Furniture Pad Material on Hardwood Flooring

[Steve1]

I am working on a solid maple desk.  It will be sitting on hardwood flooring, so I was figuring on putting something a little resilient under the RH and LH boxes to ensure I don't damage the hardwood flooring.

I have some 1/16 inch cork that I can glue to the bottom of the boxes.  I have done that before, but in those cases I had casters that I could jack down to roll the furniture.  I am worried that if I ever slide the desk on the floor, it will rip up the cork.  I got a small sample being glued up in the basement right now to see if I can tell how much shear I can put on 1/16" glued cark.

Another possibility would be 1/8" thick pine strips, or even pine edge-banding on the bottom pieces.

Or 4 purchased felt pads.

Any thoughts ?  What do you do on your builds ?    Or am I totally overthinking this ?

 

[rvieceli]

I’m a big fan of the stick on felt pads. I like the dark brown ones. They are fairly resilient, the adhesive does not like to release, but the foam between the felt and the adhesive can be cut off. They self level a little bit but there’s not much to work with.

Ron

 

[mrFinpgh]

I've used the nail in pads w/ plastic as well as the felt ones.  I feel as if the nail-ins stick around a little better than the stick-ons, which seem to come off eventually.

On the other hand, the nail-ins can fail catastrophically, exposing the nail and scratching up your floor.

For the last table that I made, I used 1/4" thick leather, and glued it to the bottom of the leg with some hide glue.  A bit over the top, but it definitely stuck well and should glide smoothly.

 

[Vondawg]

I second the felt pads like Ron mentioned (mine are tan) I clean the surface w/alcohol and a little touch of contact cement…like photo bond from a spray can…it’s thin…and the pads stay put. They may come in a nailed on version as well

 

[Packard]

I have white oak floors that were installed in 1953 or so (when the house was built).  I built a furniture style dog crate for my Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

The dog weighed 110 pounds and the crate weighed about 60 to 75 pounds. It was mounted on furniture-style casters with rubber wheels (see image below). I was able to sell the crate after my dog passed away (at 13 years of age).  The crate was about 10 years old and my dog would bark each evening when he wanted to go to bed so that I would open the door.  He insisted that the door be closed once he was settled in. 

In any event, the wood showed impressions where the wheels were.  The finish was fine, but the substrate (the white oak) had been dented.  I was amazed that this happened. 

In any event, spreading the load over a larger area would likely have prevented that from happening. 

Grainger sells felt pads in strips and sheets in 1/8", 1/4" and 1/2" thickness. https://www.grainger.com/category/raw-materials/felt/felt-sheets-and-strips

 

[Peter_C]

Stick on felt pads are about useless, although sometimes the only option. I use these in one size or another, as HD also sells a combo pack with different sizes. Every chair table and piece of furniture has something to protect the floor.https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbil...avy-Duty-Felt-Pads-8-per-Pack-49934/203661128

 

[squall_line]

I have stick-on felt pads under a significant amount of my furniture, including the church pew in our family room.  Since I'm not in the habit of sliding my church pew or dressers around, I haven't noticed any poor performance.

I also can't say that if it ever came time to move the pew more than 1-2 inches that I would want to slide it; there's plenty of opportunity for dirt and other things to get caught in the felt and gouge the floor.  I would lift it if I were moving it more than to nudge it one direction or the other, no matter how heavy it is.

Stick-on felt on chair legs, when they're getting pulled and pushed and sat on constantly... definitely not a recipe for long life, but not completely worthless, either, depending on how smooth the floor is.  Mine usually lasted a couple of years and then were replaced because they just wore through rather than because they fell off.

 

[woodwise]

I will share that I have not the best experience with adhesive backed felt pads. It is also fair to say that when I think of nail on felt pads, I think of the type with the separate nail in the center. I have also had these fail exposing the nail which is probably far worse than just leaving the pads off in the first place...
View attachment 1

On a recent trip to Home Depot, I found another type of nail on pad:
View attachment 2
These seem to eliminate the stress concentration around the single thin nail and have been working very well on some chairs in a high use setting.

Looking forward to following along and seeing what the group finds most effective.

 

[Cheese]

I also can't say that if it ever came time to move the pew more than 1-2 inches that I would want to slide it; there's plenty of opportunity for dirt and other things to get caught in the felt and gouge the floor.  I would lift it if I were moving it more than to nudge it one direction or the other, no matter how heavy it is.

Stick-on felt on chair legs, when they're getting pulled and pushed and sat on constantly... definitely not a recipe for long life, but not completely worthless, either, depending on how smooth the floor is.  Mine usually lasted a couple of years and then were replaced because they just wore through rather than because they fell off.

I use the adhesive felt type for indoor furniture and the single nail plastic type for outdoor furniture.

Like squall_line mentioned, don't get in the habit of sliding the furniture across the floor because the felt pads can attract grains of dirt and that will leave long scratches on the floor surface.