|
|
|
Office floor: laminate vs. tree wood |
|---|
| message from Peter Twydell on 24 May 2004 |
We're about to move house, and one of the "new" bedrooms will be used as
an office.
Our present office has a carpeted floor, and moving an office chair on
it has f^hrucked the carpet and underlay. SWMBO tells me not to move the
chair around on the floor, but to get up each time I want something from
the bookcase or whatever. I ignore her.
The new office has a laminate floor, which doesn't look all that bad,
but real wood would look so much better. Which would be harder wearing,
bearing in mind that I'm 18+ stone (about 115kg), so there's going to be
quite a load on said surface? If wood parquet is the better, any
recommendations as to type of wood and type of varnish?
|
| Jerry. replied to Peter Twydell on 24 May 2004 |
Noise plus scratches come to mind, my suggestion would be carpet tiles of
good quality, many an office use them without to many problems / wear etc.
|
| Peter Twydell replied to Peter Twydell on 24 May 2004 |
The weight is not really a "challenge", as I'm 6'6" (2m). Think Martin
Johnson-sized. Older, less talented, less fit, less almost everything,
especially scary. I was 14st/97kg once (I'd not been well), and could
hide behind fence posts. A stone less wouldn't hurt.
I do agree, but it might come down to cost and time. I hope not, though.
So far I've managed to get 2 new chairs under guarantee. Didn't know you
could get rubber tyred ones, though.
Thanks, Andy.
|
| Andy Hall replied to Peter Twydell on 24 May 2004 |
I'd suggest addressing the problem in a different way.
No, I'm not going to suggest addressing kilogrammatic challenge - it
is as it is...
Personally I abhor laminate floors and if it were me I'd rip it out
and burn it.
So to real wood. First of all go for a pretty hard material. Oak
is pretty good.
Secondly, take a look at the chairs and obtain them with or fit wide
wheels tyred with rubber to spread the load. Herman Miller Aeron
chairs have these as an option, specifically for hardwood floors, but
will set you back £650 new, around £300 "pre-owned". I have seen
Chinese copies.....
Finally, if you treat the floor with an oil/polish rather then a
varnish it is very easy to remove any minor indentations whould they
occur. A steam iron and a cloth will do the job very effectively.
The fibres swell with the heat and the indentations disappear like
magic.
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
|
| Ian Stirling replied to Peter Twydell on 24 May 2004 |
Do you get chairs with big "low-pressure" wheels?
|
| stefek.zaba replied to Peter Twydell on 25 May 2004 |
From the "thinking sideways" corner: we've just recently ripped out the
manky carpet from a small upstairs bedroom which has become my wife's
study; and the flooring we put down was cork tiles (from those nice
people at Siesta Cork Tiles, Croydon - Google for them). With a couple
of coats of a water-based acrylic varnish from Rustins (also available
from the same source in the one delivery with the tiles), they've made a
very nice surface: "domestic office" feel, i.e. neither too much like
a bedroom, nor too cold-n-clinical. Laying was pretty much a breeze
(some prior planning with to-scale plan of room and tiles helped put
part-tiles in reasonable places and avoided narrow strips: and *do*
punch down flooring nails even if you think they're "practically" level
already!). Of course, I'd d-i-y'ed a spreader out of some scrap ali sheet
and finished the job before finding the freebie steel-with-wooden-handle
one they'd thrown in the box... You might even be able to lay right on
top of the existing laminate to cover it up ;-) - the "Acrylicork" tiles
I used are, from memory, just 6mm thick.
The more demanding usage-test will happen in a few months' time, when
I do the same in my home office next door to hers - she's a svelteish
60kg or so, I'm less than twice that - but not by much! ("not overweight,
jsut undertall" ;-) But her office gets a fair bit of traffic from me
and the kids, and there are no early disappointing signs of wear...
HTH - Stefek
|
| Pete C replied to Peter Twydell on 25 May 2004 |
Hi,
There are a wide variety of chair mats available for carpeted and hard
floors.
Personally I think laminate flooring is fine in places where you don't
spend much time looking at the floor.
cheers,
Pete.
|
|
