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Under my desk in the office is an uneven expansion joint on the floor with a thin metal plate. An average desk chair with 2 inch (5cm) wheels sticks at the joint or needs some velocity to roll over it.

Patching the joint would be very expensive, because of a glued carpet on both sides, which would have to be changed in the whole office. So we are looking for other alternatives.

We have tried it with 3 inch (7.5cm) rollerblade wheels with a slightly better experience. But changing directions with these higher wheels is less comfortable and the chairs are not constructed for the slightly greater forces (they are bending on the connection points for the wheels on turning).

Now, we are thinking on testing 2.5 inch double wheels. Another option would be a chair mat for hard floors. But somebody told us, these would not survive very long on the joint.

Has anyone experience with a problem like this and solved it?

Trendfischer
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I would think that the plastic chair mat would work well if you used it in conjunction with some type of padding under it. A piece of short pile rubber backed carpet that was trimmed to the same size as the chair mat would bridge the underlying uneven joining strip.

In my work lab I use these plastic chair mats to cover the whole carpeted floor (four mats laid side by side / end to end). They rest in a short pile carpet and have been in use for 12 years now. Only in the last 3-4 months has one started to crack.

If you get the type of clear plastic mats that are made from a flexible plastic they will hold up longer than the very hard dense plastic style.

Michael Karas
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  • The idea with the carpet as padding is not bad. But perhaps I would not bridge it and would try on both sides to level the floor with the joining strip. – Trendfischer Sep 12 '18 at 09:30