Show All ItemsI work from a home office situated in a carpeted room, where I sit for hours at a time next to a computer screen.To protect the flooring and provide a smooth rolling surface, I acquired a plastic chair mat from an office store.However, I soon found that I was extremely unsatisfied with the performance of my new chair mat. Despite buying a thicker version, my chair wheels still rested in "divots" in the mat. In the chair mat's defense, I am on the "huggable" side at 240-ish . . . But nonetheless, sitting in divots defeats one of the main benefits of the mat in the first place--the ability to roll and move the chair freely. Also, my work table is about 6 feet long. My computer sits on one half of the table and the other half is left open for other tasks. This plastic mat wasn't big enough to allow me to roll my chair to the other side when working on non-computer things.After a bit of searching I found that you can in fact purchase longer, thicker and more heavy-duty chair mats that would meet the needs I was trying to fill.
These bamboo ones look like an excellent choice, but they are not cheap.With that in mind, I decided to make my own. All said, I spent less than $75 USD on this mat and am perfectly happy with its performance. It is made from laminate flooring, particle board, and a bit of wood trim, all of which is available from any home improvement store.If you find yourself in a similar predicament and don't want to shell out big bucks, here's how to make your own wooden chair mat. Thanks for taking a look! Step 1: Prepare laminate flooring piecesShow All ItemsThe cheapest box of laminate flooring I could find was about $30 USD. One box covers an area roughly 4 feet by 5.5 feet, which is perfect in front of my 6-foot work table. A smaller mat can be made by simply not using all of the boards from the box.For this use, the cheapest laminate is the best choice not only for price, but because it is perfectly smooth. The more expensive laminate flooring styles have slight waves, gouges and mars to imitate real wood.
That looks nice in a dining area, but is the opposite of what a person would want in this application. The boards are made with a tongue-and-groove system that allows them to snap together along both the longer sides, as well as the narrow ends. Both the tongue side and the groove side have portions that extend out past the upper finished surface of the board, which are generally hidden once the boards are installed. (The groove side has a 1/2" tab that extends out from the bottom of the board that locks onto the bottom of the tongue side of the opposing board.)For this use, however, these extending portions must be removed from any areas that will become the perimeter of the assembled mat. I began by trimming away the bits from the narrow ends of all boards using a cross-cut sled on my table saw. Then, along the lengths of two boards I trimmed away the tongue from one board, and the locking tab below the groove from the other. These two boards will be the end pieces on the right and left sides of the assembled mat.
See photo notes for additional details. /officeworks and the youtube channel Jastek Economy Carpet Chair Mat Furnx Dimpled Chairmat Clear Large Furnx Smooth Chairmat Clear Large Floortex Anti-Microbial Standard Pile Carpet Mat 90 x 120cm Floortex Anti-Microbial Hard Floor Mat 90 x 120cm Rectangular Floortex Megamat Chair Mat 115 x 150cm Rectangular Floortex Megamat Chair Mat 90 x 120cm Rectangular Jasco Jastek Low Pile Carpet 914 x 1219mm Chair Mat Clear Jastek Deluxe Pile Carpet Chair Mat Floortex Polycarbonate Carpet Mat Rectangular 900 x 1200mm Floortex Polycarbonate Hard Floor Chair Mat Jastek Economy Hard Floor Chair Mat Jastek Medium Pile 914 x 1219mm Carpet Chair Mat Clear Jastek Low Pile Carpet Chair Mat Large Jastek Hard Floor Chair Mat Large Floortex PVC Carpet Chair Mat Floortex PVC Hard Floor Chair Mat Jastek Economy Hard Floor Chairmat 91 x 122cm Keyhole Floortex Anti-static Standard Pile Carpet Mat 90 x 120 Key
Jastek Sit or Stand Mat 91 x 134cm Keyhole Comfort Foam Sit Stand Mat Charcoal How to Measure for Your Custom Chair Mat When a Traditional Chair Mat Doesn’t Fit Your Workspace choose ES ROBBINS custom-made chair mats for comfort and convenience. Available for carpet or hard floor. Intermediate, Standard and Premium Thicknesses Straight or beveled edges 72" maximum width for Premium Thickness mats 60" maximum width for Standard and Intermediate mats Maximum length of 144"Is it alright to my computer on a chair mat that is on the carpet? Sep 15, 2016Sep 14, 2016 Can't find your answer ? About Best Sellers in Chair MatsUpdated: October 14, 2016 Why do we need chair mats? They protect the floors under your work chair and they also allow you to freely move about in your chair. I had to recently buy a few of these chairmats for my home office. My work desk is currently located in a room with hardwood floors so I wanted to protect the wood flooring from getting scratched up and possible dented from my office chair.
