If you want an interior to look stylish and upscale, equipping it with quality hardwood floors is a solid way to do it. It would be no wonder, then, if you decided on this flooring material for your home office. Hardwood is also known to be durable, so it’s the perfect choice for an area that is going to get a lot of use, right? Well, while hardwood is certainly one of the more durable flooring options out there, it is not invincible. If it comes into contact with hard materials, it can, indeed, get scratched. And while you may think that a scratch is not the end of the world, soon, that one scratch will be a multitude of scuffs and scratches, and the area will start to look worn out.
In office environments, rolling chairs are a particularly formidable enemy to a hardwood floor. Specially designed so that the person sitting in it can move around freely, they are perfect for office work. However, the constant movement and the pressure your body puts on the chair will sooner or later start to leave scuff marks on your floor. Some materials are less susceptible to this than others. For instance, if your floors are made of mahogany, they may not show wear and tear as much. However, other woods, such as oak, can easily get scratched. To avoid this scenario, here are a few tips for protecting your hardwood floors from a rolling office chair or any other furniture.
Change your habits
As mentioned, rolling office chairs are particularly problematic as they are moved around a lot. If you want to protect your floors, then, make sure you don’t do that. While it’s certainly convenient that you can just push the chair without having to get up, refrain from dragging or pushing any furniture on your hardwood floors. Lift your chair when you need to move it from one place to another, and ask for the help of another person if you want to rearrange other furniture like desks and cabinets. If you find that this is too inconvenient, read on for other solutions that can help.
Keep it clean
The next important thing you must do if you want to keep your floors in mint condition is devote some attention to them in the form of cleaning. Dust and debris on your floor can contribute to it getting scratched when they meet with the wheels of your chair. So, dusting and mopping your floors regularly is a key part of maintaining them. However, cleaning is also a regular part of maintaining your office chair. Office chair wheels can easily collect debris and carry it around. So, extend your cleaning efforts to your chair, too. When the wheel casters get worn out, swap them.
Mind the wheels
Another thing you can do in order to protect your hardwood floors is make the wheels of your chair more floor-friendly. While office chairs typically come with some type of casters, they are most often nylon, that is, hard plastic. These are normally enough to protect other types of floors, but you should go the extra mile and get casters specially designed for hardwood. These casters are made of different materials, such as polyurethane, and are much softer, so they won’t be as harsh with your floors if you do end up needing to push your chair around.
Look into rugs
Instead of having to do with your chair, the next option you have involves adding a layer of protection to your floors instead. You might think that it would be a waste to cover your beautiful hardwood floors up with carpeting. In addition, carpets are not practical at all in places that get a lot of foot traffic. Don’t worry, you don’t have to get wall-to-wall carpets; looking into area rugs is perfectly enough. Placing an area rug underneath the desk area will ensure that the wheels of your chair don’t come into contact with the floors, keeping them intact.
In addition, it can hardly be argued that area rugs are an attractive addition to an office space. They come in countless colors and designs, so they can liven up your space while being practical at the same time. They can even help you define different zones within a space for a better visual effect. All in all, getting an area rug is perhaps the easiest quick solution to your problem. The only drawback you may face is that some area rugs might somewhat inhibit the movement of your chair, so keep this in mind.
Get a mat
Next, perhaps the best solution for protecting a hardwood floor from the detrimental effects of an office chair is getting a mat specially designed for such use. Just like rugs, these will keep the wheels of your chair away from the surface of your floors. However, as we mentioned, the surface of area rugs may not be the most suitable for the wheels of your chair. In addition, cleaning a rug is also considerably more difficult than wiping a mat. So, it’s clear that placing down a furniture mat will not only protect your floors but also save you some time and effort when it comes to keeping the place clean and neat.
When looking into mats, you will find that there are multitudes of types to choose from. For instance, if you both work sitting down and standing up, anti fatigue mats will make this more comfortable for you. If you’d prefer your mat to have a low profile, choose from see-through chair mats made from tempered glass or PVC.
Apply a finish
Last but not least, if you want to restore the beauty of your damaged hardwood floor, then looking into protective finishes is a good idea. An added layer will hide already existing imperfections and make your floor more resistant to moisture, scuffs, or even scratches. However, choose your finish carefully since many coatings available today contain harmful VOCs or are flammable. You don’t want to endanger your health, so consider this decision well.
The wheels of an office chair can easily ruin the look of your hardwood floors that you invested in so heavily. Taking measures to prevent this is paramount. Combine some of the aforementioned solutions and your hardwood floors will look new for years and years.
