A desk chair and hardwood floors: Rubber wheels, a chair mat, or both?

June 5, 2022 12:55 AM

I'm moving into a new apartment that has hardwood floors (or whatever the latest engineered hardwood-ish flooring is). The floor looks great, so I don't want to damage it with my desk chair, especially since I work from home. I can get rubber wheels for my chair. Is that enough, or should I still get a chair mat too?
posted by 2oh1 to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

I would get the mat. Even soft wheels can roll over household dirt, etc. and mar the surface.
posted by magicbus at 5:52 AM on June 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

I’ve had old soft pine floors for ages and used a low-nap rug from ikea. That works better than a plastic mat which can slide around unless anchored by furniture. Ultimately I ditched it because my vacuum cleaner, better suited to wood floors, wasn’t effective. I replaced the wheels on my chair with rubber wheels, no mat, and they work fine, smoother, cushier, quiet. No damage to the floor that I can detect.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:10 AM on June 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

My floor protecting mat in my old place wrecked my floors. I didn’t a/b test it against no floor protector but I believe it was much worse than no floor protector. I think grit got between it and the floor.
posted by aubilenon at 6:15 AM on June 5, 2022

We used a low pile rug when we had this issue and it seemed to work.
posted by MadamM at 7:14 AM on June 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Are there people living below you? Get a low pile rug, please... at least.
posted by nkknkk at 7:40 AM on June 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Example of a rug-like chair mat for hardwood floors; comes in a couple of different sizes.
posted by gudrun at 8:31 AM on June 5, 2022

I have a sealed concrete floor under my desk. The wheels of my chair actually destroyed the seal to an extent. So I bought a clear floor mat and that seems to have done the trick.
posted by koahiatamadl at 8:36 AM on June 5, 2022

A sisal floor mat with a non-slip spongy carpet underlay is what I've been using for seven years. The floor looks great still and the mat is a lot less ugly than the plastic things actually designed for chairs. (I think I got both at Ikea for $30. I was very surprised the cat left it alone.)
posted by eotvos at 8:43 AM on June 5, 2022

Get rollerblade wheels. Zooming around the house in an office chair is glorious!
posted by rouftop at 9:46 AM on June 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: > Get rollerblade wheels.

That's exactly what I'm planning on doing. I just want to make sure they won't damage the floor over time. I think I may get a chair mat too.
posted by 2oh1 at 11:59 AM on June 5, 2022

I think the rollerblade wheels are better for rolling but they can still damage the finish on a wood floor. I use a thin rug at one desk and a plastic mat at another. I like the rug best.
posted by Ochre,Hugh at 12:15 PM on June 5, 2022