4 Solutions To Protect Hardwood Floors From Office Chairs

Hardwood floors have a certain beauty and quality that no other flooring can match.

However, it’s a lot easier to leave marks on wood than, say, tiles or linoleum.

It needs extra care if you want to preserve the hardwood.

Now, if you use an office chair to move across your hardwood floor, that could leave a lot of scratches and scuffs.

So much for trying to preserve its beauty!

Good news! There are several ways you can protect your hardwood floor from office chairs.

Here, we’re going to show you the 4 best ways to do that.

So let’s get to it!

4 Effective Ways To Protect Hardwood Floors

These 4 ways are cleaning, cushioning, covering, and replacing. Luckily, all are very easy to follow.

Let’s take a close look at each.

1. Cleaning – Don’t Forget to Sweep!

You might be wondering, “How can my office chair leave marks on hardwood floors?”

It could be because of all the debris, dirt, and whatnot on the floor. As the office chair’s casters roll over these, it’ll get dragged along, scratching the floor.

This is why it’s so important to keep your hardwood floor clean all the time. Especially when you’re using your office chair.

Don’t forget to sweep, or even better, vacuum, the whole room before you sit down at your desk.

You should also clean your office chair’s casters.

This is because dirt accumulates in the casters. Too much dirt could fall off, get rolled on, and leave a scratch or mark on the hardwood.

You don’t need to do this regularly, though. Cleaning it every 6 months is good enough.

This might not look like much. But it goes a long way in keeping your hardwood floor looking brand new.

2. Cushioning – Duct Tape Can Be Used for Anything!

Even if your floor and casters are clean, your office chair could still scuff the hardwood.

How?

If the casters are made from hard plastic or hard nylon, there will be too much impact on the hardwood.

Over time, this will leave scuffs everywhere you roll your office chair.

To solve that, you need to find a way to lessen the impact of the casters.

Well, duct tape is great for that!

You can duct tape the circumference of each office chair caster. This will soften the impact.

One thing you should note. This is not a permanent solution. It still might leave some light scuffs after a while.

Also, you’ll need to replace the duct tape every few days. Which, believe us, isn’t the best task.

3. Covering – Area Rugs Are Your Best Friend!

So far, the solutions we mentioned have needed a lot of work. But what if you don’t have the time?

Then this solution is for you.

It’s so convenient, simple, and effective. All you need to do is cover your hardwood floor from the office chair casters with an area rug.

If you move your office chair from one end of your desk to another, a small area rug will do the trick.

However, there’s a dilemma if you move across the room.

For one thing, you’ll need to find an area rug that covers the whole room. And if that’s the case, you won’t be able to enjoy the beauty of your hardwood floor anymore.

So is there no way to protect your hardwood and still enjoy its beauty with this solution?

There is!

You can get transparent area rugs (below). It’ll give the hardwood a smudged look, but at least it won’t be completely covered.

One last thing. Hard casters can also damage area rugs after a while. Still, this is much better than damaging your hardwood floor as area rugs are easy to replace.

4. Replacing – Time to Change Those Casters!

Of all the solutions, this one is our favorite. We saved the best for last.

This solution is the most effective and long-lasting in protecting your hardwood floor. You do have to spend quite a few bucks for it, though.

What is it?

Replace the hard casters with softer ones.

A good replacement will be OPTTICO Rollerblade Casters.

These casters don’t have edges that drag against the floor. It’s also made from soft rubber, preventing scratches, scuffs, and other marks.

You can stop worrying about your office chair damaging your hardwood floor.

The best part is that it’s super easy to install.

All you need to do is pull out the old casters. And push in the new OPTTICO Rollerblade Casters.

It’s definitely worth every penny!

Conclusion

To summarize, the 4 ways to protect your hardwood floor from your office chair are…

1. Make sure the floor is always clean. As well as the office chair’s casters.
2. Add duct tape around the casters’ circumference to lessen the impact on the hardwood.
3. Place an area rug under your desk. Or a transparent area rug around the room.
4. Replace the hard casters with new ones. Preferably to rollerblade casters.

Now that you know how to protect your hardwood, don’t wait until you spot a scratch, scuff, or mark on it. You should protect it right away with any of these 4 solutions.