Chair glides are those small bits that you can find at the bottom of a chair leg. You need these in order to protect the chair and also the floor you are using it on. Normally you would add the chair glides with glue, screws or nails. If you have a chair that’s made out of metal, then you will need to add caps or even inserts, depending on the manufacturer.

Why do you need chair glides?

Your chair will end up damaging the floor without chair glides,. Most chairs come with glides, but those wont’ last for a very long time. That’s why you should check the chair glides often and in case you encounter any problems, you want to replace them with newer glides.

Using nylon or hard plastic glides

If you need to use chairs in hospitality environments, adding nylon or hard plastic glides is a very good idea. They work for most floors and they can last for many years without any issue. These will also work on uneven, texture or very rough floors. It allows your chairs to maintain their slickness and they won’t just damage the floor all the time. You can also even things out with chair glides, in case the floor is uneven.

What can you do for noisy floors?

In case your floors are noisy, then nylon or plastic are not good options. You want to use felt glides, because they are soft and quiet, not to mention they work smoothly even in the case of hard floors. The problem with felt glides is that they can wear off very quickly. Fixing them can also be challenging. You also need to note the fact that they won’t slide on surfaces like carpets or rugs. If the glide always sticks to the surface, then it will lead to chair damage.

Solutions for soft floors

When you have soft flooring like parquet or anything like that, your glide has to spread the chair’s weight. Thin chairs will not be ok for soft floors in general.

Can you separate the glides from your chair?

Normally that’s not possible, especially if you use nails or glue. However, there are chairs that you can use non-standard glides for. These will have a much better connection to the chair leg and you can remove the glides if you want to.

Solutions for clattering chairs

Sometimes the chairs will clatter on hard flooring, that’s especially true in the case of chairs with metal frames. The screws are loose, but at the same time there can also be a problem for hard glides.

Above you can see what option works depending on the situation!