How To Fix A Squeaky Office Chair?

After three or four years of regular use, your home or office chairs start making squeaky sounds. This noise does not mean that you need a replacement one. But it will likely be annoying to you and your coworkers.

There might be a squeaking sound anytime you adjust your position in the chair or get up from it. Do you ever hear this sound? If yes, you will know how irritating this sound could be.

Some think fixing a squeaky office chair is difficult, or you may need to change it with a new one. Because they do not know how to fix a squeaky office chair? Here we come up with some techniques to diagnose the sound where it comes from and how you can fix this noisy office chair within ten minutes.

Key Takeaways

• The noise can come from the office chair’s base, seat, chair cylinder, mechanism, wheels, and armrest.
• Seat spring tension can be responsible for squeaky sounds.
• Use olive oil to clean the rust of your chair’s nuts.
• You can use glue to fix the broken legs to erase this noise.

How many components does an office chair have?

To fix this squeaky noise from your chair, you need to identify the noise first. You’ll need to be well-versed in the internal dynamics of an office chair for this. Otherwise, you can damage other parts, too, while you are fixing it.

Listed below are the individual parts that make up an office chair:

1. The office chair contains a base that is the main component. This base makes the office chair more stable. When wheels are added to the chair’s base, it becomes movable.
2. The seat pan is made with cushioning. It can bend to an adjusted angle to provide the most comfort and blood flow to the knees.
3. The chair’s mechanism is placed under the seat pan. It connects the office chair to the gas cylinder. This mechanism provides you with adjustability, whether vertical or backrest.
4. The chair cylinder is the connector of the seat pan to the base. It lets users customize the chair’s height for optimal comfort. It is also called a gas cylinder.
5. The chair handles are known as armrests. It comes with extra pads to increase the comfort level. These handles can be fixed or adjustable. For example, you can adjust your chair’s arm according to your height if it is adjustable arms.
6. The backrest consists of a headrest, upper back support, and a lumber support system that supports the neck and spine.
7. Chair casters are often known as the wheels on an office chair. Every office chair has four to five wheels in a rotating frame.

Why do office chairs squeak and creak?

As we know, office executive chairs have many parts. Therefore, which parts can cause the making noise? Office chair’s base, seat, chair cylinder, mechanism, wheels, and armrest can be faulty where the noise can come from.

When these parts become rusty, loose, or misplaced of springs, they will cause squeak and creak from your office chairs.

So, let’s start talking about the causes of that annoying squeak and creak in your office chair:

Loose bolts and nuts

As time has passed, the screws, bolts, and nuts that hold your office executive chair components together have become loose. This squeaking is often caused by loose nuts and screws. Loose bolts may occur for a variety of causes. But here are three main reasons for the loose screw.

1. When you assemble your office chair, the screws tend to come loose if you don’t tighten the screws and bolts.
2. Next, your office chair’s screws and bolts can be loose because of body weight. Friction is caused by the body’s weight putting tension on the chair’s nuts and bolts. The resulting motion is a torque due to friction. After a certain point, the toque will no longer be able to tighten the bolt.
3. Temperature may have a role in loose bolts in a variety of ways.

Vulnerable moving parts

Loosen nuts and bolts are not only the responsibility for squealy noise. Some moving components, like a cylinder mechanism and base, can make this noise too. After tightening screws or bolts, a sound still comes from your chair. The problem is in the joints. The friction between the chair’s joints from daily usage is enough to wear them out.

Chair wheels and springs

There is friction and squeaking in wheel axles and chair springs as well. So, your chair’s squeaking might result from rusty springs or wheels, so inspect these as well.

Loosened legs

Another source of chair squeaks is legs that are too loosely attached. However, this is more apparent because a chair with loosened legs is less stable. In addition, dowels in the chair might become too small, causing this problem.

Dirt and dust stuck into components

It’s also possible that the wheels on your office chair are dirty or worn out and need repair. You should inspect your casters regularly to ensure they do not make any sounds because of dust. If your chairs are made from steel, it’s natural to build up rust on them. So everyday cleaning is necessary to avoid this annoying noise.

See Also: How Long Should An Office Chair Last?

How to fix a squeaky office chair?

Squeaky office chairs may be easily repaired. Since you can utilize everyday household items, there’s no need to go out and purchase anything specifically for this. You can repair a squeaky chair in many ways. Now in this section, we will discuss how to fix a squeaky office chair.

Fasten the screws and bolts

The common reason for squeaking office chairs is the loosening of bolts and nuts. So, whenever you hear this awful noise, you must check all the screws by rotating them with your hand first. Then, if there is any, you can use a screwdriver to tighten it.

See Also: How To Get Hair Out Of Office Chair Wheels?

Use lubricant to clean rust

Sometimes rust buildup on these screws and bolts, so you should unscrew them first. Then clean the bolt area and all screws with oil lubricant or grease. If you cannot remove rust from bolts after applying oil or lubricant, you should change them with a new one. Lastly, tighten the screws and bolts.

Lubricant the weak joints

Possibly weak joints are to blame if the squeaking persists after the screws or bolts have been tightened. You need to say someone to sit on the chair. Then move the squeaking chair a little bit to find the source of the squeaking sound. Once you’ve located its source, apply oil, grease, or lubricant (WD40). You can also spray some olive oil if applying the process is messy. Regular maintenance like this will keep the parts from making annoying sounds.

Fix the gas lift mechanism

The gas lift piston may be the source of the squeaking sound. This clatter is brought on by the air cylinder’s leaking piston shaft cover. A can of silicone spray and a wrench are usually required to open the piston and clean it. Then, oil the squeaky office chair’s moving parts using white lithium grease and put it back together. As it is a tricky component to fix, you may contact the specialist.

Fix broken legs and chair limbs

After checking all the parts, you can still hear an irritating noise. That means the problem with the legs or limbs of the chair. Armchairs that are broken, or even partially broken, can be very noisy, and the sharp edges can cause serious injury. For fixing broken legs or chair limbs, you can use glue. You can also use wood glue.

Fix seat tension spring

 You may also hear the springs in your chair referred to as seat-tension springs. These springs act as a cushion for your seat. When you recline back in a chair, it could make a squeaking sound.

1. To fix this problem, flip your chair and remove the seat cover.
2. Next, check the webbing bracket that holds the spring together.
3. If it is damaged, remove the damaged metal brackets from their original position using cutting tools.
4. Then reinstall them with new coils or springs in their positions.

Check the wheels

The friction coming from the wheel axle may cause a squeaky sound. To remove this problem, you can spray silicone on the metal post and wheel axle. If any of them is damaged, remove them and put in new ones if possible.

See Also: Are Office Chair Wheels Universal?

FAQs

Final Thoughts

Fixing your noisy office chair may seem daunting and time-consuming in light of all the choices presented in this piece. The reality, however, is quite the opposite. Simply unscrewing and oiling any rusted components will do the trick.

Still, you ask whether we can silence a squeaky office chair. Just do what is said here. We underwent some easy maintenance procedures to avoid an irritable, noisy seat.