Laminate flooring is a great affordable option for a floor, but will a rolling office chair damage laminate flooring or don’t you need to worry about it?
Unfortunately, a rolling office chair will cause damage to a laminate floor over time by scratching the surface repeatedly.
But don’t worry, there are a couple of great options you can use to protect your laminate floor from a rolling office chair. Let’s take a look at the options to see which one is the best for your circumstances.
2 Ways To Protect Laminate Flooring From A Rolling Office Chair
There are two key ways that we believe are the best methods to protect your laminate flooring, both of which are easy to use.
1. Replace Your Office Chair’s Wheels
Rolling office chairs usually come with hard plastic wheels connected to either a metal or plastic base. The issue with these standard wheels is that they are highly prone to scratching laminate flooring, despite the protective coating typically applied to laminate flooring.
For this reason, it can be a very sensible idea to replace the wheels of your office chair with caster wheels designed specifically for laminate and hardwood flooring. These caster wheels are made from floor-friendly materials, such as polyurethane, which are designed to reduce the amount of scratching that your floor endures from the chair.
Another benefit of using caster wheels is that they are not very noticeable and don’t require you to buy anything to cover the floor itself. They’re also very cheap to buy, which makes them an affordable solution.
The downside of caster wheels is that you will need to install them, which takes a little bit of time. Although this isn’t necessarily a huge problem, it is a bit of an inconvenience compared to the next option.
2. Place A Chair Mat Underneath Your Chair
Chair mats are another option that you can use that require almost no effort – all you have to do is place the mat underneath the area where your chair moves around and that’s it.
We like this option because it doesn’t require much work, and it’s certain to protect your floor against scratches, but what are the downsides to using a chair mat?
Well, the first thing to consider is how a chair mat will make your office space look. You might not think a mat would be very noticeable, but you might be surprised at how much of a difference it can make (for better or for worse). Another thing to think about is how the mat will affect the floor below it.
Some rug pads, for example, can cause damage to laminate flooring due to the type of backing that they contain. Chair mats are no different and some of them may even mark the floor below it without you realising.
If you test the material on your floor first before applying the weight of an office chair on top then you should be able to avoid this problem.
Isn’t The Damage Repairable?
Scratches on a laminate floor are not as easy to treat as they are on a hardwood floor. This is because with a hardwood floor you can use sandpaper and/or oil to treat the wood directly, but with laminate, you have to be more careful with the protective layer on top.
Minor scratches can be easily fixed using wax pencils, just make sure that they are matched to the colour of your floor. For deeper scratches that have penetrated through the protective coating and into the resin below then repair putty is the only option.
It’s quite difficult to repair laminate and hide all of the scratches, though, and a lot of the time you’ll have to replace the boards that are scratched. This is why keeping it protected in the first place is so important.
Are Any Other Types Of Flooring Suitable For Office Chairs That Roll?
Laminate is actually one of the more durable materials when it comes to being scratch-resistant, but are there any options that are even better?
Vinyl flooring is the best option when it comes to scratch-resistant flooring, even more so than laminate. This is especially true for vinyl plank flooring, which is also known as luxury vinyl tile, which has 3 layers with a heavy-duty protective layer designed with durability in mind.
What About A Stationary Office Chair?
If a rolling office chair is likely to cause some damage to the floor, then surely stationary chairs would be better?
This is a question we get asked a lot, and unfortunately, a stationary chair will also scratch your laminate floor. This occurs most often when you sit down or stand up and apply pressure to the chair causing it to move.
You probably don’t even realise you are doing it, but just try to sit down on a chair without moving it at all – it just won’t happen. A stationary chair will cause fewer scratches than a rolling one though, but it isn’t a complete solution.
Final Thoughts
If you want to keep your laminate floor scratch-free, then you’ll need to use the protective methods listed above to keep your rolling office chair from damaging it.
Remember, it’s much easier to stop the damage from occurring in the first place than to try and fix it once it’s happened.