a wider range of furniture pads to choose from. Thick pieces of felt or rubber work well with heavy furniture.

In dining rooms or kitchens, you will have high furniture traffic, so choosing a felt pad can be a good option. Plastic pads or glides will wear down over time, so be sure to check the life of your chair glides periodically. Depending on your kitchen floor, rubber might need to be avoided for scuff marks. In family rooms with couches and sofas, consider how hard the furniture will be treated. Will kids jump on the couch, or will you plop down in your favorite chair after a long day of work? These types of actions will cause small movements, so choose your furniture pad wisely. A rubber pad can do well in this scenario since it will help to restrict furniture movement. While chair glides and furniture pads can be purchased at your local home improvement store, other options are available if you want to minimize cost and make your own. Here are some DIY solutions that can help if you have these materials lying around. For all of these options, a hot glue gun is a great way to make sure that these materials won’t slip or fall off your furniture.

Old scraps of carpet can be cut and placed on furniture legs. Make sure these pads are installed with the carpet-side touching the floor.While felt furniture pads can be store-bought, any thick felt will do nicely. Cut the felt into the appropriate size and glue on.If you have industrial grade Velcro, use the soft side of the Velcro (looped side) as an effective furniture pad.Old towels can be cut into pads, making sure they are of appropriate thickness.Tennis balls that are slightly cut open can make good DIY slip-on pads if you don’t mind how they look on your floors.Leather is another soft, durable material that can be made into a good furniture pad. Regardless of which type of pad you buy or make, make sure that your furniture is level on the floor. If it’s not, it can scratch the finish or make gouges on your floors. Also, be sure to maintain a good cleaning routine to make sure your floors are clean and dirt-free. No matter how durable your furniture pads are, they won’t protect properly if your floors are dirty.