Protecting your vinyl flooring from any type of damage is very important if you want them to last very long. There are different things that can cause damage to your vinyl flooring, and one of them is chair legs.
Chair legs can leave scratches and scuffs marks on your vinyl flooring, and if you have chairs with metal legs or hard plastic feet, it will cause more damages over time.
So how to protect vinyl flooring from chair legs? Well, there are different ways to do so, but the best way to protect your vinyl flooring from chair legs is by using felt chair glides or felt furniture pads.
They are soft on your vinyl flooring but strong enough to withstand the chair’s weight and repeated movement and use.
In this article, we’ll talk about the different ways to protect your vinyl flooring from chair legs, and some of the best felt and furniture glides you can use.
Read: How to repair scratches on vinyl floor
How To Protect Vinyl Flooring From Chair Legs
Table of Contents
Furniture Pads
Using furniture protecting pads will help prevent wear and tear caused by the feet of chairs, dressers, and other furniture.
Furniture pads are usually made of plastic or felt; they can be used to prevent both the indentation caused by the weight of the furniture and the scratches and scuffs left behind when the furniture is moved.
There are a variety of furniture protection pads available in the market. Only opt for the appropriate product that matches the weight and material of your furniture and your vinyl flooring as well.
Self-Adhesive Pads
Self-adhesive pads are another type of floor protection that is simple and inexpensive, and you can attach them to each contact point at the base of your furniture.
Self-adhesive pads are available in various sizes and thicknesses. When added to the base of furniture, it softens the edges, minimizes noise, and allows easy movement of the furniture across your vinyl flooring and other hard floor surfaces.
To use self-adhesive pads on furniture such as chairs, stools and card tables, you need to find formed felt pads with reinforced sides that can be wrapped around the base of the leg.
Installing self-adhesive pads is very simple, but you need to be on the lookout for dirt and other grime that can get caught underneath the pad as they can affect the adhesive quality of the pads; you also need to keep in mind that the pads will lose their hold over time.
Glides
Tap-in felt glides, unlike the other types of protectors, have a thin-walled metal rivet that can be hammered into the base of the furniture. Gliders can only be attached to wooden furniture legs, but once attached, it does not come off easily even when the furniture is moved frequently.
Not only do furniture gliders help to prevent scuffs and scrapes on the floor surface, but it also ensures easy movement and rearrangement of heavy furniture.
You can opt for either plastic or cloth gliders and simply slip beneath heavy furniture. However, before moving a piece of heavy furniture, be sure to consider the load capacity of each glider first.
You can use polyethylene gliders on both carpet and hard floor surfaces to protect the floor and easily move heavy furniture. Round gliders are usually 4inch in diameter and have up to100 lb load capacity each.
Other Floor Protection Tips
Aside from using floor protectors underneath the base of your furniture, there are other ways to protect your vinyl flooring from getting scratched or scuffed by chair legs. Simply follow these simple rules.
- Ensure to sweep or vacuum your floor regularly. Also, remember to clean your footwear and feet on the doormat before entering your home. Or you can set a “no shoe rule” so that everyone takes off their footwear before entering your house.
- Always clean up spills or any other forms of stained materials from the floor immediately as they occur to avoid them from getting permanently stained.
- Protect your floor from too much sunlight to maintain the floor’s shine, and protect it from the damage too much sunlight exposure can cause your vinyl floor.
- Make use of natural weave doormats and always keep your floor free of dust and debris. Always make use of materials that are compatible with your flooring. Do not use rugs and doormats backed with latex or rubber since they can damage vinyl flooring.
- Opt for floor protectors underneath your furniture legs to avoid getting the floor scratched or cracked.
- In place of floor protectors, you can also make use of naturally weaved rugs to cover the area around the chairs you use. This is another way to prevent your floor from getting scratched.
- Do not use cheap floor protectors under your chair legs. When they come in contact with moisture, Cheap floor protectors often become hard, causing more harm than good to the floor. Also, remember to change your floor protectors regularly as required, do not use a single floor protector for a long period.
- When buying furniture to place on vinyl flooring, do not opt for heavy ones. Heavy furniture can result in scratched or cracked floors. Also, avoid chairs with pointed legs as they have more chances of damaging the floors compared to chairs with wider legs which are able to distribute the weight more evenly, thereby saving your floor from getting scratched or scuffed.
- Do not drag your chairs across your vinyl flooring if you want to protect it. Keep the chairs stationary or lift them completely when moving them around your house.
- When sitting on a chair, do not lean back on the chair or tip over it. These can cause scarring and indentation on the floor.
Best Floor Protectors For Vinyl Flooring
To prevent chair legs from scratching and denting your floor, you have to make use of floor protectors; there are a variety of floor protectors available on the market; here are some of the best you can opt for.
