That sound is irking, and it is straight-up disgusting. Imagine a situation where the office is quiet, and everyone is brainstorming quietly, coffee-in-hand.
Then the frustrating sound goes off, and everyone breaks concentration. Yes, it is from the squeaky office chair. Squeaky office chairs have to be one of the most distracting things anyone can deal with in an office.
It is so distracting that some workers complain of not reaching peak productivity level for an entire day because the sound kept intruding into their train of thought.
You need to know how to fix a squeaky office chair because it can also make you a target of hate and micro-aggression in the office. As a human, you will switch between different sitting positions so often, and there is nothing wrong with this.
What makes you a target is that a squeaky sound will emanate from every action you make on your chair, and you will be seen as ‘the problem.’ A squeaky chair also does you no favors. In a bid to keep the noise down, your comfort at work will be affected.
A part of your mind will be preoccupied, trying to ensure no sound is coming from you than actually focusing on the work to be done.
How To Fix a Squeaky Office Chair?
All office chairs are made of several pieces that are screwed together to make the whole. Throughout a chair’s lifetime, it will hold different weights and these pieces that are screwed together begin to weaken at their various screw-points.
Each time you lean back or swivel on these chairs, you are, along with your weight, putting extra pressure on the chairs’ joints.
When the numerous connection points are no longer tightly wound, the different parts rub against each other and begin to make squeaky noises. The looser these joints, the louder they get.
Other times, the cause of the noise is because factory lubrication has worn off certain joints. The source of the noise is the first thing you want to check because you cannot fix the squeaky sound if you do not know where it’s emanating from.
To find out where the noise is coming from, you will want to pressure the chair’s different parts, especially the joints.
The parts that are usually the culprit for making the squeaky sound are the joints between the chair and the cylinder holding it down, the armrests, and the point where the backrest connects with the chair’s seat.
Apply as much pressure as you can and note down which of these parts is making the noise.
Check if Bolts and Screws are tight
Once you’ve figured out where the noise is coming from, you will want to flip the chair over to check the screws and bolts to assess how fastened they are to their holes.
It would help if you were careful when flipping the chair over to repair it. If you do it without care, you could end up damaging more parts of the chair.
To flip over the chair, check if its backrest can go all the way to the back. In other words, check if it is adjustable.
If it is, take it to the back before finally flipping it over. If it is not adjustable, it would be best if you found a tall table to hang the chair off, giving you access to the joints at the bottom of the chair and the cylinder.
Some of the chairs come with custom screws and custom screwdrivers. Get your chair’s custom screwdriver and check if all the bolts in the area you suspect the noise is coming out from is fastened correctly.
If it isn’t, fasten it appropriately. The same should be done for the screws. You will also want to check if the bolts are perfectly aligned in their holes.
A misaligned bolt can damage its slot and cause squeakiness. If it is not perpendicularly aligned, take out the bolt, fix it back at a 90-degree angle, and tighten it correctly. The squeakiness should stop.
WD40
You can lubricate the appropriate joints with WD40. It is great for chair joints, and it has a special straw that makes spraying it into the joints easy.
Bottom Line
Squeaky chairs are annoying and should not be tolerated. Thankfully, they are also fixable. So, you do not have to throw it for a new one every time it becomes squeaky.
The first thing to do is figure out the noise source before carefully flipping over the chair to fix whatever is wrong. As easy as it is to fix a squeaky chair, you should ensure quality chairs are bought with thorough research.
It reduces the number of times you have to flip over a chair to fix it. Cheap ones are made of bad metal that rusts, and not only will that squeak, but a worker will also fall off to everyone’s shock.
