We have to say, very few people consider their choice of home office flooring from a practicality perspective. Most people go for looks and decide on beautiful wooden flooring, and then realise their office chair is damaging it.
With the constant back and forth, the rolling and the wear, a chair will begin to scuff and mark a wooden floor unless you take some of the measures we’ve listed in this guide. Below, you can find out exactly how to protect your beautiful hardwood floors from your office chair.
Invest in the right castors
The right castors can be make or break, particularly for your hardwood floor. The ‘wrong’ type of castors can result in a severely scratched up floor that needs replacing far before your office chair does.
Most office chairs come with standard hard plastic or nylon castors as standard. These are built for carpet (most offices have carpet tiles, so it makes sense), but on a wooden floor, they’ll start to grind and scuff it from the get-go.
When you purchase a Slouch office chair, you have the option to choose between standard castors and hard floor castors (at an additional charge). Hard floor castors are made from rubber, polyurethane or neoprene and are much gentler on wood flooring, whether it’s hardwood, laminate or LVT. Our soft wheel castors are made from PU “Desmopan”, which is currently the best (and most expensive) material available on the market for soft wheel castors.
If you don’t have a Slouch chair with special castors, you can swap out your existing castors and it’s usually a five minute job with no tools required. Before you go ahead and buy new castors, though, definitely check the load rating as an under-rated soft wheel will wear unevenly and still damage your floors over time.
Put the chair on a chair mat or rug
Even with the right castors, there is still a risk of scuffing your wood floors. If you really want to protect them, you can add a chair mat or a rug for the chair to sit on.
Chair mats come in all shapes and sizes and they keep the castors off the wood floor entirely, so you can go about your working day without stressing about the flooring in your home office. Transparent/clear ones are available, so you can still see your lovely wooden floors underneath the chair.
If you find that you roll further than what a standard mat will cover (e.g. to a printer or reaching to a second monitor), a larger rug can protect the wider area around your desk. When getting a rug, woven instead of plastic will work best. This is because plastic mats can trap grit and dust underneath them, which can scratch the wooden floor over time, defeating the whole point of the rug. A rubber-backed rug can also damage the floor over time, discolouring it and marking the finish.
When buying a rug, your best option is a woven one that has a breathable underlay or that’s secured with fabric carpet tape.
Clean your castors regularly
Ok, when was the last time you cleaned your castor wheels? Last month? Last year? It’s a job many people forget to do, or don’t realise they should do, but castors pick up a lot of dirt from the floor, including dust, hair and grit. This builds up in the wheels and can eventually start to damage the floor underneath, so give them a clean every month or so, particularly if your office gets a lot of foot traffic. For hair removal specifically, you can read our guide to discover how to effectively remove hair from your castor wheels.
FAQs
Is a chair mat enough on its own without getting hard floor castors as well?
A good chair mat will be sufficient on its own, as long as your chair stays on it. If you’re often rolling around your home office, travelling off the edges of the mat, then soft castors are an added protection.
How do I remove scuff marks from my chair?
If you’ve already noticed some marks on your floor from your chair, you may be able to get them out with a soft cloth and a bit of floor cleaner, but any deeper marks will need more TLC, like sanding and refinishing.
A great trick we’ve seen is to rub a walnut into scratches on a wooden floor. It really makes them disappear (don’t believe us? Watch this).
Does the type of wood floor make a difference?
Some woods, like oak, are naturally harder than others and will, therefore, be more hardwearing. However, over time, oak will still mark and scratch, so it’s about protecting that floor as much as possible to reduce damage.
Is wood flooring a bad choice for a home office because of this?
Don’t be put off wood or laminate flooring for your home office. With the right castors and a mat or a rug, you can protect your wood flooring while ensuring your home office is really easy to clean.