Yelanon Felt Furniture Pads
This is an easy way to protect your vinyl flooring from scratches. It has a heavy-duty design, and it is an extra-strong self-adhesive pad with a high-density beige felt, which, when added underneath furniture, creates a soft padded shield between the furniture and the floors, thereby preventing scratches and scuffs.
These furniture pads are able to maintain their shape longer than other furniture pads and provide long-lasting protection and stability for your furniture.
With yelanon felt furniture pads moving large pieces of furniture is easier and can be achieved with a single smooth gliding action.
This floor protector is available in an extra-large 278-piece pack which contains nine sizes and most commonly used shapes for different furniture items of different sizes. You can also cut the pads into any shape if you have an odd-shaped furniture foot.
The smaller-sized pads can be used as bumper pads to absorb the noise of opening and closing doors and drawers and make it whisper quiet.
Pros
- It is of high quality
- Very affordable
- It has a heavy-duty design
- Has extra-strong adhesive with long-lasting protection and stability
- Available in an extra-large 278-piece set with nine different sizes as well as a smaller 12-piece set
Cons
- It is not suitable for heavy furniture which is moved around frequently.
Alimitopia Furniture Felt Pad
This furniture felt pas features a high-strength nail, a sturdy plastic case, and high density felt pad, which is a highly effective solution for protecting your floors against damage.
It can be used on different types of floors, and not only do these multifunctional anti-slip furniture slider pads protect your floors from marring and scratching. It also helps to reduce friction and noise that is created when the furniture is being moved; this helps to ensure that your floor and furniture lasts as long as possible.
To attach these furniture pads to your furniture, you need a hammer and holes that have been predrilled to stop the pads from bending. But once the pads are nailed in, they last longer than stick-on furniture pads and are also very easy to replace.
These floor protectors are available in a large 40-piece set that contains five different sizes. It also has a variety of colours you can choose from, like white, black, or brown, to match your home’s decor.
Pros
- Made of high quality
- Very affordable
- It has a nail-in design that helps it to last longer than stick-on adhesive pads.
- Easy to attach to furniture feet
- Available in a large 40-piece pack with five different sizes
- Available in different colours
Cons
- Only suitable for wooden furniture
- It requires predrilled pilot hole
X-Protector Felt Furniture Pads
This furniture pad is made from strong eco-friendly recycled natural felt and can be used to create a protective shield between your furniture and the floor.
They absorb any noise that is created when you move your furniture around. It features a strong holding adhesive that is guaranteed to anchor onto your furniture for a long time.
It is available in an ultra-large 181-piece set with five different sizes and a variety of thicknesses and shapes. This enables you to find the right floor protector that suits any type of furniture item you own. It is very easy to attach this floor protector.
Start by cleaning underneath the furniture item where the floor protector will be attached to. Then peel the pad off and stick it onto the legs or feet of the furniture. If the furniture has odd-shaped feet or legs, you can also cut the pad to match the desired size of your furniture.
The floor protector is available in different colours like brown, black, or beige.
Pros
- Very affordable
- Available as an ultra-large 181-piece furniture pad set
- Ideal for different types of floors
- Has a variety of thickness and shapes
- Acts as a noise absorber
- It is an eco-friendly recycled natural felt
- It is simple to apply
Cons
- Not suitable for some vinyl surfaces
- Its smaller sized pads are quite tiny
Nancyprotectz grips/chair leg floor protectors
These floor protectors are ribbed socks made from heavy-duty, double-layered cotton and spandex that provide soft cushioning when placed between a piece of furniture and the floor.
These socks are very thick, giving them sound absorbing abilities which help to reduce the sound created when furniture is moved across the floor.
Installing these furniture socks is very easy, and they are very stretchy, enabling them to fit around most furniture leg shapes. For an even snugglier fit, these floor protectors have super-strong elastic with rubberized grippers on the inside of the socks; this helps to hold them in place.
These floor protector socks can be customized to suit your furniture. They can be folded down at the top, give them a fashionable cuff, or pulled up for full-length extra protection.
These floor protectors are available in 6 different colours and in 5 sizes. They are reusable socks, so once they get dirty, you can pop them into the washer.
Pros
- Very affordable
- Made from heavy-duty, double-layered cotton and spandex
- It also acts as a sound absorber
- Has super strong elastic with rubberized grips placed on the inside
- Easy to install and fits perfectly on most furniture leg shapes
- Available in six fashionable colours and five sizes
- Machine washable and reusable
Cons
- May not fit odd-shaped chair or table legs properly
- Suitable for only chair and table legs
- Frays easily when placed in high traffic areas
Conclusion
Finding ways on how to protect vinyl flooring from chair legs is very vital to keep your floor in good shape. There are different ways to do so, but the most commonly used way is by placing floor protectors underneath your furniture’s leg.
Fortunately, this article also listed some of the best floor protectors for vinyl flooring on the market for you to choose from.