Just like they damage hardwood floors, office chairs damage tile floors. Office chairs roll across the floor on wheels that may not be as smooth on tile surfaces as they would be with carpet or wooden surfaces.
The rolling of the chair’s casters over tiles can leave scratches on the surface that will eventually show up.
You do not want your expensive tile flooring damaged by a chair, mainly when you have spent a lot of your money on interior design and elegant tile.
So Do office chairs damaged tile?
It depends upon the chair’s wheels. If the wheels of the chairs are made of hard plastic, then it certainly hurts the floor. The rugged wheels, instead of rolling on the floor smoothly, cause friction and scraping.
How Office Chairs Damage the Tile?
Berkeley Lab of the University of California has described the issue beautifully, stating that rolling chairs have the wrong casters, damaging the floor.
It also causes the person to skate when he sits on the chair. This can potentially cause the chair to tip over.
How to Stop Office Chairs from Damaging My Floor Tiles?
There are some tips that you should try to avoid damage to tile floors.
Now that we’ve talked about chair mats and tile flooring let’s take a look at some of the simple tips you can do other than that.
These seven tips are as simple as they can be. Here are the best things you can do how to keep your office chair from scratching the tile floor, ranked from easiest to most complicated:
Now let’s look at some of the tips that you should try to avoid damage to the floor.
1. Change Your Office Chair Wheels
The first tip to avoid damage is to keep the office chair from damaging the floor. This is perhaps the best option for you. Some types of wheels, such as roller-blade wheels, will protect your floor from being scraped by chair wheels.
This method is affordable too. The wheels are not that expensive compared to the overall cost of the chair.
The best thing about the roller-blade wheels is that they fix the floor damage issue and enhance your sitting experience. Now you can glide effortlessly from one side of your table to another side.
We have a super easy method in this link if you want to remove the old caster wheels and replace them with a new one.
We have added some more practical wheel alternatives apart from the roller-blade type. The next wheel type is a polyurethane (rubber-like) wheel.
This wheel is specifically designed to support heavyweight. It is soft enough to glide smoothly and durable sufficient to last for a longer time.
There is another advantage of using rubber wheels which is that they are swift to install. It takes only a few minutes to install the rubber wheels on an office chair.
2. Use a Chair Mat for Tile Floor
Although a bit expensive method of fixing the tile flooring issue, a floor mat is quite helpful. To protect the floor, a chair mat can be put under the chair on the floor.
If you are worried about the design of the mat, then don’t worry. There are several designs of mats available in the market. Some of them are transparent, so they will not interfere with the color of your office interior.
There is a critical tip here: some of the office mats are very rough-textured, and they can be stuck with the office chair, so you should avoid those designs.
3. Maintenance
The next option for you is maintenance. Keeping your floor clean from the debris can avoid floor damage.
When the bed is polluted, then it affects the environment as well as the wheelchairs. You have to clean the debris and make your workplace clean even if you have solved the problem.
4. Buy a New Office Chair
The third option is the most calculated, and it should be used only if you do not have any other left. The third step is buying a new chair.
If your chair was damaged previously and you have some other repairs apart from the wheels damage, then purchasing a new chair could be a good option for you or, should I call it a necessary option for you?
It would help if you had some more research and calculation before buying a new chair because then you are not concerned about the wheels of the chairs but also the designs and other ergonomic features of the chair.
5. Use Area Rug
An area rug is another alternative to mats. This also protects your hardwood from wheel movement. Apart from that, it is more aesthetically appealing than the mat.
However, there is a problem with the rug which is that it should be cleaned regularly. Otherwise, there is a hard layer of dust formed on the rugs.
Just like the mast, they are also available in many different colors and shapes.
6. Install Cardboard
This is another inexpensive option for the problem. But there is a bit of a problem with installing cardboard. The cardboards are not a long-term option, and they can be used only temporarily.
7. Wrap the Bottom of the Frame with a Rubber
You can also wrap the bottom of the frame with rubber. These are particularly useful to avoid damage to the floor caused by the office chair.
This procedure is not aesthetically tremendous, and most of you would not adopt this option, but for someone working from home and who wants to fix the issue with some inexpensive stuff, it is a great option.
Wrapping Up
To wrap up, office chairs can undoubtedly damage the floor. You should be careful about it, but if you have faced the issue, you don’t need to worry about it; we have explained some very, super simple methods to solve the problem.
