Is there actually an office chair wheel material which wouldn’t damage wooden flooring?

19 comments

1. I’ve thought about swapping my chair’s wheels for the kind you’d find on skates. There are sets on Amazon, I think “Stealtho” is a brand that makes them. Haven’t gotten around to doing that yet since they’re not cheap, but they should work on wood flooring.

2. I can’t see how the wheel material can overcome the problem. I use a cheap, thick carpet folded over and it’s still leaving some indentations.

3. My related issue is damage from office chair wheels to linoleum flooring on top of (the much nicer) wooden floors.

4. Buy a flooring mat designed for office chairs. Not sure what they’re called but they exist because some random Japanese youtuber vid I watched long ago introduced it and its common.

   I just have my desk setup over a robust hot carpet

5. A bit of lateral thinking here, but have you considered a proportion chair (kneeling chair)? I share both your concern for the state of the flooring and the back pain, so I tried several alternatives. An exercise ball is the best in terms of not ruining wood/linoleum flooring, but I didn’t find it particularly comfortable nor helpful. A kneeling chair did wonders for my back pain, and being static it does not damage the floor. I’m not sure whether I can put Amazon/Rakuten links here, but if you search for プロポーションチェア you can find plenty, cheap and expensive. Mine was ~8000¥ and I’ve used for a couple of year now.

6. I doubt the below item would damage the floor, but I’ve never tried it.

   ENJOY (GL-B203750) Fixed Leg for Caster Chairs, Replacement, Stable, Fall Prevention, Insertion Type, Shaft Diameter 0.4 inches (11 mm), Set of 5 https://amzn.asia/d/hE9MDhj

   Someone else mentioned “rollerblade” type casters by Stealtho. They are about 5,000 a set. If you type “office chair caster” on Amazon you’ll find the one I linked above as well as many alternatives to Stealtho.

7. I use wall-to-wall cushion floor covering that looks like wooden flooring. Once it’s worn out from the wheels I throw it away and replace it.
   It’s not cheap to do an entire room but it’s well worth it.
   https://www.nitori-net.jp/ec/product/5680414/

8. チェアマットchair mat, you can get the once that have backing that sticks to wooden flooring. there is no way to avoid damaging the floor since wheels will extert quite a pressure on the floor when person sitting on it thus scratch the floor. or you can just remove the wheels ……..

9. I replaced my chair’s plastic castors with these: https://amzn.asia/d/e1dGLgi
   They work great and don’t need any carpet/plastic sheet.
   Also, if you’re looking for a good office chair, Okamura makes very nice chairs that can had for a reasonable price used.

10. The usual mats that they sell for that purpose don’t work for me for some reason. So I buy cheap plywood boards, and put them underneath the chair. When they’re worn out, I replace them for ~1000 yen. Not pretty, but functional.

11. I bought a thick plastic covering to protect mine.

12. Another take is by using low table, paired with the big floor chair.
    Loving this kind of setup as I can stretch my leg, also fall asleep comfortably without causing any pain.

    https://preview.redd.it/okqglj5g62ya1.jpeg?width=3822&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=f001d9e43c6111b824e2f421092fdb111cdee6d7

13. We have been using these for a couple of years now: HAPFIY Caster Pack of 5 Chair Replacement Casters 76mm Diameter 3″ 360 Degree Rotation Quiet Insert 11mm https://amzn.asia/d/1xaoB23

    Ultra silent and zero floor damage. Only thong is the chair is a little higher now.

14. If you want to actually protect the floors, buy carpet squares (same carpet as you see in most offices) and put them in the area that you are going to have your chair. Then put one of those hard plastic chair mats on top of the carpet squares. It won’t protect from *everything* but it will give a lot of protection.

    Edit: A lot of those hard plastic chair mat things have little spikes on the bottom of them that are designed to sink into carpet so the mat doesn’t move around. The carpet gives them something to sink into (rather than scratching your floor…), and the mat will also hold all the carpet squares together perfectly. It’s not a bad setup.

15. You can get chair mats that match your wooden floor.

16. I use a floor mat under my office chair in my wooden floored room.

17. I’m with the others that have suggested getting replacement wheels for an office chair. I’ve been using these – [https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B07WDBNJ41/](https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B07WDBNJ41/) – for almost two years on my wood floor and don’t have a single mark, scuff, or scratch.

18. Don’t bother with a floor covering/chair mat. Unless you glue that bitch down, itll move slightly over time and scuff your floor. Trust me, left a huge circle when i had one before, and it didnt seem to move at all when using it. Tiny movements build up over time.

    Best bet as has been mentioned in thread so far is to get some polyurethane wheels, which you’ll be familiar with from inline skates/roller blades. They’re the GOAT desk chair wheel. They’ll make you glide like crazy because of their constructíon ensuring zero friction, and the wheels are mega smooth so they’ll never leave a mark.

    Make sure to get ones with a removable bolt going through the wheel! If you have long hair like me, it’ll gather in the wheel. It won’t stop them from rotating perfectly, but its unsightly. I unfortunately got sent a pair that don’t have a removable bolt and its proper nightmare fuel how they look right now.

19. There are roller blades replacement wheels specifically to solve this issue.

    I run them on all my office chairs and have had no issues on my hardwood floors. Obviously it helps to keep the floors and wheels clean.

    I’ve used the mats, but other than the hard plastic ones, I find they bind under the traditional wheels.