The fact of the matter is that finding a good office chair is very difficult. Some of us can take years before we find the right chair for us, one that supports our back, neck, and arms in the right kind of way.
Yes, having the right office chair is really important because sitting at a desk for six to eight hours a day can take a huge toll on your back and the rest of your body too. Therefore, having a good office chair with great lumbar support and other comfort features is essential to your physical health and your overall comfort.
So, you finally found yourself the right chair and you’ve been comfortable for a few months or even a few years. However, now your chair has broken. One of the most common components on an office chair that can break is the base of it.
Now you might be tempted to buy a new office chair, but keep in mind that they aren’t cheap. If at all possible, we recommend trying to repair the base on your office chair instead of throwing it out and buying a new one. This is something that can save you a whole lot of money.
Let’s talk about how to fix a broken office chair base and whether or not it is fixable to begin with.
How to Fix a Broken Office Chair Base
Office Chairs – What’s the Base?
OK, so just to be clear, the base of your office chair is the part at the bottom where the wheels are attached. The area with five or six legs, each with a wheel, is the base, and it starts where the legs come together and attach to the main stem of the office chair. Included with the base are the wheels, otherwise known as the castors.
Repairing Snapped Legs
One of the most common issues that you may face with your office chair base is that one of the legs may have snapped. This may happen if the chair is very old, if the legs are made out of cheap material, such as lightweight plastic, or if the person sitting in it is much heavier than the chair was designed for.
Plastic Legs
If one of the leg snaps and if it’s made out of plastic, you might be able to use some high-quality super glue to glue it back together. However, this method is questionable at best, and it probably won’t last too long.
The unfortunate reality is that if the leg snaps, you’re most likely going to have to replace it. The issue here is that you would need to get a replacement base, as fixing it really isn’t an option. Getting a replacement base is often not possible or far too expensive to make it worthwhile.
Metal Legs
That said, if the base of your office chair happens to be made out of metal, then you have one good solution, and that’s welding. If you know how to weld, then you can go ahead and weld that leg back together.
You can always also bring it to a professional welder to get them to do it. This is a job that should only cost a few bucks. However, the reality is in that is that in most cases, if one of the legs on your office chair snaps, you’re going to have to replace the whole chair, or at least the whole base.
Repairing Broken Wheels
Now, if you manage to break one of the wheels on your office chair, the story is not quite as bad as if one of the legs is broken. This is because if one of the wheels is broken, while you still cannot repair it, It’s much cheaper to replace a single wheel than it is to replace a whole base, or even the whole chair.
Generally speaking, unless the wheel has a really small crack that you can super glue together, you won’t be able to fix it. You’ll need to pop that wheel out using a pry bar or a hammer and then replace it with another wheel that fits.
Minor Cracks
If the base of your office chair just has some minor cracks in it, then something you can do is super glue the crack shut. If you manage to super glue the crack shut before it turns into a huge split, or before the leg snaps off, you can probably get another few good years out of the chair. Some good old fashion duct tape can go a long way too.
Conclusion
While office chairs can be repaired in many different ways, the unfortunate reality is that the base of an office chair is quite hard to deal with. unless it’s just a small crack that can be super glued or a castor that needs replacing, chances are pretty big that you’ll either need to replace the base, or the chair as a whole.