Protect porch flooring from wicker rocking chairs

by Cheri

First ~ I love your fun website! Lots of neat ideas..haven't finished reading it all. :)

QUESTION: We have a wicker rocker with wooden rockers. How do we protect the painted porch flooring surface from the daily 'grind'?

We glued fabric strips to the rocker bottoms but is there another answer? We also have rockers in the house on wood floors..same deal.

Please advise. Thanks so much.


ANSWER: Thank you for visiting our site, Cheri, and your kind words! We have fun building it. You ask a great question about wicker rocking chairs and how to protect your wood porch flooring.

Heavy-duty felt pads (which you can buy at a hardware or home improvement store) might be the answer. They are very sticky on one side - you just peel off paper and stick them on.

You can purchase them in different shapes and sizes. I've seen them come in long strips that you stick onto the rockers of your wicker chairs. You may need to put a couple of the disks together to cover the whole rocking surface.

I've also purchased felt pads in rectangular sheets and cut them to the shape and size I wanted (but I think the pre-cut shapes would be easier in this case).

The only two drawbacks I've noticed with felt pads are that they collect dust and they don't glide when the floor is wet. They should still be fine for rocking if the floor is wet (like if you sit on your porch after it rains!).

Dave and I use felt pads on all of our straight chairs and table legs where they meet the surface of our wood floors. They do a good job of protecting the floor. Thank you for asking us. We'd enjoy hearing how that works out for you, Cheri.

Enjoy your porch time,
Dave and Mary