How to pack an office chair for moving

Whether you have a dedicated home office or just a desk and a chair in your bedroom, you certainly have at least one office chair in your home – and when the time comes to move house, you will have to pack that chair for moving. You will likely find the task harder than you thought – office chairs are rather tricky to pack.   

Bulky and irregularly-shaped, office chairs are very difficult to wrap up – and very cumbersome to fit into a moving vehicle. They may need to be dismantled in order to be safely and efficiently moved to a new location.

Disassembling an office chair, however, is not an easy thing to do – you can lose a lot of time and nerves in the process and may even damage some chair parts if you’re not careful enough.

Still, it is quite possible to pack a desk chair without too much of a hassle – you just need to know what you’re doing.

Read on to find out how to pack an office chair for moving the right way and ensure its successful and trouble-free relocation.

How to wrap an office chair

The easiest way to pack and move a desk chair is to wrap it in protective coverings and move it in one piece. This way, the packing process will take very little time and effort and the chair will arrive at your new home safe and ready to use.

So, if there is enough space in the moving vehicle, you can simply wrap your office chair in moving blankets and load it as it is.

Here is how to warp a desk chair for moving:

Step 1. Prepare the chair

If your office chair has adjustable armrests, backrest, and seat, make sure the back and the arms are at their lowest position and the seat slider is slid all the way back (as applicable).

Adjust the chair cylinder to the lowest position as well.

Step 2. Wrap delicate and/or protruding chair parts in bubble wrap

Wrap the hydraulic rod and both arms of the chair in a layer of bubble wrap. When applicable, consider wrapping the gas cylinder, the star-base, and the piece that connects the backrest to the seat of the chair in bubble warp as well.

Use packing tape to secure the protective wrappings in place.

Step 3. Cover the body of the chair with a slipcover or a moving blanket

If your office chair came with a protective slipcover, place it over the body of the chair.

Otherwise, use a moving blanket (or just large old towels) to cover the seat and the back of the chair – use stretch wrap to keep the protective coverings in place or secure them to the underside of the chair with packing tape.

Step 4. Wrap the office chair in a large moving blanket:

• Spread a very large moving blanket (furniture pad) on the floor;
• Lay the chair on its back over the blanket – not in the center of the pad, but toward the corner that is nearest to the top of the chair (so that a larger part of the blanket remains at the base of the chair);
• Wrap the blanket around the chair – start wrapping from the sides, then fold the top corner over. The corners of the blanket should overlap over the seat and completely cover the chair cylinder (if not, you need a larger furniture pad);
• Pull the bottom corner of the pad over the base of the chair – the star-base (the five legs and the castors) should be completely covered;
• Secure the furniture pad in place – tape all the way around the base and around the back of the chair, then put a piece of tape across and under the seat. Consider using stretch wrap to better secure the pad and protect the office chair from moisture.

At this point, your computer chair is safely wrapped and ready for moving.

Related: How to pack dining chairs for moving

If you need to save space in the moving vehicle, however, packing your office chair in one piece may not be an option. You may need to disassemble the oddly-shaped furniture item in order to make it more efficient to move.

How to disassemble an office chair

Dismantling an office chair may seem like a puzzling task, but it’s not overly difficult. All you need to do is check the manual your chair came with and follow the disassembly instructions (or the assembly instructions in reverse order).

Even if you don’t keep the manual – and can’t find it online – there is still no need to worry – office chairs are similar in design, so the following guide will help you dismantle your chair, no matter its brand and model.

So, how to take apart an office chair?

Step 1. Remove the wheels

The first thing to do when disassembling an office chair is to remove the wheels – to prevent the chair from sliding and moving around while you’re trying to dismantle its parts.

Here is how to take apart office chair wheels in a quick and easy way:

1. Start by turning the chair upside down over the desk – or flipping it on its side on the floor – so you have access to the wheels;
2. Depending on the type of the chair, you may be able to unscrew the entire wheelbase and disconnect it from the rest of the chair;
3. If that is not possible, you’ll have to remove the casters one by one:
4. Most casters on office chairs are just popped into the base, so you should be able to simply pull them out. If you have difficulty pulling a caster out, use a pry bar – position the nail pulling tip of the pry bar between the wheel and the chair leg, then push the pry bar downwards to pull out the caster;
5. Some chair wheels come with small levers to the side – in such a case, just push the levers to detach the wheels;
6. If the wheels are screwed onto the chair legs, use a screwdriver to remove them.

Detaching the casters will make the rest of the chair disassembly process much easier – and will save you a lot of time and hassle.

Once you’ve removed the wheels, turn the chair back upright and start dismantling it from the top.

Step 2. Remove the office chair headrest

If your computer chair comes with a headrest, it will most likely be attached with a few bolts. There may be a cover plate over the bolts – if so, you need to remove it first to get access to the bolts.

