How to Furniture-Proof Your Floors | Flooring HQ

How to Furniture-Proof Your Floors

How to Furniture-Proof Your Floors
Read Time: 3 minutes
Nov 7, 2022

It’s important to take care of them so that they can continue to look their best. Taking good care of your floors can not only keep them looking nice for far longer but can also increase the lifespan of the flooring materials. Part of this is protecting your floors from your furniture. If you don’t take precautions, certain types of furniture could scratch or otherwise damage floors.

Hardwood floors especially could be prone to scratching from the legs of chairs, tables, or other pieces of furniture. The following are options you can take to protect your floors from your furniture.

Area Rugs

a blue patterned area rug in a dining room with a table and chairs on it

One option is to purchase an area rug and place it underneath where your furniture would go. A rug can provide a soft surface on which the furniture can sit while adding to the decor of the room. There are a wide variety of patterns and colors to choose from and your hardwood floors will still be visible as well as protected.

Furniture Pads

If you’d prefer not to cover your floor in an area rug, or if you have carpet, then you may want to consider chair slides or furniture pads. These can be made up of different materials and are designed to go on the legs of your furniture where it would touch the floor. These pads can prevent heavy furniture from denting or scratching your floors. It’s important to select the right material, though, so you don’t damage your floors with the pads.

Plastic Furniture Pads

a man placing a felt furniture pad on the base of a leg of a sofa

Plastic furniture pads are another good option to protect carpeting. They’re harder, so aren’t suitable for use on a wood floor, but can still help to distribute the weight of furniture so it won’t damage the carpet. They’re not as sturdy as metal pads, however, so you’ll likely need to replace them at some point. Plastic can also be used on softer flooring materials like vinyl or rubber.

Steel Furniture Pads

Steel pads can be a good option for protecting carpet from your furniture. This is a harder material, so while it can help to prevent indentations in the carpet by better distributing the weight, it can scratch wooden or other hard floor surfaces. Because the metal is so hard, it’s best used only on carpeting or rugs, even if the furniture won’t be moved at all.

Felt Furniture Pads

a woman sitting cross-legged on the floor putting a furniture pad on the leg of a chair

Felt can be a great option if you’re putting the furniture on harder flooring materials like wood or tile. It can glide easily so that you can move the furniture if you need to. For this reason, felt furniture pads can be a good choice for rooms like the kitchen or dining room where you might need to move the furniture. If the furniture is particularly heavy, then you’ll need to make sure that the felt pad is thicker.

Rubber Furniture Pads

Rubber furniture pads can also be a good option for harder floors like wood and tile. It’s possible for rubber to cause scuffs, however, so even though it can be sturdier than felt, it’s best to use it for furniture that isn’t going to move. Rubber furniture pads can actually help prevent furniture from moving, especially if it’s going to have a lot of energetic use, like a sofa that children may jump on.

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