Every chair mat advertises itself as “perfect for anyone”.
Try out a few though, you’ll realize that not all are for the heavier population.
After only a few uses, the chair mat always ends up cracked, bent, or torn, one way or the other. Not to mention, it leaves scratches and scuffs on your flooring.
Instead of replacing your chair mat over and over again (or your flooring). Why not invest in one that’s suitable for heavy people?
This then begs the question…
How can you tell it’s good for heavy people?
We’re here to help.
We’ll not only give you the 5 best chair mats for heavy people. We’ll also teach you what you should look for when buying a chair mat for a heavy person.
Are you ready? Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
The Complete Buying Guide to Chair Mats for Heavy People
The truth is, there are no chair mats specifically made for heavy people.
That being said, there are 4 things you can look into that’ll help you see if it’s good for heavy people or not.
These 4 things are:
- Material
- Thickness
- Weight Capacity
- Quality
Let’s take a closer look at each one.
Material
There are 3 basic chair mat materials:
- Plastic
- Wood
- Tempered Glass
Plastic is the cheapest option available.
Most chair mats are made from this. It gets the job done in protecting your carpet and hardwood flooring. As well as making it easy to roll around in your office chair.
However, you need to be careful when choosing a plastic chair mat for a heavy person. I mean, plastic isn’t exactly a strong material.
If you opt for a plastic chair mat, keep these in mind…
- Avoid PVC or vinyl. These plastics flex, curl and crack over time. Imagine how much sooner that’ll happen if you’re heavy. That being said, there are a few high-impact PVC chair mats that’ll work just fine.
- Instead, go for polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is the toughest plastic material out there. It’s able to resist curling, cracking, and denting even with heavyweights.
- Always match plastic chair mats with the other 3 considerations. It’s especially important to consider thickness, weight capacity, and quality for these mats. If you don’t, even the toughest polycarbonate can crack under your weight.
Wood is the middle-ground material.
Compared to plastic, wooden chair mats are a lot stronger, able to hold up a lot more weight.
It’s also a lot more expensive. And, it comes with its own problems, such as splintering, rotting, etc…
Wooden chair mats are the perfect middle-ground
Nonetheless, wood is the perfect material for those looking for an upgrade from plastic chair mats.
(Our advice is, if you want a wooden chair mat, make sure it has some kind of coating to protect the wood. This not only avoids wood problems but makes it even stronger).
Tempered glass is by far the best chair mat material for heavy people.
Made from a heat treatment process, this material is extremely tough.
Just to give you an example of its toughness, you need 24,000 PSI (pounds per square inch) to break it.
Talk about tough!
Unfortunately, tempered glass chair mats are the most expensive. If you ask us though, we’ll say it’s well worth the extra dollars.
Thickness
Chair mats have 2 main purposes:
Protecting your flooring and making it easy to maneuver your office chair.
However, you can’t expect it to do either if it doesn’t have the right thickness.
What happens if your chair mat is too thin?
For one, it’ll sink under your weight, making it hard to roll around. For another, the chair wheels or legs will be able to go through it, able to scrape or scratch the flooring.
So you see, it defeats the very purpose of a chair mat.
As you can probably guess, the heavier you are, the thicker your chair mat should be. (As we said, this is most important to consider for plastic chair mats).
Okay, so that might be obvious to you. What you want to know is what’s a good thickness for heavy people…
Well, a thickness of 1/8-inches and above should do the trick.
Weight Capacity
It doesn’t matter if you get the best material or the thickest chair mat…
If you go over the weight capacity, you’re only asking for trouble.
We can’t stress this enough: get. a. chair. mat. that. can. support. your. weight.
Now, when looking into weight capacity, don’t forget to include the weight of your chair as well. The chair mat should support the total weight of you and your chair.
Quality
Last but not least, quality.
For a heavy person, it’s important to get a chair mat that’s well-made, durable, reliable, and built to last.
Needless to say, chair mats with an excellent quality offer ALL THAT.
But how do you know if it’s good quality or not?