Once the cover plate is removed, use a screwdriver or an Allen wrench to remove the bolts and detach the headrest. When ready, put the cover plate back in place.

Step 3. Detach the armrests

The next step is to remove the armrests – in case that is possible. (Be sure to first check whether the armrests are detachable so you don’t damage the chair while trying to remove them.)

If the armrests are removable, you will most probably be able to take them apart by loosening the screws that attach them to the chair. Keep in mind that some office chairs have plastic plugs that cover the screws – in such a case you will need to first remove these plates (use a flat screwdriver).

Depending on the type of the chair, you may be able to remove the armrests by simply pulling them out of the slot underneath the chair while activating the adjustment lever.

In case the armrests are built into the frame, you won’t be able to remove them from the chair body.

Step 4. Detach the backrest

After dismantling the headrest and armrests, it’s time to turn your attention to the chair body.

The chair body encompasses the seat and the back of the chair. Depending on the chair, it may or may not be possible to separate these two parts:

• If the backrest is detachable, use an Allen wrench or a screwdriver to remove the bolts that connect it to the seat pan;
• If your office chair has a single unit body, you will have to disconnect the entire structure from the rest of the chair. (Unremovable armrests are part of the structure and will come off with it.)

Whether you manage to detach the backrest or not, you will still have to find a way to take off the upper part of the chair – and that may be quite a challenge.

Step 5. Dismantle the seat

All office chairs have a height adjustment mechanism – either hydraulics or a gas lift cylinder.

If your swivel chair has a hydraulic mechanism, it won’t be very difficult to detach the seat from the hydraulic stand – remove the hydraulic rod (disengage its lever and detach it from the seat), then undo the bolts or screws under the seat pan.

If your computer chair comes with a gas lift cylinder, the dismantling process will be a bit trickier:

• Turn the chair upside down over the desk (or over a table);
• The cylinder is typically only connected by tension, so you need to loosen it until you can pull it off from the upper part of the chair. Use a large pipe wrench to clamp down on the cylinder near the bottom of the mechanism. Slowly turn the pipe wrench until the cylinder comes loose and the chair seat comes off;
• In case there are bolts holding the mechanism under the chair, use an adjustable wrench to take them off. Once the bolts are removed, take off the upper part of the chair.

If you have already removed the entire wheelbase of the chair during Step 1, you’re done – your office chair is dismantled and ready for moving. In case you have only removed the casters, however, now you need to separate the star-base from the chair cylinder.

Step 6. Disassemble the office chair base

So, here comes the hardest question: How to remove the base of an office chair in a safe and efficient way?

To remove the star-base from the chair cylinder, you’ll need a rubber mallet – hold the cylinder upright with one hand and hit the base downward with the rubber mallet (hit close to the cylinder) until the star-base comes off.

Alternatively, you can turn the base upside down over a desk or a table and use the rubber mallet to dislodge the cylinder from the base. If it is a gas lift cylinder, however, you need to be extra careful:

• With the base upside down, position a small piece of wood on top of the gas lift;
• Gently hit the wood with a hammer until the base is dislodged. Make sure you don’t hit the gas lift directly to avoid causing any damage to it.

Once the base is removed, you can release the mechanism from the inside of the cylinder – hold the cylinder down and use the rubber mallet to gently tap the gas lift until the mechanism comes out. Depending on the type of gas cylinder, however, it may not be possible to remove the gas lift without a specialized tool.

Keep in mind that this last step will most likely not be necessary when moving a desk chair to a new home – removing the gas lift won’t help you save space or achieve better efficiency. Besides, the mechanism is very difficult to remove and can be easily damaged in the process.

Bonus tips for disassembling a desk chair for moving

1. If you don’t have the assembly instructions, be sure to take several pictures of your office chair before you begin disassembling it for moving – so you can use them as reference when reassembling the chair in your new home;
2. Protect the floor and the desk surface (or table surface) where you disassemble the office chair with thick cardboard pieces, old blankets, or other adequate protective materials;
3. Disassemble the chair as little as possible – you will save yourself a lot of time and effort (and will reduce the risk of damage to the chair) if you only remove the parts that need to be removed in order for the chair to fit into the moving vehicle, nothing more (most importantly – try to avoid disassembling the chair mechanism);
4. Pull all casters, screws, nuts, and other small hardware parts in sealable plastic bags and label them accordingly. Attach the bags to the seat or the back of the chair, so you don’t lose any chair components during the move;
5. Wrap all disassembled chair parts in bubble wrap or moving blankets to keep them safe during the move;
6. If you find the chair disassembly process too difficult or just don’t want to risk it, hire professional movers and packers to take care of your office chair and the rest of your household items. The extra cost will be worth it – your move will go smoothly and safely and you will have nothing to worry about.

See also: How to move a home office