Have you found that your desk wobbles when you put it on a carpet? This is a common problem but it can be extremely annoying, especially if you are trying to work at the desk. With that in mind, we’re going to look at how to stop a desk wobbling carpet.
There are lots of hacks that you can use to stabilize a desk on a carpet, including screwing a piece of wood or cork to the legs, adding another scrap of carpet, folding some paper under the legs, or moving the desk. Any of these things will make your desk more stable.
Working at a wobbly desk is an annoying process that most people would rather avoid, and with more and more people working from home, an increasing number of individuals are looking for solutions to the issue. Fortunately, there are lots out there – so let’s look at resolving desk shaking on carpet.
How To Stabilize Desk On Carpet
If your desk is wobbling around a lot, it is often because carpet is an uneven surface to have it standing on. This creates gaps and causes it to wobble.
Fortunately, there are a few simple steps that you can take to resolve this wobbliness and make sure that your desk is stabilized. The first thing that you should do is check whether there’s something wrong with one of the legs. To do this, follow these steps:
- Clear the desk off completely, removing all the paperwork and equipment from it.
- Turn the desk onto its side or back so that you can examine the legs when they aren’t bearing the weight of the desk’s top.
- Gently move each leg around and see if it wobbles or feels loose. Have any screws come out? Are any of the joints loose? If the desk has pads on the ends of the legs, have any of these been lost?
- Depending on what you find, work to re-secure the leg and stabilize it by adding a new pad, new screws, or glue if necessary. This should resolve any wobbliness that is caused by instability within the desk.
However, instability can also be caused by the floor being uneven, and in this case, you will need to do more to solve the issue. Some of the top tricks that you can use to get rid of wobbliness include:
- Adding wood or cork to the legs
- Adding some more carpet to make the floor even
- Folding paper or cardboard underneath the legs
- Using some furniture cups
- Moving the desk somewhere else
There are quite a few options, so let’s explore these in more detail in the sections below.
Another possibility is that your desk is simply bearing too much weight and is unstable, we have a great guide to check your desk types weight capacity here.
Add Wood or Cork To The Legs
This is a pretty easy option, especially if you are handy with a saw – but even if you aren’t. You should use it if you think one of your desk legs is a little too short. The wobble may be caused because this leg isn’t touching the ground when the rest are.
Below, you’ll find a basic method you can follow.
- Measure the approximate gap between the desk leg and the floor. This will tell you how thick the piece of wood needs to be.
- Cut a piece of wood to this thickness. You can sand it down to achieve a better width if necessary. If you haven’t got the tools to cut wood, consider slicing a piece of cork to the desired thickness. You can do this with a sharp knife.
- Turn your desk on its side and drill some holes through the piece of wood and through the bottom of the leg. The piece of wood does not need to be exactly the same size as the end of the leg, but it should fit against it and have enough room to insert some screws.
- Use a screwdriver to attach the piece of wood to the desk leg with a few screws. The bond doesn’t need to be enormously strong, but it should join the two pieces firmly so that there is no further risk of wobbling.
If you haven’t got a drill or screws, you can still use this method, particularly if the desk is made of wood.
Use a strong wood glue to coat the piece of wood that you have cut, and then firmly press it against the bottom of the leg. Put down a piece of cardboard to protect your carpet, and then stand the desk up with the glued leg on the cardboard.
Allow the glue to thoroughly dry before removing the cardboard.
If you would rather use cork (it’s easier to cut), then you can follow the exact same steps with some cork tiles like in the image above.
Fold Paper Under The Legs
This is one of the simplest solutions, although you may need to swap the paper every so often, as the desk will gradually compress it and the wobble will return.
I’ve personally been using it since my high school chemistry class. By the end of one year, my book ended up half as thick as it was at the start of the year. Down solely to the sheer quality of paper it took to stop the desk from shaking like a mild earthquake each day.
You can use paper or cardboard. Cardboard is thicker, so it will work well if the desk is very wobbly, but paper will work fine for a small degree of wobbliness. In hindsight, cardboard might have been a better choice for my desk in Chemistry.
Simply fold the paper or cardboard in half a couple of times, until it is the desired thickness to compensate for the gap. Slip it under the desk leg and see if the instability has been resolved. Add more paper or cardboard if necessary.
Use Furniture Cups
If you’d rather have a tidier solution, Furniture Cups can offer a more professional-looking solution.
Your desk leg will be inserted into one of these, and it will help to make up for the height difference. It will only help with minor instability, but this may be enough in your situation.
If you choose one that is a similar color to your desk, it will hardly be noticeable, and the great thing about this solution is that you can remove it later if you choose to.
Make sure that they are wide enough to fit your desk legs in, and then simply slide one or more in place to reduce any wobbling of your desk on carpet.
Add A Square Of Carpet Under A Leg
This method may prove simpler and it means you don’t have to alter the desk at all. If you don’t care about the appearance, you can use any carpet, but if you want it to match, try to find a shade that is close to your existing carpeting.
- Cut a square of carpet that is a little bigger than the size of the desk leg.
- Slip this under the leg that wobbles and test whether it is still wobbling.
- If it is, cut another square and repeat the process until the shaking stops.
Move The Desk
If you have this option, it may be easier than adding to the desk or purchasing products to increase the stability. Note that it will only solve the problem if it’s the floor that is uneven. An uneven desk will continue to wobble if it is moved.
However, moving your desk is often the least time-consuming solution. It may only need to be moved a few inches in order to reduce the wobble of your desks on the carpet.
Conclusion
A wobbly desk can be very frustrating and may disrupt your ability to work, so don’t suffer with it unnecessarily. Try the tricks above to resolve the problem and make your desk more stable by tightening up the legs or adding material to get rid of a gap caused by the carpet. This should stop your desk wobbling on carpet!
If you want to revamp your newly-stable desk painting your desk or adding a vinyl wrap to your office desk are both great options for updating your workspace aesthetics.
