When I've pushed my computer chair back a bit (on shallow carpet), then try to roll it forwards, the wheels have a problem rotating (not the wheels themselves, but the mechanism by which they turn to go in a different direction).
I used to have the standard ones on it, like these:
It helps a lot to get one of the clear plastic mats that are intended for this purpose.
Those mats crack, and are landfill material.
Don't waste your money on those. I bought two, and gave up.
*******Find a thicker, more resilient surface. I roll over wood products here, picked for the task. Even wood is not perfect. The wheels beat the hell out of any material they meet. I'm on my second wood solution, the first one becoming too rutted to work any more (the wheels get stuck and the chair will no longer roll freely).
My protected carpet area is four feet by four feet. Yet, the solution is not a "half sheet of ply" either. There are separate pieces of solid wood involved, and L-cross section Al strips to join the ends. (The strips recycled from another project.)
Even if I were to stick floor tile of some sort on it, the wheels would still beat the solution to bits. The chair "rides like a tank" and the pressure points are devastating in the long term. You almost need sheet titanium for the job.
If the office chair had an "air bearing", and you had a thin sheet of airtight material for it to ride on, that would solve the pressure-point problem. The "Puck" can have the air supply, or the "table" can have the air supply. The smoother the table, the less volume of air needed to make the bearing. You can see in the video, the size of motor used to carry a flimsy puck.
(Air hockey table - you can turn down the sound track :-) )
Paul
I have also switched from them - but to laminate. We were pleasantly surprised not to t find the edges a trip hazard. And I round the visible corners in an attempt to show I'm not a total slob :)
Depends on the quality.
I am notoriously hard on chairs, wheels and carpets. My mat is very good, and it is 17 years old. In daily, heavy use.
I use a carpet chair mat.
What an ugly workaround.
I think it depends on the mat. The one under me as I type is still in perfect condition after 14+ years. Alas, not sure where it came from - might have been Viking.
No, it is transparent. Saves wear to the carpet. Look them up.
MIne came from Viking. 17 years old!
I used to use the chair mat as well. They usually last 12 to 18 months before they develop cracks and fail. I built a replacement using a box of laminated T&G flooring from costco which has lasted much longer.
I get a few years out of mine. They may crack a bit but still be usable. I see some sold with lifetime guarantee but they are very pricey.
Unfortunately I cannot see your pictures, but the best results will be big wheels or at the very least a castor that has two wheels so the weight does not make them sink to far into the carpet, but of course there is carpet as often found in offices, which are hard and with small pile, and there are the thicker ones with underlay as found in homes, and the latter can pose big issues. If its a metal chair you really do need to look at the way the legs attach to the centre, and make sure there are five. The forces can easily be enough on some chairs to break a weld. Brian
Must have been a cheap one. The one at work has lasted for years.
I suspect that both the amount of carpet wear or chair mat life also depends upon the weight of the chair's occupant and the number and width of wheels. Some adults are barely more than 100 lbs. Some are >250 lbs. In my case, (125 lbs) using a cheap Office Depot chair with 5 legs and 1 1/2" wide wheels, there's no detectable wear at all on a cheap, machine woven synthetic fabric area rug resting on a low priced rug pad after more than 5 years of use for probably 6 hrs/day. No need for me to bother with a chair mat.
Probably the underlay causing the problem.
I think I've found the reason it's doing it and didn't used to. There's something up with the (recently replaced) piston for adjusting the height, it tends to creep up when not in use. So I end up sitting on it too high, and levering the whole thing forwards and digging the front wheels into the carpet, instead of rolling it forwards.
And now I can't find my bloody mole grips to take it apart. Oh well, time to buy a 5th pair.
I did, and transparent is not equal to invisible. Might be ok in an office, but not my living room.
At no place of work I've been in have they had those, just chairs on carpet. They don't wear the carpet any faster than foot traffic.
Do you remember the old 4 wheel chairs? Very unstable.
Mind you, I once knocked over my office chair, causing the other three people in the room to think I'd lost my temper. The back of my shoe had got under one of the legs, so when I stood up and walked off, it lifted the chair up and sent it flying.
Anyone ever tried to sit in this instrument of torture? What on earth were they thinking designing this s*it? No cushion or anything! Mind you, they force kids to sit on these plastic crap al day in lessons. No wonder people develop bad backs: "provides passive ergonomic support" - yeah right!
Don't you trip over it? Don't you ever roll off the end?
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required