How To Choose The Correct Chair Mat
Every Matshop heavy-duty chair mat is covered by an exclusive 12-year warranty — the longest in the industry. But how do you choose the right one?
Selecting the correct chair mat matters for three reasons: it protects your floor, it determines how long the mat itself lasts, and it makes rolling up to your desk safe and easy. Less effort rolling means less strain on your lower back.
A mat that’s too thin or lightweight for the floor beneath it will crack prematurely and develop deep impressions from the chair castors, making it hard to move around your desk.
Step 1: Hard floor or carpet?
If the mat is going on a hard floor — timber, vinyl, tiles, polished concrete — there’s one place to look: the chair mats for hard floors range.
If it’s going on carpet, one more question decides everything: does your carpet have underlay?
- Carpet with underlay (most homes) → choose from the chair mats for carpet with underlay range.
- Carpet without underlay (carpet tiles, or budget carpet glued straight to the floor) → choose from the chair mats for carpet without underlay range.
Not sure? Use the pin test below.
Step 2: The pin test — measure your carpet and underlay
- Take a long drawing pin, or straighten the end of a paper clip.
- Insert the straight end into the carpet and through the underlay until it hits the solid surface below. (Some carpets have a tightly woven backing — wiggle the pin gently to get through.)
- When it hits the hard subfloor, grip the pin with your thumb and index finger right at the highest point of the carpet, without pressing down.
- Pull it out and measure from the tip to your fingers. That’s your total carpet-plus-underlay thickness.
Under 12mm → you need a chair mat for carpet without underlay.
12mm or more → you need a chair mat for carpet with underlay.
Include the underlay in your measurement — almost every domestic home has roughly 10mm of underlay and falls into the with-underlay category.
The three types of chair mat
Type 1: Carpet chair mats
Carpet chair mats split into the two categories above by carpet thickness. With-underlay mats suit thicker carpets, including plush pile (very long pile may see some movement). Without-underlay mats suit thin carpet tiles laid directly on concrete — common in older offices, though most corporate fit-outs now have underlay too.
Choosing the wrong type is the main cause of cracked mats — a mat too thin for the floor beneath will crack under load, and the wrong pairing can void your warranty. If your last mat cracked, curled at the edges or slid around, this is almost certainly why.
Type 2: Hard floor chair mats
For hard floors you have two constructions. Carpet-surfaced mats have an absorbent surface that catches spills as well as scratches — ideal if you eat and drink at your desk — with a rubber backing that keeps them planted. Plastic chair mats for hard floors are like their carpet cousins but without the gripper underside; a slightly rough backing holds them in place.
Type 3: Custom-size chair mats
Size matters too. Protecting the floor under multiple desks with multiple mats doesn’t work — one large mat does. We supply Australia’s only custom-size chair mats: every mat in our range, carpet-surfaced or plastic, can be made to your measurements. Send your dimensions with the mat you want and we’ll make it to size.
Still deciding?
Browse the full chair mat range, or call a Matxpert on 1300 628 746 for a personalised recommendation — if a cheaper mat is the right mat for your floor, that’s the one we’ll recommend. Every stocked chair mat is backed by the 12-year warranty, our 365-day money-back guarantee, and same-day despatch on orders placed by 2pm.