Do you Need a Chair Mat on the Carpet?

Using a rolling office chair on a carpet can be troublesome and potentially damage your carpet. So, I have decided to help you with our article by explaining why you need to use an office mat on the carpet and also finding the perfect office chair mat according to your need. 

Getting a Mat is a must for people who use their rolling office chairs on a carpet. Using a rolling office chair on a carpet is not comfortable at all. To make the movement of office chair wheels on the carpet more smooth and comfortable, one must get a chair mat.

Here Why you Need a Chair Mat on the Carpet:

  • Chair mat protects the carpet from rolling office chair wheels
  • It makes rolling much smoother and enjoyable
  • Increases your productivity

Suppose you are using a rolling chair over your carpet. After a few days, you will find that your carpet is damaged and the rolling movement of your chair is not that much comfortable at all, which can also lead to some serious physical issues in the long run as well. To know more about the topic, keep reading!

Benefits of having a Chair Mat on Carpet: 

1. Expands the lifespan of your Carpet:

We are all aware that carpet doesn’t last forever. The lifespan of a carpet is usually about five years, with 2-4 residents. With good care, it would last a bit longer. If you are using a rolling chair for your workspace, then a chair mat on a carpet is very important.

If you work for 7-8 hours on a regular basis on a desk, then you will notice that your carpet is getting damaged because of your chair while you are sitting for long hours.

After maybe a year or so, it will be great damage to your pretty carpet, and none of us would want that so, a chair mat can increase the lifespan of your carpet without damaging anything.

2. Easy to rollover:

If you are using a rolling chair at your desk, then you know that it’s really hard to roll the chair on a carpet while you are sitting on it. Most of us purchase a rolling chair to make our work a bit fun so that we can easily roll from one side to another at our desk.

Especially if you have a large desk, then it’s even harder to move around with a rolling chair on the carpet. So, a chair mat really makes it easy to roll here and there.

3. Ergonomics:

When you start to work on an important project, you are working for so long that you forget the time difference. It happens to a lot of people, and working for a long time can cause a lot of health issues. For this reason, most people use an ergonomic chair with a rolling option that has all the health benefits.

But if you are using your ergonomic rolling chair on carpet then it will still cause back pain and leg strain. Because in a carpet you can not roll your chair smoothly. Thus you are not getting your ergonomic health benefits.

Having a chair mat on the carpet can solve this problem. It will reduce most of the health issues you are facing and increase the productivity of your work.

4. It enhances the outlook of your office:

Some of us might think that, “I already have a great carpet that looks great with my office or home environment. If I use a chair mat, would I decrease the outlook of my room?â€

We will say It won’t. If you look at the market, you will get to see some amazing chair mat that has been built just for your carpet. It not only just delivers what you want but also enhances the outlook of your office. We will recommend you to get one.

5. Carpet protection:

We spend tons of time working at our desk without thinking about what we are doing to our carpet. Well, while working, most of us drink coffee or sodas, sometimes we eat and spill drinks or coffee can easily set a mark on your carpet. None of us would want that.

To protect our carpet from scuffs, identifications, and other marks, we can use a chair mat. It’s handy, replaceable, and it’s cheap. It protects a carpet from every direction we can think of. 

What Will Happen If You Use a Chair Mat On The Carpet?

As I mentioned earlier, If you use a chair mat, you will be able to minimize the damage on your carpet, and thus you will be able to use your carpet for a longer period of time.

Besides, using a chair mat will make the movement of your rolling chair smooth, and thus it will reduce your risk to suffer from back pain.

Moreover, your workspace or room will look better if you can find a well-designed aesthetic looking chair mat for yourself. If you have already used an office chair over your carpet, you will definitely notice these positive changes after getting a mat for sure.

Also, some people face problems like chair mat keeps sliding on carpeted floor, especially with glass chair mats. Check out this article to learn how to solve this problem: How to Keep Glass Chair Mat from Sliding on Carpet?

Recommended Article: Do Glass Chair Mats Work On Carpet? (Here’s The Truth)

What Will Happen If You Use a Chair On The Carpet Without a Mat?

I have already discussed what will happen if you use a chair mat on the carpet. Now, let’s discuss what if you don’t use a mat? Firstly, if you use an office chair on the carpet without a mat, you will notice that chair movements are compromised if you have a wheeled office chair.

This problem in movement may lead to back issues. Secondly, your carpet will pay the price. By that, we mean, the fibers of your carpet will be easily damaged, and you will not be able to use the carpet for long.

Chair Mat Alternatives

You might be thinking that a chair mat has a lot of advantages, why would I look for chair mat alternatives. Some of the best office chairs can easily cause damage to your carpet after an extended period of use. So you may be considering specialized mats to help protect your carpets.

However, chair mats are not a magic bullet that will protect your carpet or floor all the time. Sometimes the chair mat itself tends to set marks on your carpet or floor after a few years of use. Hopefully, there are some alternatives to the chair mat.

You can replace your chair mat with the following things.

1. New wheels for your chair:

Traditional office chair wheels are made of plastic. They are easily rollable, but they can be the root cause of the damage of your carpet. There are alternate wheels that can help you replace your chair mat. These are the rollerblade-style wheel (link from amazon).

These wheels use durable polyurethane material (a type of rubber) and cover less surface area than traditional office chair wheels. These wheels damage a lot less on carpet than traditional wheels.

2. Standing desks:

Spending hours of sitting down can cause a lot of health risks. To reduce it, modern offices are now replacing their normal desk with a standing desk that can be easily adjusted with a press of a button. As you are not using any chair on a standing desk; thus, it’s not damaging your carpet.

3. Office Chair Bell Glides For Carpeted Floors:

Another alternative to chair mat is to use bell glides instead of chair wheels. Although you will not be able to roll your chair with it; but it will decrease the chance of damage to your carpeted floors.

How Do You Find The Best-Fit Chair Mat For Your Office?

Now let’s discuss how you can find the perfect Office Chair Mat. We have to buy an Office chair mat right now; we will consider the following factors:

  • Type of the floor on which the chair will be used
  • The required size and shape of the Mat 

We think you should also consider the above factors. Just answering the two questions below can help you to determine the type of Mat you will need. The questions are:

What Type Of Floor Do You Have?

In the market, you will find office chair mats that are designed to use on both hard floors and carpeted as well. If you have a carpet, just select a mat that gives a better grip of the underside, and thus, it will keep your chair safely anchored in its place.

What Chair Mat Size And Shape Do You Need?

You might already know that Office chair mats come in all shapes and sizes. For Example Rectangular, Circular, teardrop shape, etc. If you have a traditional Desk that has a Drawer on both sides, just getting a mat with a lip would work fine for you.

Again if your workspace is at the corner of a room, then a teardrop, the plastic-made mat will provide you more flexibility. Now, there are also different sizes of Mats. There are no standard chair mat sizes. You have to measure how big of a mat you need.

This will definitely depend on your chair, your workspace, and how far you need to move your chair (if you have a rolling chair) while you work. If you see the mat will cover the required area, then the mat is of the perfect size for you.

You might have seen chair mats with lips and without lips. But do you know the use of these lips? If you want to know about chair mat lips, check out our article: Chair Mat Lip Vs No Lip: What’s The Difference?

Thanks for reading my article! Before you go, please take a minute to check our Recommended Chair Mat.

Sifatul Shohan

Hi, I'm the co-owner of officechairtrends.com. A blogger and a freelance web developer.  As I work as developer, I have to work for prolonged hours at a desk that's where I developed back pain. I started researching on ergonomic chairs and gained knowledge throughout the process.  This is the site where I share everything I've learned about office chairs.