Here are our 3 tips:
- You can always trust the quality of a well-known brand. Brands such as Lorell, Anji Mountain, and Floortex focus their mats around quality.
- Reading reviews is great, too. Satisfied users won’t hesitate to comment on great quality. A good place to find honest reviews is on Amazon.
- Check the “feel”. If you’re able to feel the chair mat before buying it, you’ll be able to tell its quality. There’s something about the feel of quality chair mats that you’ll notice immediately.
Top 3 Picks for Heavy People
Table could not be displayed.The 5 Best Chair Mats for Heavy People
Instead of going out and looking for these chair mats yourself. We’ll do it for you.
To do that, we’ll review the 5 best chair mats suitable for heavy people. This way, it’ll be a lot easier to find the one that’s for YOU.
Let’s begin!
1. Best Overall: Lorell Tempered Glass Chair Mat
| Material | Tempered glass |
| Thickness | 1/4 inches |
| Weight Capacity | 1,000lbs |
| Quality |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
It wouldn’t be the best chair mat for heavy people list without the Lorell Tempered Glass Chair Mat.
And no wonder!
This chair mat provides everything you need.
It’s durable, stable, and can be used for any floor type.
It doesn’t stop there.
The Lorell Tempered Glass Chair Mat is scratch-resistant.
This feature ensures long-lasting smoothness. You’ll be able to roll your office chair on it without any problems.
What’s more, it’s easy to clean, looks beautiful, has rounded edges, comes with a Limited Lifetime Warranty…
With this warranty, they’ll replace the chair mat for you as long as you’re not the cause of damage, e.g. going over the weight capacity, dropping metal on it, not taking care of it, pets scratching it, etc…
For the heavier population, Lorell Tempered Glass Chair Mat is a godsend.
However, it comes with a few inconveniences as well.
For one, it’s heavy. But we really can’t complain since its weight is what secures it in place.
Another inconvenience is what we call the “getting-used-to-it-stage”. I mean, it might not feel right rolling your office chair on GLASS.
Once you get over that though, you won’t hesitate ever again.
Then, there’s the fact that it’ll cost you.
One last thing. Yes, this chair mat is very tough, but any heavy-ish metal that falls on it will leave it in shatters. Just be mindful of that.
Aside from those, this chair mat is the PERFECT CHAIR MAT FOR HEAVY PEOPLE.
Lorell Tempered Glass Chair Mat
| What We Like: | What We Don’t Like: |
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2. Most Affordable: Floortex Cleartex UltiMat Chair Mat
| Material | Polycarbonate |
| Thickness | 1/8 inches |
| Weight Capacity | 250lbs |
| Quality |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
You don’t need to shell out your wallet for a brilliant chair mat. Thanks to Floortex Cleartex UltiMat Chair Mat, you’ll be able to save money.
It’s the most affordable, high-quality chair mat out there.
With it, you get UltiMat durability and clarity.
The durability ensures that it won’t crack, curl, or wear out quickly. As for the clarity, you can pretend the mat is not there at all! The best part is that it doesn’t become yellow with time.
But that’s not all.
This chair mat is certified by GREENGUARD standards. You don’t have to worry about chemical emission ruining indoor air.
Also, you can say goodbye to leg fatigue as it’s easy to glide on.
Unfortunately, it only works for low/medium pile carpets. The grippers are not tall enough for high pile carpets and are too sharp for hardwood, tile, vinyl, etc…
And, even with grippers, it still slightly moves around. Not too much that it becomes annoying though.
All things considered, you won’t find a better deal for a chair mat suitable for heavy people.
Floortex Cleartex UltiMat Chair Mat
| What We Like: | What We Don’t Like: |
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3. Most Attractive: Anji Mountain Bamboo Chair Mat
| Material | Bamboo |
| Thickness | 5mm (13/64 inches) |
| Weight Capacity | 250lbs |
| Quality | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
You can’t go wrong with Anji Mountain Bamboo Chair Mat beauty and durability. I mean, it’s made from 100% bamboo after all.
