Your Guide to Glides
What is a glide? Great question! Gliders are metal or plastic discs fixed to the bottom of a chair’s legs, meant to help move a chair across the floor. However, we believe that it is actually more like a standard foot on a chair, just with more protection when dragging along the floor.
The Leland International Glide Guide can be used to assist in the selection of the proper item. Today there are so many options available that it can be somewhat confusing to make the correct determination as to the appropriate selection. One should consider first the three floor-type categories that impact the correct choice during your furniture buying journey:
Soft Floor Surfaces
Carpet, be it a looped or cut-pile broadloom or the felt-like indoor/outdoor rolled or carpet-tile products:
Metal works well here since it does not catch on the pile. The only possible concern is where a metal glide is not rust-resistant and is used where a carpeted area is wet-shampooed frequently with the furniture left in place. If this is a concern or metal is not an option, a nylon glide works equally as well. Read on for further information on each type!
Hard Resilient Floor Surfaces
Concrete, ceramic or porcelain tile, traditional VCT (vinyl composite tile), and
wood:
Nylon glides are recommended as the most versatile. Metal glides will cause scratching, and while felt glides will afford the easiest and most silent movement across such a floor, these types of floor will almost always receive wet cleaning treatments. Once a felt glide absorbs moisture it will harden and
shrink, even exposing a hard furniture material that would then damage such floors, and will also make for the shortest longevity of the glide.
Nylon glides are also universal in that they are recommended where furniture is placed across varying floor surfaces. Many environments have both a carpeted area as well as a hard floor area of tile or wood. The furniture may not always remain in the exact same place on just one floor type. Please reference the next page for further information on each type.
“Softer” Resilient Floor Surfaces
LVT (luxury vinyl tile) and similar products:
Luxury vinyl tile has a much more delicate surface than VCT and most LVT manufacturers have warnings against even pulling or dragging furniture across the floor. While the surface does not really scratch, the cushioned backing allows for indentations in the surface material which will appear as scratches at certain angles in the light. While a nylon glide is superior over metal or felt for all the reasons already mentioned, it can still mar the surface of LVT. The LVT manufacturer’s instructions for care and use must be followed. Please reference the next page for further information on each glide type.
Making the Right Glide Selection
The Leland International Glide Guide has been compiled to assist in the selection of the proper glide for your installation. There are many variables to consider
while making your selection. The information below is intended to describe typical applications.
Call a CPS customer service representative at (800)-237-4125 for any more questions or inquiries!
