Floor Protector Pads

All types of hard surface floors can be scratched by abrasive type materials, such as sand and grit. Whether you have a hardwood floor, laminate, vinyl or ceramic tile floor you need to protect your floor. Chair legs and other types of furniture can leave perminent scratches in the finish of your floor if not properly protected. Floor protector pads help prevent furniture and chair legs from scratching your floor when sliding them on your floor. Face it, most people do not pick up their chair everytime they want to sit down or get up. instead they slide their chair in and out across the floor. Without some sort of floor protector on the bottom of the chair legs you will probably begin to notice very small, hairline scratches in your floor's finish.

Floor protector pads come in several different styles and sizes to fit the bottom of most furniture legs. The common colors for felt pads are brown and white. Although the pre-packaged felt pads come in a round shape you can find at hardware stores large squares of self-stick felt pads to make your own sizes and shapes. The most common types of pads you will find are the self-stick felt pads, the tap-in pads and the screw on pads. A few have a hard nylon surface with no felt but the most common have the felt pad surface. Each type has it's benefits and possible shortcomings. The felt pads are definitely softer and more forgiving than an all nylon pad. Self-stick felt pads are the easiest to install but will probably fall off more readily then the other types. The screw on types take more time to install and require drilling a small hole in the bottom of each furniture leg.

Note: when installing a tap-in or nail-on type pad never hammer directly on the pad. Instead use a small block of wood to lay against the pad and then gently hammer the wood block to secure the pad into the bottom of the leg.

Regardless of which type of floor protector pads you choose be sure to check them often. Dirt, sand and grit can become trapped in the felt and eventually cause scratching of your floor. It is best to replace the felt pads every so often, especially if they show wear. When moving very heavy furniture it is wise to place something underneath the furniture and lift if possible. Don't rely on felt pads to hold if sliding heavy furniture across your floor.