Whether you work from home or at the office, in order to work efficiently, you need a place and a seat where you can sit comfortably. Office chairs play an important role in our lives, and yet we take them for granted all the time. How? We only notice them when they are broken!
Isn’t that right? Not only do the work chairs affect our productivity, but they directly influence our health as well. So, it is extremely crucial to take good care of your chair.
A fully functional office chair will allow you to work at your cubicle or desk for long periods without putting any stress on your spine. In fact, according to studies, up to 38% of office workers will suffer back pain in any given year. However, using high-quality office chairs will minimize the stress on your spine and hence, protect you from severe pain.
But it doesn’t matter how good the quality of an office chair you have, if you don’t clean it and maintain it, it will lose its aesthetics, ergonomics, as well as functionality, resulting in poor performance, which ultimately leads to low productivity from your side.
With that said, this post is all about how to maintain and service your office chairs in order to increase their longevity while ensuring that they work exceptionally every time you use them.
So, let’s get started.
#1 Look for an upholstery tag
If you are considering cleaning your home office chair all on your own without calling for professional help, we recommend that before you get started with the cleaning process, look for the upholstery tag on your chair. Pretty much all office chairs come with an upholstery tag, which is also known as a care label.
The tag features guidelines from the manufacturer on how to care for your office chair. Different chairs are made of different materials and fabrics. Hence, it is important to determine the most effective and safest way to clean your chair.
In the majority of cases, such tags are attached underneath the seat of the chair. When you look at the tag, you might find the cleaning codes printed on it. These are normally two-letter codes that reflect the best way to clean and maintain a particular office chair.
Here is what you need to know:
- X: the C cleaning code reflects that the chair should only be vacuumed or brushed. Using chemicals and water-based solutions will damage the chair.
- S: the S cleaning code reflects that you should clean your chair with a water-free solution. Chairs that use fabrics like rayon, wool, or cotton cannot tolerate water solutions.
- W: the W cleaning code reflects that you can clean your office chair with water-based cleaning products.
- W/S: the W/S cleaning code reflects that the chair can be cleaned with or without a water-based solution.
In case, if your chair doesn’t have a tag of any sort, you can check its user manual, or you can look it up online at the manufacturer’s website.
#2 Use only non-abrasive cleaners
You should only use specific cleaners for cleaning your chairs. That is, you should only buy vinyl cleaners for vinyl chairs, leather cleaners for leather chairs, and so on. Using abrasive cleaners might damage the chair upholstery to a great extent.
In case, if you have a mixed assortment of chairs like vinyl or leather upholstery and plastic base or arms, always use a clean cloth to wipe them. Moreover, immediately clean the stains and spills as they could get absorbed into the upholstery. Immediate response will keep your office chair from staining or rusting.
#3 Tighten the nuts and bolts
Some office chairs require to be tightened every 4-6 months. The months of wear and tear cause the screws and bolts to loosen up. If you have an office chair with tires at the base and a revolving seat, it is important that you check the screws and bolts as loose screws are always a health hazard. Moreover, it also makes the chair saggy and less efficient.
All you need is a screwdriver and maybe a spanner. Rotate the screws clockwise using the appropriate tools. So, make sure that you tighten the bolts and screws of your office chair once in a while to ensure optimum performance.
#4 Spot clean using water and liquid detergent
Areas other than fabric need to be cleaned as well. In the majority of cases, areas like the base, armrest, as well as entire frame of the chair are made of either metal or high-grade plastic. This means it is safe to use cleaning agents to spot clean the surface.
Even if you don’t have any cleaning agents, you can use liquid detergent and warm water to give the chair a nice wash without affecting the fabric or upholstery. Dirt and debris may stick to the surface of the frame, which becomes difficult to clean after a while.
Warm water will help in loosening the grime, and liquid detergent will give it a stain-free clean with a nice odor.
#5 Clean and lubricate the casters
Most of the work chairs come with casters. It allows users to go from one workstation to another quite easily. Moreover, the casters also make it easy to transport the chair from one room to another, without the need to lift the chair.
However, over time, with excess usage, the casters tend to get stuck while rolling. This is because of the debris buildup inside the rollers. The rollers are made of many different materials, including polyurethane, cast iron, aluminum, steel, rubber, or plastic.
If you can remove the casters, remove them completely from the chair and let them sink inside a bucket filled with warm water and a detergent mixture. This will ensure that grime, debris, and dust are totally removed from the casters.
And if you can’t remove the caster, simply take an old toothbrush and give them a thorough clean. Once you clean them, lubricate them with machine oil.
Final Words
It is important that you keep your office chairs clean and well-maintained to increase their longevity as well as improve their functioning over the course of their use.
