I speak namely of my caster-rolling office chair. I utterly despise when the axles of the casters get all entangled with fibers, hairs, and whatever else gets inside of them.
Note: I speak of the wheel-axles, not the axles that attach directly to the chair base.
Why, oh why, do they not manufacture a type of caster, which the wheels thereof, are removable/replacable from the axles? This would make cleaning them SO much simpler, a matter of mere moments. (snap-off, snap-on, un-screw, re-screw, whatever)
Currently, I am forced to utilize an “exacto-knife” and a set of picking-tools. It can take me about 30-40 minutes to remove all of the garbage that gets wound up in the wheels. By the way, this is a 5-legged base, with 2 wheels on each branch…voila, ten places to pick at.
I just finished cleaning my wheel axles. It will all be back in a matter of days. I’m tired of it, but I can’t be without a rolling chair, so I am stuck. Does anyone else suffer from caster woes?
When I worked in a law firm two summer ago, what they did to solve this problem was to palce a hard plastic sheet about a quarter of an inch thick, about ten square feet or so, under the chair so the ball bearings and such wouldn’t get clogged up.
That’s a good solution for carpeted floors…
Incidentally, my entire home has bare hardwood floors. In order to keep on rolling smoothly, I would literally have to vacuum the entire house, at least twice a day, everyday, to make a significant impact on the problem. Before you ask, “Why twice a day, everyday?” The answer is: pets + humans + tracked-in debris + misc debris = one big freaking mess! My house isn’t filthy, but having hardwood floors makes it all too easy for stuff to drift around, collect, and so-on.
I suppose that leaves me with several, non-indeal solutions: li vacuum incessantly like a madman (no, thankyou)[/li]li remove the animals from my home (sorry, but not gonna happen)[/li]li anyone in the house must shave their entire bodies (you’ve got to be insane)[/li]li get rid of the rolling chair and use a standard chair (inconvenient and possibly wasting more time than picking the gunk out!)[/li]li carpet the house (costs too much, the pets would destroy it, and it would defile the aesthetic value of the antiquated hardwood)[/li]
As the saying goes, “darned if you do, darned if you don’t”
You can’t imagine how hard it was to forego the inevitable puns about caster oil.
I have a dog and hardwood floors, too, MSK. There’s a simple, inexpensive solution: Swiffers. Mop gizmos, used dry, that suck dust and fur right up. They pick up stuff vacuums leave behind. Just boogie around the house w/ them every day or so and the problem’s solved.
It is not very likely, in this home.
There has been “rolling-chair use” in this room, for over six years, and very little “damage” has occurred. The finish on the floor, which was “eroded with age” prior to the rolling chair, is the only “victim,” not the wood itself.
Unfortunately, the original finish on the floors was either improperly applied, originally defective, or applied too sparingly. Most of the wood flooring in the home has lost it’s original finish. Very little damage has occured to the wood in any part of the house, however. I guess that’s why they call it hardwood. They just don’t make wood like they used to! Thanks, Grandpa!
With five cats, one dog, and two people around here, I would be “swiffing my arse” off! Not too mention spending a ton of money on the swiffing things. At least I don’t have any kids to worry about adding to the mess.
