Best solution for downstairs complaining about chair noise?

[Avigor]

I finally have an actual computer up, instead of just a chromebook! lol of course the renewed access to various games (steam, gog, wow, & now lotro) have been distracting me from posting on the forums for a while but still... Anyhoot, the point of this thread is my desk chair is on a hardwood floor, and the family members who sleep directly below my room have complained that they can hear every movement from my chair and it's been annoying them, especially as I'm a night owl and they're early birds. Switching rooms is not an option. I've been thinking that getting some kind of rug or pads of some sort, but I'm not sure what the best option is. Any suggestions?

[Brother Oni]

I finally have an actual computer up, instead of just a chromebook! lol of course the renewed access to various games (steam, gog, wow, & now lotro) have been distracting me from posting on the forums for a while but still... Anyhoot, the point of this thread is my desk chair is on a hardwood floor, and the family members who sleep directly below my room have complained that they can hear every movement from my chair and it's been annoying them, especially as I'm a night owl and they're early birds. Switching rooms is not an option. I've been thinking that getting some kind of rug or pads of some sort, but I'm not sure what the best option is. Any suggestions?

Either get a rug for your chair, or if you can find an old carpet, cut out little circles and glue them upside down (so the fuzzy bit is against the floor) to the bottoms of the chair legs.

[Lord Torath]

Does your computer chair have wheels? If so, you're going to need a rug or a towel or a blanket (a rug will last longer and be less likely to bunch up as your chair rolls around). If your chair has legs, you can buy "chair coasters" to go under your chair legs. Or you can buy (or scavenge) some tennis balls, cut an "x" into them, and put them over the feet of your chair.

[Knaight]

A thick rug should work.

[Alent]

You might try to get softer chair casters. I have some odd rollerblade style casters I got off Amazon where the outer layer is made out of some kind of silicone. I still get the chair squeak and some ball bearing sounds, but the contact noise of hard plastic wheel on my tile floor is practically gone. Perhaps also get some of those interlocking foam Floor Mats like you'd use in the garage for good measure?

If you go the caster route, pop one of the casters out of your chair and take a caliper to the stem. They come in a few different sizes, you do not want to order the wrong one.

[Avigor]

Does your computer chair have wheels? If so, you're going to need a rug or a towel or a blanket (a rug will last longer and be less likely to bunch up as your chair rolls around). If your chair has legs, you can buy "chair coasters" to go under your chair legs. Or you can buy (or scavenge) some tennis balls, cut an "x" into them, and put them over the feet of your chair.

Whoops, forgot to specify it has wheels and I'd rather not completely lose mobility... Yeah some kind of rug, now to find a properly thick spot rug. Anyone know if going all-out for some kind of fancy smanchy sound absorptive rug would be worth it?

[snowblizz]

What kind of noise?

For wheeled chairs + hardwood most office supply stores, furniture stores and Ikea, sell a various "chair mats" or "floor protectors". I got one to protect the floors. It's a sturdy plastic mat, couple mm thick. Lets you roll your chair but less wear on floors. But it will also not make as much sound.

Just as an example this is the Ikea one (no I don't have that one, I bought somethign similar from an office supply dealer):
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/44881100/

[Avigor]

What kind of noise?

For wheeled chairs + hardwood most office supply stores, furniture stores and Ikea, sell a various "chair mats" or "floor protectors". I got one to protect the floors. It's a sturdy plastic mat, couple mm thick. Lets you roll your chair but less wear on floors. But it will also not make as much sound.

Just as an example this is the Ikea one (no I don't have that one, I bought somethign similar from an office supply dealer):
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/44881100/

They say they can hear literally every movement from my room, but the chair, bed, and creaky spots near the door (which I suspect I can't do anything about) are the worst offenders, and the chair is what I'm focusing on atm.

I still haven't gotten anything so no final decision made yet, but I was suspecting the best option might be a softer spot rug with something harder I could roll on put on top of it, so that might help; do you know if those slip if placed on soft rugs?

[RMiller83]

You can use a cork base (it's a great isolation) and put a thin rug on it. I've done the same thing with my chair, it works.

[Dodom]

I personally prefer a rubber carpet over carpet-carpet.
It's easier to clean. Mine is a trunk liner, it's thin so the wheels don't dig into it, but it's not really durable, when I've set down weights on it a layer of rubber stuck to the iron, I expect I'll need to replace it eventually. I've seen some incredibly cheap yoga mats that could do the trick too, they look thin enough to cut to size and come in more attractive patterns.

[Peelee]

I'm going to go in the opposite direction from everyone else, and say get them ear plugs.

Also, congrats on the computer!