Protecting a floor from furniture wheels

[Paul Moore]

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on how to protect a wooden floor from scratches and marks caused by furniture wheels. I've just sanded my living room floor for the second time in 10 years, this time because of the tracks caused by hard nylon sofa wheels and the brass wheels from a heavy grand piano. Can anyone offer any advice here on how to prevent this problem happening again?

I was thinking of replacing the sofa's nylon wheels with softer rubber wheels, but will they just mark the floor instead? My local hardware shop has both black and gray wheels, I don't know if the gray wheels would also mark the floor.

For the piano, I don't know what to do, any ideas?

I searched this group using Google Group search, but didn't find anything.

Many thanks, Paul

[Jules]

We have hardwood floors and nothing has wheels - just legs. I put hard felt pads on the bottom of them all, and they're almost* perfect - they don't slide in everyday use, but if you do want to move a sofa or table (e.g.) for cleaning, the item can just be pushed out of the way without damaging the floor.

I imagine your stuff can be fitted with legs, and the pads are available (at least this side of the Pond) at any DIY shop, fabric shop, cheap-as-chips fly-by-night box-shifter, supermarket etc. (I got a 'kit' which came with a variety of round pad sizes plus a couple of sheets which could be cut as needed)

• we have pets, and they're a magnet for pet hair!

OTOH I have seen protective slip-on rubber covers (online) for furniture wheels to be used with hardwood floors, but buggered if I can remember where I saw them. On something as heavy as a piano I bet they squash and shred easily if it were rolled anywhere, though, and I'd be worried about clearance around some types of furniture wheel.

cheers

Jules

[tim.....]

You can buy "cups" for them. Often available in your local pound store.

tim

[JTM]

As Tim says those cups that look like small ash trays spread the pressure over a larger area. Any softer (eg rubber) casters are likely to flatten out over time. 'Feet' with felt pads also spread the weight over alarger area

John

[TheOldFellow]

Whilst there are plenty of things about to put under chairs and tables to spread the load a bit, a piano is a problem of a different order. We are talking of a load of about a tonne applied through the brass wheels - three almost-point-loads. What you have to do is to change these loads to spread-loads over, say, 100 sq cms (10x10 cms pad) each. I'd suggest steel plates of that size with 5mm felt stuck to the underside. How you get the piano to stay on them, I'm not sure - have a thick washer with a big hole brazed on maybe. This must be a problem that piano dealers understand, talk to one of them.

R.

[RobertL]

That's if its a grand piano! An upright would be lighter and have 4 points. maybe a sheet of plywood underneath with four dents for the wheels?

Another hazard: As a child, I remember my father being worried about stilletto heats on the wooden floors. He had little plastic covers (made for the purpose and available from shops then) that he was going to ask people to put over their heels when they visited.

Robert

[Frank Erskine]

On Thu, 6 Aug 2009 09:13:41 +0100, TheOldFellow had this to say:

My grandmother used to have an upright piano which had glass castor cups.

[chris French]

In message , TheOldFellow writes

Or just use cups for the piano castors:

[TheOldFellow]

OK said it is. R.

[RobertL]

Sorry, yes he did indeed say it was a grand.

Robert

[Andy Dingley]

Use the right floor varnish. The two-part acid-cure ones that stink during application are far harder than polyurethanes.

Use non-marking synthetic rubber wheels. Most are grey, some are even black, this is a common problem with a well-established solution now and decent wheels shouldn't either indent or leave rubber smears.

[Jim]

[...]

You could try castor cups but probably the only thing that'll work is replacing the tiny brass castors with a proper A-frame support with decent sized rubberised wheels. This is more the kind of thing you'd see at a concert hall or school, of course. Reduces the strain on the spindly legs when you push it around, as well.

Downside: it doesn't look as good and the piano will end up somewhat higher.

Ask at a piano shop, or look at this page:

[Dave Liquorice]

Maybe not in the shops anymore, at least not common ones, but still available, one supplier:

sure they do small quantities mind.

[Paul Moore]

To all,

Many thanks for the tips and web-site links.

To sumarise,

- for sofas, use non-marking gray rubber castors (the sofas have to be mobile, to be able to vacuum-clean behind them)

- for the grand piano, use castor cups, it doesn't have to be so mobile

Regards, Paul