wheeled office chair on wood floor

[kally]

my home office chair is in a room with old wood floors. Do I need to put something down to protect the floor or are they okay?

[Gina]

I've seen wood floors quite damaged in a similar situation. Perhaps it was just those particular wheels. I don't know what would be good to put down however. There are large, plastic floor protectors for under desks, but those can be ugly. Perhaps a low-nap, somewhat inflexible rug.

[Jemima]

The clear, plastic floor protectors probably wouldn't work since all the ones I've seen have "teeth" on the underside to dig into carpeting. A 6' x 9' throw rug should work and they aren't horribly expensive.

[KayLR]

I would use a low nap carpet piece, too. If you don't put something down, it could be a safety issue too...rolling away from you as you seat yourself.

[Tweety]

When I had my hardwood floors refinished I put down a clear plastic floor protector that didn't have teeth, and it suits me fine; I got it at one of those big box office supply stores. I tried a piece of carpet but the chair wheels didn't work very well on that.

[jp1]

I'd agree with the toothless plastic mat as the best option and a piece of low pile carpet as next best. Over time the wood floor will definitely get scuffed up pretty bad otherwise. The floor in my apartment in NYC was a wreck by the time I moved out, in no small part because of damage from my computer chair. Thankfully my landlord fully expected to need to redo the floors since I'd lived there for over 12 years by that point so he didn't withhold any of my security deposit.

[Jonathan]

A short nap or closed loop carpet (Berber is one brand name) can be quite effective. Even then pay attention to the back of the carpet or plastic - if it slides on the floor even a little bit it'll wear the finish off the floor in short order. You can buy non-lip material to put under the carpet/plastic to solve that.

We partially refinished a floor where someone had used an office chair without a mat of some sort. After hours of work, the dirt is so ground in that the only way to really get rid of it is to replace the floor...

[grendel]

Staples has some chair mats specifically for hardwood floors. I came across them in a catalog while ordering chair mats for my workplace.