How to Fix Squeaky Office Chair?
“Hey, do you hear this? My office chair squeaks when I lean back.” Do you find yourself conversing with this dialogue lately? Or maybe your squeaky office chair won’t lean back to start with. It’s high-time that you should fix your squeaky office chair.
So, here are the methods to fix squeaky office chair;
1. Analyze the source of the noise
Before you proceed with the solution, carefully analyze and evaluate the problem. Each office seat is comprised of an assortment of individual pieces fastened together. Most of these pieces, especially those under the seat, undergo significant weight-bearing throughout the seat’s lifetime.
Hence, as you lean forward or swing around, the wear-out or rusty parts such as screws, nuts, and bolts relax on their fix leading to your seat making sounds that would bring all your colleague to your table but for a complaint.
Usually, those irritating sounds result from friction of moving parts like the screws that hold them, get free, or the lubricant applied to the joints has worn off.
2. Check the fastening of nuts, screws, and bolts
The best idea of how to fix a squeaky office chair comes from its fixings. Most likely, the problem would lie in nuts and bolts and so take some time to properly look underneath the chair, ideally by flipping it over on some ragged newspapers.
Using a screwdriver and a wrench, tighten up and loose screws you see and replace the rusty ones with new shiny pieces. If you have assembled the chair yourself, there are higher chances of getting a squeaky office chair soon due to human error with the fastening.
Sitting frequently on the chair may pressurize these tiny connectors leading to them loosening up and resulting in the voices. Hence, it’s essential to start the checkup with them.
Once you are satisfied with the fastening, turn the chair upright and sit down and sway around to check. If the noise still persists, it’s time for step 3.
3. Grease the rust away
The second commonest cause could be the rusty parts, creating more friction, resulting in frequent nuisance voices. In that case, get your hands on a can of WD-40 and spray well on the suspected area. If that’s not available, you can also pour few drops of machine oil on the rusty side.
Seat-tension springs are usually the main culprit of squeaky office chairs but fixing them is fairly easy. You will find a link from WikiHow on how to lubricate this spring at the end of this article. However, you can also use a Teflon Thread Seal Tape to attach and rub the springs together, lessening the pressure between them that may have been causing the squeak.
However, if the rust fails to disappear even after oiling, use a home remedy that works 100%. Simply dip steel wool in vinegar and give a thorough rub over all the rust. This will ease the rust and make it vanish, along with the sound.
4. Remove the fasteners and lubricate again
Squeaking still not fixed? The chair’s fasteners are likely rusty, so you may have to remove them all and spray or oil the rust away from them, too, before fixing them in and checking-up on the chair again.
5. The deal with the wheel
After the screws, nuts, and bolts, the wheels are most likely the offender and should be punished with a replacement or being sprayed over. Usually, the wheels are inserted into the chair’s body via a metal post fixed on the top of the wheel. Over time, that metal may rust and wear down, making the wheels loosen from the axle, inducing friction, hence, squeaking.
So, repeat the lubrication step with the wheels, too, by removing them and then pop them back in to see how the chair works now.
6. Use glue for a firmer attachment
If none of the steps above workout, maybe the size ratio of fasteners to chair pieces is out. Try using glue on joints for a firmer adhesion. The choice of adhesive should be Wood Glue as only it would work on the material of office chairs. Let it dry-up completely before sitting and checking again for any noise.
7. Use a wood-swelling liquid
This is often a better option than using glue. The squeaking may also be due to loosened legs which happens due to the shrinkage of the dowels.
Do this by removing the limbs and accessing the dowels. Now douse them with the Wood-Swelling Liquid. Now rejoin the legs. This acts the same as glue by serving as an adhesive but is a better option than the former.
8. Look for and fix the squeaks at the back
Suppose your chair only squeaks when you lean back on it, or you find that after the squeaky voices a few times, your office chair won’t lean back at all. In that case, the squeaking sound may be caused by too much tension at the back of the seat – or where the spring’s end touches the housing ends.
The best way to fix this up is to use a lubricating agent (or oil) and apply it to the seat’s tension spring located inside the turn-knob housing of your chair. Lean on to check if it worked.
9. Ask a friend for help
If the chair still squeaks, you might be missing a spot for lubricating. Ask a friend to sit on and sway the chair around while you peak beneath to listen where exactly the sound is coming from. Lubricate that particular area well to see a difference.
10. Look for a mouse or replace the chair
If none of the steps above works, it’s likely that either you’re confusing a mouse’s squeaks for your chair’s or it is time to get your hands on a new one. This time invest in a better ergonomic model such as the Modway EEI-757-BLK Ergonomic Chair or checkout the Nouhaus NHO-0001BL Ergo3D Chair for a cheaper but equally amazing option.
For authentic options, check out the following article: best chair for sitting all day.
Related Article
- How to protect carpet from office chair
- How to replace chair cylinder
- How to Fix a Sinking office Chair
- What is standard desk height
- How to raise chair height
- Can office chairs explode
- How to Tell If Furniture Is Laminate or Veneer
Final Verdict
Knowing how to fix a squeaky office chair is a much more cost-effective option than replacing it with a new one.
However, remember to be gentle with using your office or gaming chair and not lean on it excessively or sway around on it wildly, as that results in an unnecessary strain that may wear the chair out earlier than expected.