Also, I have another computer in a room in which there is carpet so I had to find a chair mat for carpets too. I found that they range in price from $40 to $100 and are readily sold in stores like Walmart, Target, Office Depot, and Staples. If you needed to buy more in bulk for an office or small business, other stores like Costco or Amazon might be better. Choosing the best chair mats - When looking to buy chairmats, consider things like surface, size of workspace, and shape. Do you need an hard wood floor chair mat or a carpet chair mat? Perhaps you have a tile floor or even vinyl. The hardwood floor chairmats rest evenly on the floor and permit easy rolling around if you have a chair with wheels. Perhaps you have a plush carpet or standard pile in which case you could use a chair mat with cleats so that the mat stays put even when you are moving around in the chair. Chair mats for thick carpet will be slightly different than those designed for low pile or even medium pile carpets.
The office chair mat I bought for the carpeted room does leave some indentions in the carpet (I notice them when I pick it up to vacuum underneath) but after a while they do go away. Most wood floor chair mats will also do just fine on floors with tile, vinyl, or linoleum. Shape - When it comes to shapes of chair floor mats, there are basically 3 types - lip, L-workstation, and rectangular or utility. The average desk setup can use the lip chair mats or even the rectangular option. Corner computer desks and L-workstations work best when you have the L-shaped workstation chair mat. Size - This is entirely dependent on how much space you need when mulling about your work area or desk. Some people "roll" all over while others stay in a smaller area. I like to roll around, often going back and forth from my computer to a bookshelf behind my desk. Chair mats come in a variety of sizes, so pick one that has the most space possible without intruding on the rest of the room or area surrouding the desk.
There's nothing better than reading up on a particular product and then reading what other consumers have to say about it. Find out what works and those products that fail the end user test. since they carry all the leading brands, offer excellent pricing, and post dozens of customer reviews for you to see. You can browse the best selling chair mats here. Chair Mat for Hardwood Floors: The one name that consistently showed up in reviews was Lorell. Their mats for hardwood floors were top rated by both experts and consumers. The LLR69167 - Chairmat, Hard Floor, Wide 45x53, Lip 25x12, Clear - is the one I went with and I couldn't be happier with the results. The floor mat features vinyl construction and a straight edge. It has certainly protected my hardwood floors from scuffs and caster damage. At $50, it was about what the other brands wanted and I feel like it was a good investment. Other owners make comments like "bets wood floor computer chairmat" and "durable quality floor protector".
If you have hard floors, tile or vinyl, this mat from Lorell should do. Lorell offers a similar rectangular lip floor chair mat for about $45 and it too is clear in color. One last note, we bought our online at Amazon, but an identical product is also available at Office Depot and Staples. The only complaint I have with the chair mat is that it does move around a bit on the hardwoods and I periodically have to adjust it back to the original position. View all top rated chair mats for hard floors here. Chair Mats for Carpet: For those with plush carpets, a chair mat will make a huge difference and let you move around your desk or computer. Chair mats for carpets from Walmart are where we would start. carries the Deflect-O, Rubbermaid, ES Robbins, and Floortex brands. is the PlushMat Chairmat with Cleats which sells for roughly $50 on Amazon. The PlushMat from Lorell is for medium pile carpets and will hide scuffs from chairs or shoes really well. The cleats are rounded on the bottom so you can carry the mat and not poke yourself.