How to Fix a Wobbly Office Chair?
What’s the most annoying thing in your office? Your answer would most probably be a wobbly chair. People do not want to deal with splitting tailbones, neck pain, or sore backs caused by sitting on an old rickety office chair.
You’ve probably noticed that your office chair has been a little loose lately, if not when you first got it. Instead of sitting comfortably on it and getting work done, you find yourself constantly repositioning your bum.
“Wobbles!”Your heart races as you fear falling! But that can be fixed. To help you fix a wobbly office chair, we’ve prepared a detailed guide on how to fix a wobbly office chair.
How to Fix Wobbly Office Chairs?
You need to be a little careful while fixing your wobbly desk chair properly as this process is a little tricky. If you don’t take proper care of it, you’ll end up damaging your office chair, which can become even more unsafe. It is necessary to identify the problem in order to fix it.
After investigating the issue, you need to buy some common tools to fix your wobbly chair. The list of a few important things is as follows:
- Hammer
- Strap clamp
- Drill hammer
- Sandpaper coping
- High-quality glue
- Rag
After the necessary equipment and identifying the cause, it’s time to fix a wobbly chair. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to fix a wobbly office chair.
Mark the joints on your chair
To fix a wobbly office chair, you first need to mark the chair’s joints as they were before loosening. For this purpose, you can use a board marker or a pencil. If you are fixing the office chair wobbling problem for the first time, then marking is essential to ensure that the parts have resembled accurately.
Disassemble your wobbly chair
Now that you’ve marked the chair’s joints, it’s time to disassemble it. Locate the screw holes of your wobbly office chair and then remove the screws with a screwdriver or drill. Use a hammer to split the parts tied with dowel pins or nails.
However, you should be careful at this step as hitting hard may cause another problem. Remove the seat and all screws to disassemble its parts completely. Now remove all bolts used for assembling other parts of your office chairs like the backrest, arms, etc.
Clean chair parts
Once the bolts are removed, you can start cleaning up different parts of your office chair such as chair legs and other parts. For this turn your chair upside down and make sure to remove all the dirt from different pieces of your office.
Remember that office chairs have to work as efficiently and smoothly as they were before they came into your hands. After cleaning up all parts, again assemble your chair back in its original form and make sure that it is how you want it to be.
Replace the broken parts
After cleaning different parts of your wobbly office chair, you need to see if there is any broken part may it a broken arm, headrest or chair base. Broken parts are one of the most common causes of wobbliness in office chairs.
Among all the parts, wheels and casters are the most commonly broken chair parts. Turn your chair upside down to find this out properly. If your office chair has a broken caster or wheel, get them replaced or fix them if possible.
Glue the joints together
You cannot fix a wobbly office chair without gluing the chair joints together. So, you need to glue all the parts back in position using a glue gun or any other adhesive material. If you’ve got a wooden office chair that’s loose, make sure to use some high-quality wood glue to ensure that your chair’s joints recover.
Rebind the corner blocks
Newly glued parts need time for proper alignment, and a strap clamp can help you to hold these sections for the proper time. Make sure the strap clamp is tight around the chair’s body before fastening the ratchet.
After rebinding corner blocks, tighten them again and then make sure they are appropriately aligned. If they are not aligned properly, then there is a possibility that your chair will wobble again after some time. Use a rag at the end of the process to give your chair a clean look.
Why is my office chair wobbly?
A lot of people confuse wobbly office chairs with squeaky chairs whereas both are different cases. There are different causes of squeakiness in office chairs and it takes a completely separate process to fix that.
If you are facing a squeaky office chair problem, we’ve already mentioned a detailed process to resolve the issue.
As far as a wobbly office chair is concerned, there are several reasons behind that, which you need to understand to fix a wobbly office chair properly. Some of the most common reasons are briefly discussed below:
Deficiencies in Joints
One of the most common reasons behind wobbly office chairs is the deficiencies in joints. Joints are the points of contact between the wheel and the seat, therefore they are subjected to lots of pressure during prolonged sitting. If you notice anything strange about these joints, get them fixed immediately.
Poor Quality Material
Some chairs are made from inferior materials. These are not durable and will wear out as soon as you use them. You can check the quality of your chair by applying a little force to the joints. If the chair wobbles a lot after applying some force, then you know that high-quality materials aren’t used in its manufacturing, hence, it needs replacement.
Loose screws
A lot of times, your office chair is wobbly because of loose or missing screws. If you identify that this is the reason behind your chair being rickety, fix them to tighten your chair’s body securely.
Age of Your Chair
If your office chairs have been with you for a long time, they might need to be replaced again. Over time, they tend to wear out and become frail. This can be dangerous because even a slight wobble in your chair can cause serious injuries.
Substandard Repairs
It is always important to have proper repairs whenever you buy any furniture or office equipment. Ultimately, it can save you both time and money. Also, if you know you will have to replace your desk chair at some point, it is wise to invest in the best desk chair.
If you repair your chairs yourself, you can get them repaired for a lower price. But If your chair has broken down again and loosened up severely, then you need to get it fixed by professionals.
It might be something else entirely, but it will make your day worse! If your office chair starts wobbling for no apparent reason, ensure that it is repaired immediately so that no more damage is done and your job does not suffer.
Conclusion – Last Thoughts!
Lastly, all of us have come across wobbly chairs at some point in our life. Mostly this issue is seen in wooden chairs and the majority of people go for a new office chair instead of fixing the issue.
There are many reasons behind the problem of wobbliness in office chairs. Some of them include deficiencies in joints, poor quality material, loose screws, etc. Always, look for these issues first and if you find that your office chair is wobbly because of any of them, get these issues resolved.
Through this article, you must have learned about how to fix a wobbly office chair. Now you will not waste your money on getting a new chair just because of a reparable issue in your previous one.