In your home office you wipe-down or vacuum your desk chair regularly. But how often you clean under your desk chair? Flip it over and you will find an amazing amount of dust and fiber wound around the pivot stems of the chair casters and the wheels themselves embedded with grime and debris making moving you chair harder.
There, down by the floor, your desk chair wheels are clogged with dust and fibers making it hard to move around. Learn how to clean your desk chair wheels for smooth sailing.
Apartment Therapy had an illustrated article about cleaning home office chair wheels. I gave it a try and it is amazing how much difference this simple clean up made for me in my office. Not having the detritus of a recent remodeling project, the suggested scrub brush and knife where not necessary. What helped the most was my vacuum cleaner with the narrow-between-the-sofa-cushions-nozzle to get out the dust and fibers clogging the smooth movement of the wheels. A pair of tweezers (I used one demoted to craft projects) came in handy. Wiping off the wheels and their hood cover with cleaning solution and rinsing that off with plain rubbing alcohol did the trick.
2 Extra Tips
1 Be sure your desk chair wheels and your floor surface match.
If you are working on a hard surface such as wood, vinyl or stone, you will want softer wheels made of polyurethrane. This avoids scratches and gives you a softer ride.
If you are working on a carpet you will want wheels made of nylon, a hard wheel for traction.
If you are working on a short pile carpet (commercial grade) then a polyurethrane wheel will work too.
2 A chair mat will protect your floor or carpet. The Apartment Therapy article showed the desk chair on a beautiful unprotected hardwood floor. IKEA has a clear vinyl floor mat for hard floors. It has two laminated layers, one soft vinyl to cushion and grip the hard floor surface and a second top layer of hard vinyl for traction.
If you are working on a carpeted floor use a chair mat with gripper teeth (some come with longer or shorter teeth lengths to accommodate carpets of different thicknesses). Protect your carpet and make it easier to move your chair around.
Amazing how a simple cleaning can revitalize your home office chair and make your day a little easier.
Learn how to adjust your chair to a more comfortable day and better ergonomics.
What quick tips do you have for making your office furniture work smoother? What questions do you have about how to fix something in your office?
photo by sundaykofax
