Carpet protector

Jul 15, 2014 16 Replies

Any recommendations please to protect a carpet with underlay from an office chair?



We have new carpet and 9mm underlay. 'Er indoors will be using an office chair in front of PC on a bit of it for many hours. In the past I've not found plastic carpet protectors very effective for domestic carpets+underlay as they flex too much.


Apologies to the OP for the e-mail I fell foul of the TB Reply/follow-up SNAFU

I bought a piece of kit from a local "bankrupt stock" specialist about a year ago. Essentially it consists of 12 strips of wood held together by a Hessian backing which when unrolled forms a square of wood about 1m square (with small cut outs at the front to get it under any desk). It was only rolled up for transport purposes.

Very similar to this

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Only cost a tenner and works a treat. A just as effective (if less elegant) solution would be a piece of high density MDF of the same size/shape.

I'm using Ikea's version

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on rug-on-carpet duty. Possibly not as thick as carpet with underlay though. It, like any other, does 'walk'.

Also on carpet, I'm using :

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Seems pretty durable, and it also walks a little, but what doesn't?

Chris

I find the Costco one doesn't walk on thick carpet on thick underlay.

I've had a couple of these:

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though the design does seem to have changed subtly (mine have had rounded corners) and the price has increased significantly.

They don't walk as they have short 'spikes' underneath, but they do only last a couple or three years before cracks start to spread throughout.

I use two pieces of hardboard that used to form the back of a flat-pack cupboard.

Owain

We had the Costco one which never moved. The only thing was it was heavy an d stiff to move but once in place it stayed, our version had two hand holds on the long edges to help position it. The only downside was when we moved and lifted it the carpet underneath was markedly cleaner.

Richard

I have one that shape and one rectangular, both from Staples. The one with the cutouts is older and showing signs of breaking up and discolouration so is under the chair that doesn't get used much. The rectangular one is about four years old, gets heavy use I'd say and still looks OK. Like the look of the bamboo ones though.

In article , ARW writes

I've got an A3 size laminator in the office but I'm not sure it will go thick enough to do carpet.

Nah. Lets you exceed the speed limit for the chair.

OTOH laminate is easier for me to lay than the block paving I was expecting to feature in the list :)

I am grateful for the suggestions. I'll try a double thickness of hardboard as that's "in stock" and see how that goes. Luckily naff appearance is not an issue.

+1 on the costco version, parents went through a few carpet protectors under their chairs in the home office before they gave up on the standard cheap ones, and splurged out for the expensive one from costco,

and it's just been lifted after being down for 5 years as they are moving, it's still in very good condition, never moved about the carpet, and allowed the chair to ride over it nicely with a 22 stone weight in the chair.

Actually, that's not always a joke. My last GF bought a v. good office chair from Ikea (12 years on and it's doing well) and the wheels locked under load. As she has MS she can't lift herself enough to free them and standing up to move the chair is a long job. I think she changed them for the 'go faster' model.

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