Also, it’s very sturdy, stable, and well-made. Guaranteed to last you a long time.
To keep the bamboo protected, it’s coated with a premium UV finish. Plus, the bamboo is kiln-dried to the optimum moisture content to avoid cracks and warps.
What else? It rolls up!
There’s no trouble transferring or storing this chair mat.
Other than it being a great chair mat for heavy people, it also gears toward the environment. The Anji Mountain Bamboo Chair Mat boasts sustainability and renewability.
As expected, there are some complaints with this chair mat as well.
It isn’t fully waterproof, it doesn’t have the best quality, it sometimes moves around, it requires hard wheel casters for top performance…
The biggest one though is that it’s very pricey.
Still, if you’re looking for the most attractive chair mat for heavy people, you’ll be hard press to find a better one.
Anji Mountain Bamboo Chair Mat
| What We Like: | What We Don’t Like: |
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4. Most Rigid: Marvelux Heavy-Duty Chair Mat
| Material | Polycarbonate |
| Thickness | 1/16 inches |
| Weight Capacity | 250lbs |
| Quality |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Another great plastic chair mat on our list is the Marvelux Heavy-Duty Chair Mat.
There are few brands that are as good as Marvelux in making rigid plastic chair mats.
Their products are manufactured in the UK and they use the highest grade of pure polycarbonate.
This chair mat is no exception.
It comes with improved durability, rigidity, and surface protection.
You might have noticed that it’s thinner than our recommended 1/8 inches for heavy people. But that doesn’t even matter at this point since its 100% pure polycarbonate is so rigid.
And, since it’s so rigid, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t curl, crack, or dimple with your weight. As well as doesn’t create creases from rolled-up shipment.
What about its safety measures?
Glad you asked.
This chair mat has no odor, no toxins, no cadmium, no tin, and no lead.
However, it only works best for low, standard, and medium pile carpets up to 1/2 inches thick. And even at that, it still moves around a bit.
Also, it’s a rather pricey chair mat.
Marvelux Heavy-Duty Chair Mat
| What We Like: | What We Don’t Like: |
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5. Most Innovative: Mushyn Anti-Fatigue Chair Mat
| Material | Vinyl, PVC |
| Thickness | 1.5mm (3/50 inches) |
| Weight Capacity | 250lbs |
| Quality |
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Sitting in one position for hours will take its toll on your body, including your feet.
But with the Mushyn Anti-Fatigue Chair Mat, your feet will thank you!
This chair mat comes in 2 sections.
The chair section protects any hard flooring from chair wheels or legs.
Sure, it’s very thin. It WON’T crack under heavy pressure though, as it’s made from a durable and high-impact PVC.
Also, it doesn’t curl or bend with your weight since the hard flooring will keep it flat. It’s scratch, tear, and stain resistant as well.
In the footrest section, NBR anti-fatigue support foam is added under the PVC. This relieves stress on your feet while sitting or standing.
It’s a chair mat and footrest in one.
There’s also an anti-slip backing at the bottom to keep it secure even in glossy hardwood, tiles, vinyl, etc…
The best part is, you get all that for an affordable price!
Bear in mind, this chair mat is rather small. And, it might not be the smoothest for chairs with wheels.
One last thing. Because of the footrest, you won’t be able to roll your office chair all the way under the desk.
Still, for its protection and comfort, it’s a chair mat worth considering for heavy people.
Mushyn Anti-Fatigue Chair Mat
| What We Like: | What We Don’t Like: |
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Table could not be displayed.Conclusion
Every chair mat advertises itself as “perfect for anyone”.
In reality, only a handful are suitable for heavy people.
But with this list, you now know what the 5 best chair mats for heavy people are.
And, with the complete buying guide, you’re well on your way to finding the perfect chair mat for YOU.
We hope this has been a great help!
My name is Vance, and I am the owner of To Ergonomics. Our mission is to improve your workflow by helping you create a supportive and welcoming environment. We hope that you’ll find what you’re looking for while you’re here.