Q: We've recently moved into our new apartment (we're renters) and I've discovered that there is a slope to the floor in the room I'm using as an office. I know this because when I put my new chair mat down and snuggled up to my lovely Belgian farm table of a desk for the first time today, I slid promptly to the left as if I were on a skate ramp.
I adjusted the mat, thinking maybe the low-pile carpet was lying differently from one side to the left, but no...the good times kept on rolling. It was amusing the first couple of times, but this is not going to work for me.
My initial thought was to ditch the mat, buy a piece of plywood, have it cut to my specifications, stain it, doll it up, etc. and then place a small thin rug under the left side to level everything out. BUT....I could be way off and because we're renting it's extremely unlikely that they're going to fix this problem. Any ideas for a temporary fix? Your advice is greatly appreciated.
Sent by Jennifer
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I have the exact same problem in the office of our new apartment...and the bedroom, livingroom, diningroom and maybe even in the kitchen. We are just getting rid of any chairs that have casters and doubling up felt pads under the feet where it slopes. It's not perfect but other than trying to level the structure, I'm not sure what else to do.
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I've run into the same problem in the past and have found that a mild slope can be overcome by placing my chair directly onto the carpet - it doesn't slide around as much or at all. This might not fix the problem for an extreme slope...
We had a similar conundrum in our last apartment. Luckily, the way our furniture happened to be oriented the slope always pushed us towards our desks. The dog however was not amused by her ball always rolling under the sofa. I like the extra felt pad idea and while the plywood option may be more work, you'd at least be able to keep your office chair.
maybe tie your chair on the higher side so u dont roll away? haha
I had the same problem in my old place (it was downhill to the bathroom!) but luckily it didnt affect us more than a few books propping up furniture.
I would try a non-rolling chair, moving the desk to a flatter spot, or perhaps laying a nice shaggy rug under your chair to create more friction.
I have very sloped floors in my apartment (ah, the joys of an old building!) and just ignore it for the most part. Sounds like that's not going to work for you.
Your plywood idea sounds like a good one to me or you could use MDF backed with stick on foam of some kind, maybe? With two layers on the low side or something.
Or you could get one of those anti-fatigue mats. I have one because I have a sit/stand setup at work and just roll my chair on it when I'm not standing. It's got enough resistance that I have to work to move my chair but not so much that it's impossible. A rug with a deep-ish pile might also provide enough friction to keep the chair in place.
I've lived in many crooked old houses and I've found that putting a rug under a desk chair usually does the trick.
I think the plastic under-desk mats are meant to make it easier to roll around on wall to wall carpeted rooms?
Or ditch the desk chair and get a chair without wheels, but put some really good floor protectors on it.
Next time you're at a hardware store look for a pack of "shims"- they cost $2 for 16 or 20 wooden shims that are meant for installing windows, cabinets etc but also are indispensable for leveling furniture in older houses. They're easy to trim to size and paint to blend in with the furniture.
I actually had an issue once with a crooked floor and TV stand on wheels that liked to creep towards the center of the room- I ended up nailing shims to the floor under the front wheels to act like those mail-truck wheel blocks. :)
Since then I've acquired a set of round brown plastic things that go under table legs, which work well under castered furniture- they are under the front legs of my (castered 1930s) kitchen table.
All suggestions are great but why haven't you even 'tried' to contact the landlord? He may not want to fix it but maybe 'he/she' has a solution. Either way, best of luck with this and I hope you do get it resolved.
Beer mats
When my parents remodeled their kitchen they discovered the old owners had "fixed" this same problem with lots and lots of newspaper nailed under linoleum. Crazy solution, but it did hide the tilt of the floor for years.
I also have wonky floors that I found amusing until (and here is the tip for you) I actually slept on the floor one night when my husband and I gave our guests our bedroom. We forgot about the slope and woke up feeling AWFUL, like all our blood had pooled in our heads overnight! From then on, whenever someone sleeps on a foamy in our living room we make sure we do the proper tweaking to avoid this problem. In our bedroom we had to raise the head of our bed to make up for the slope! I consider this a tiny price to pay for living in a space with character! Good luck, I hope you enjoy your new home!
We have a massive slope in our office. We put half the desk up on cheap cork coasters and put the desk chair directly on the carpet. That seems to keep it in place despite the dramatic slope.
I used to use the carpet trick but as I don't own a vacuum cleaner and don't intend to buy one for one tiny carpet, it had to go.
I got a big bag of rubberbands and wrapped them around the inside of the chair's wheel wells [about 10 per wheel or they'll just break]. It's a temporary fix that I can cut away when I move to a place with decent construction.
My apartment is about 250 years old - the floors are so sloped I was sliding off my mattress when I had my mattress facing a certain way. For my desk, I ended up pulling my bathmat out of my bathroom, and sticking that underneath the rolling chair, since those can go through a washer and drier. It depends on the size of your chair base, I suppose...but it actually worked perfectly for me.
Kaytaybicks ~ 250 years old! Which country is this apartment in and when are we (please, please, please) going to get a tour?! I would love to see such a historical place. Don't worry about decor and your things, it's the architecture and personality of the building that will be so fascinating. I was definitely born in the wrong country (Baby Canada) and I get very excited over old buildings (especially ones that people live in!). Hope it can happen... lori